Employers Weigh In on Telecommuting, Paid Parental Leave & Other Absence Management Trends

Lockton's third such survey shows significant findings

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Oct 11, 2016, 09:01 ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In its third year, Lockton's 2016 Human Resources Trends: A Spotlight on Absence Management survey highlights the many challenges—and opportunities—facing employers across the United States.

Survey results represent more than 265,000 employees across a wide variety of industries. A few of the most significant findings from the survey include:

While 90 percent of employers offer some type of paid sick time—either through a standalone benefit or paid time off (PTO) program—the benefit doesn't always extend to part-time workers. A number of companies surveyed don't provide paid sick leave to part-time employees. Hence, the number of paid sick leave laws at the state, city, and county levels continues to grow rapidly.
On a more positive note, occasional telecommuting is now offered by 60 percent of employers—up 12 percent from last year. An added bonus: the popular work "perk" isn't limited to companies of a certain size or industry. Every industry included in the survey reported employees working outside of the office from time to time, including 71 percent of healthcare employers, 65 percent of manufacturing companies, and 58 percent of transportation employers. Forty-four percent of small employers (fewer than 100 employees) allow occasional telecommuting, compared to 70 percent of large employers (5,000+ employees).
More and more employees are also able to take paid time off or vacation time—without waiting months and months. The average waiting period continues to decrease as more employers offer immediate accrual of those benefits.
Currently, 21 percent of employers participating in the survey offer different PTO benefits for exempt and non-exempt employees. With new overtime rules from the Department of Labor (DOL), employers that offer separate PTO benefits to exempt and non-exempt employees will need to take a closer look at how those benefits are structured—and what the impending changes will mean for employees.
Finally, while paid parental leave programs have dominated the headlines this past year, only 24 percent of employers surveyed offer some form of the highly-coveted benefit, and only 13 percent of those companies provide paid leave for secondary caregivers.

For more information, or to participate in the next survey, please contact [email protected].

About Lockton
More than 6,000 professionals at Lockton provide 50,000 clients around the world with risk management, insurance, employee benefits consulting, and retirement services that improve their businesses. From its founding in 1966 in Kansas City, Missouri, Lockton has attracted entrepreneurial professionals who have driven its growth to become the largest privately held, independent insurance broker in the world and 9^thlargest overall. For eight consecutive years, Business Insurance magazine has recognized Lockton as a "Best Place to Work in Insurance." To see the latest insights from Lockton's employee benefits experts, please check the Lockton Health Reform Blog, the Lockton Health Risk Solutions Blog, the Lockton HR Technology Blog and the Lockton Benefits Communications Blog.

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