Compassionate Leave Policies

Futurists at Work: Compassionate Leave Policies

Projected Publish Date: 11/11/2024

Editor's note: In this latest issue of our LinkedIn newsletter, we asked Common Future’s People Team to share tips for addressing Time Poverty that places values and organizational strategy at the center. Here is what H.R. Director RaShanna came up with. We invite your ideas and reactions, as well as ideas for future issues.

In 1977, Clair Vickery coined the term "time poverty,” referring to the absence of having enough time to rest and have leisure after accounting for paid and unpaid work, which isn’t captured in traditional wealth metrics. It’s felt most acutely by women of color and impacts their health and sustainable development.

Though we’ve spoken at length about our four-day workweek policies as a way to address this phenomenon, there are many additional ways organizations can address time poverty—in particular, Paid Medical Leave and Bereavement Leave. These are moments in employees lives that deeply impact them, and knowing that their salary will not be impacted by the time they need to take is something that matters deeply to employees—we see it in our internal survey data every year, echoing the 2023 Women in Workplace study which included bereavement in top 5 most important benefits. In the Cost of Dying 2024 report, their data showed that loss impacts employees for more than 10 months after the time off we give them. Industry standard gives them three days.

Imagine the sudden loss of a family member. Would three days be enough to travel home, get their affairs in order, and suddenly be ready to log back into work? What if you or a loved one had a medical emergency and needed time for recovery? What if you had already used your PTO for the year?

Financial trauma hits BIPOC workers hardest, and the idea of having to take unplanned unpaid time can be especially scary. Your organization can help, and with salaried employees, you can develop policies that add nothing to your budget if you allocate work and people correctly. You’ve already budgeted for their salaries; that expense is accounted for. It’s just a matter of ensuring teams have what they need to account for the absence of a colleague. What’s more, you already have what you need to get started:

Data-Driven Policy Creation

• Leverage daily staff interactions and personal experiences. As a People Professional, you get lived experiences from people doing the work. What trends are you seeing?
• Survey current staff on policy awareness, adequacy, and personal experiences. Consider travel needs, caretaking roles, and financial anxieties.
• Conduct external research (e.g., Glassdoor, HR Slack groups).
• Network with HR professionals in well-resourced companies.

Build on What Already Exists

• Build on existing policies; don't reinvent. We expanded Common Future’s existing bereavement policy with a 3-tier system (3, 5, 10 days) based on relationship. We codified our informal medical leave policy as 12-16 weeks to account for a realistic surgical or injury recovery time. We also offer 12 weeks of parental leave.
• Look to sectors like Tech for the policies they use to retain employees.
• Engage employees directly for feedback.
• Consider long-term capacity and team impact.
• Lead with empathy in your policy implementation.

We’d love to hear from you: What best practices for leave policies have been successful in your organization?

Until next time,

Rashanna, Common Future H.R. Director