Not a green design question but a green firm design question... Finalizing the renewal of our Just certification, we're taking a fresh look at all our benefits & policies. We have already reviewed industry-wide survey data (AIA and PSMJ) but are interested in how the firms we admire (i.e., *you*) are approaching benefits in the transformed world we're in now.
I figured I'd do this as a surveymonkey link (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TJYSWGB) which allows responses to be anonymous or signed as you choose. I'll share a digest of results. Here's a preview of the questions:
- How many paid days off per year (vacation, sick/wellness/mental health/personal days, firm holidays) do you offer new employees? Do unused days roll over from one year to the next without limit, or is there a cap? Do any of these grow with years of service? If you hire people mid-career, is the starting value adjusted, or do all new hires start at the same value?
- Does your allow a certain number of hours per year to be billed to volunteer activities of the employee's choice?
- What is your paid family leave provision?
- Do you have "comp time", where hours logged greater than the standard work week can be taken off later?
- [optional] Name / contact info
Just to kick things off, here's where EskewDumezRipple is currently:
- Vacation: New employees get 2 weeks; after 3 years with the firm or 10 years of relevant professional experience, 3 weeks; after 15 years of service or becoming a Principal, 4 weeks. Unusused time rolls over to a maximum accrual of 4 weeks; unused time paid out when leaving the firm.
Wellness: Accumulated at 3.5h per month up to 240h (30 days); unused time not paid out when leaving the firm.
Firm holidays: 10 days - Volunteering: Volunteer time of service in civic or professional organizations can be logged on time sheets without specific limits in coordination with your team. Additionally, the firm allocates 20 hours per staff member to the MLK Day of Service program, where staff form teams to provide design or construction services to area non-profits of their choosing.
- Paid Family Leave: New parents get 100% of pay for 4 weeks after birth or adoption of a child.
- Comp Time: We don't have a formal comp time system. Staff who have put in exceptional time for a particular project deadline are encouraged to take "recovery days" with pay.
