In the wake of pandemic WFH requirements, we are looking to revamp employee policies and I thought this type of information share would be something we Green Gurus would love to thought-share on.
We are a very 'low-policy company' (20 when I joined, now 75 employees currently) and our employee handbook is quite small (5 pages). Most employees that work from home do so as negotiated on a per-person basis, but it's time we had something more formalized put in place. Also something for parental leave - as a woman at an engineering company - and also the first full-time staff to ever need to navigate parental leave - I'm piggybacking that in here too.
So... in the spirit of sharing and the peer network safe space, I'm curious:
- What is your company policy currently for these two avenues?
- What do you wish your company policies were?
For reference, ILFI's JUST 2.0 indicator for "Family/Medical Leave" lists Flexible Work Arrangements as a Level Two metric with template policy language as follows (that uses the fun term 'telecommuting' which maybe we should update to 'zoommuting'):
[Organization Name] provides up to X weeks of paid leave for any employee welcoming a child through birth, adoption, or foster placement or dealing with a serious health condition of their own or that of a family member. A serious health condition is one requiring either inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider. We define a family member to be parents, spouses, domestic partners, children, grandparents, siblings, in-laws and parents of domestic partners. While on leave, employees are paid Y percent of their normal salaries. This leave policy applies equitably to all employees (salaried, hourly, full-time, part-time, and contractors).
In order to support work/life balance and the needs of families, [Organization Name] will provide the following flexible work arrangements if they can be accommodated without detriment to the employee, team, department or organization:
• Condensed work weeks (e.g. four 10-hour work days)
• Customized working hours (e.g. 7am to 3pm work day)
• Telecommuting (e.g. employees work one or two days a week from home)
• Job Sharing (e.g. two employees share a full-time role)
For additional reference on the JUST Indicator Metrics:
Level ONE -
- Organization has a written policy on family and medical leave.
Level TWO -
- Organization has a written policy on family and medical leave.
- Organization provides up to 6 weeks of paid leave for any employee welcoming a child through birth, adoption or foster placement or dealing with a serious health condition of their own or a loved one.
- Flexible Work Arrangements: Organization allows positive (employee-requested) scheduled work fextime (non-standard hours).
Level THREE -
- Organization has a written policy on family and medical leave.
- Organization provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave for any employee welcoming a child through birth, adoption or foster placement or dealing with a serious health condition of their own or a loved one.
- Flexible Work Arrangements: Organization allows positive (employee-requested) scheduled work fextime (non-standard hours), allows for negotiated compressed workweek.
Level FOUR -
- Organization has a written policy on family and medical leave.
- Organization provides up to 24 weeks of full paid leave for any employee welcoming a child through birth, adoption, or foster placement or dealing with a serious health condition of their own or that of a loved one. Organization has implemented a Parental Leave Transition Program that addresses all three phases (1. preparing for leave, 2. during leave, and 3. returning from leave).
- Flexible Work Arrangements: Organization allows positive (employee-requested) scheduled work fextime (non-standard hours), allows for negotiated compressed workweek as well as negotiated telecommuting (working at home).