Policies May Differ Between Workplace Parents and Childless Workers

03/07/07

More workers and families are choosing not to have children, yet many companies have policies that favor parents over childless workers. Did you grant more liberal holiday leave to parents last year than you did to workers without children? Was your workplace overwhelmingly staffed with singles and childless workers on Christmas and Thanksgiving? If so, you may have a quiet morale problem in the ranks. Here are some of the hazards and ways to counter them.

If you find yourself applying different time-off standards for workers with children than for those without them, you may be fostering resentment within your work force. A combination of falling birth rates, an increased number of women in the workplace and a rise in the number of single parents is fueling friction between workers with children and childless workers on a number of issues. Here are some frequently cited friction points, and some suggestions for easing the strain:

Holiday leave: Many childless workers find it difficult to schedule time off during the holidays. Employers should be sensitive to the fact that even childless workers have families too – and their relationships with brothers, sisters and parents are important.

Solution: Look at your company policies: Do your leave practices discriminate unfairly? Consider awarding holiday leave by seniority or on a rotating basis.

Unexpected absences: When a worker takes time off to care for a child, other workers often have to pick up the slack – and are rarely compensated for it. Some workers resent company policies that allow for frequent absences for child-care related matters, if they have difficulty getting time off for personal needs or for volunteer work.

Solution: Make sure your company policies are evenhanded about granting time off for child care, volunteer work, or personal reasons. A well-run paid time off (PTO) system that considers all days off alike may go a long way to alleviating this conflict. You may also consider exploring more flexible or innovative policies regarding job-sharing, flextime and telecommuting. This may allow workers to take needed time off for family matters without hurting productivity – saving your childless workers from having to do extra work.

Benefits: As health care costs mount, health care benefits are taking on an increasingly significant role in total employee compensation. The more insurance premiums increase, the greater the difference in total compensation between workers with families – if those family premiums are subsidized – and those without. The difference in total compensation can easily add up to thousands of dollars per year.

Other programs, such as on-site day care facilities, may consume limited company compensation dollars while providing little or no perceived benefit to childless workers.

Solution: Take a survey of your employees and ensure your benefits package reflects the needs of your work force. You may consider adopting a cafeteria-style benefits package, in which employees are free to choose from a variety of employer-sponsored benefits that best reflects their needs.

The goal of offering a cafeteria plan is to equalize benefits between different kinds of workers. Each employee generally receives a "basic package" of benefits and then a monthly sum or "credits," which may be used to purchase other benefits, such as family coverage. A single, childless worker may elect a subsidized fitness club membership or education assistance in lieu of health care benefits for children he or she does not have – and be a more content and loyal employee.

When company policies are even-handed toward parents and childless workers alike, everyone benefits.