In case you weren't aware, March 31st 2015 was cast as Vacation Commitment Day, brought to you by the Take Back Your Time nonprofit. The organization is devoted to helping workers across America focus on taking more of the vacation that they have available, because we are notorious for accruing, but not using, our leave.
This sounds like a great idea, but the timing is interesting.
This is an intriguing coincidence because just last week I was reading a new study from Accountemps about the top benefits employees are asking for in 2015. Want to know what topped the list?
More vacation time.
So what gives? We want more vacation time, but we also don't use all of the time that we accrue.
As if that wasn't enough, the federal government is now attempting to introduce legislation that will force small companies to offer paid leave to employees.
The Big Picture
With all of these pieces in play, it's an interesting time to be working in the benefits side of the human resources profession. I would use this reminder as an opportunity to review your company's offerings in terms of paid leave. More importantly, look into the usage of the benefits.
The first thing we do when benchmarking benefit offerings is to consider what we're doing relative to the market. However, smart HR leaders also look at the benefits adoption and usage to determine how employees are utilizing the offerings. For instance, if you offer a health reimbursement arrangement but only two employees sign up, it probably wasn't worth the effort to establish and market the program.
That also applies to vacation time. The reality is while many workers accrue paid time off, there may be circumstances that prevent them from using the leave. For instance, they may have work projects that necessitate their presence or there might even be a cultural norm of foregoing vacation days to demonstrate “dedication†in some organizations.
Analyze the accruals against the usage of the benefit. If you have a substantial amount of accrued time, consider what implications that has for your organization and why your people might be saving that time. Also keep in mind that this could be seasonal: employees may save up time for summer trips or winter breaks. It's important to dig into the “why†behind the numbers, because it could signify underlying issues or opportunities.
Don't Stop with Paid Leave
This analysis is a great exercise to conduct regularly, regardless of the benefit program in question. I recently read about Prudential Financial's benefit offerings to its 20,000 employees. It offers a dependent care flexible spending account, which many of us in the benefit space know is utilized at a fairly low rate compared to other benefits.
The company only has 10% of its workforce using the benefit, but that is enough for them to continue offering it every year. The HR leaders there understand that the individuals that do use it are deeply appreciative of the service, because it can potentially save families thousands of dollars in taxes over time.
Every company needs to know what its target adoption rate is, whether for paid time off, medical care, or other benefits. Take some time today to consider yours for each of your offerings in honor of Vacation Commitment Day.
