It may sound far-fetched to ask workers to chip in with their employers to help pay for work/life benefits–not just for themselves but also for family-friendly benefits they themselves might never use.
But a noted researcher recently has asked employees how they feel about what would be additional deductions from their paychecks.
And their answers may surprise you.
“We found that workers are willing to pay in part for most of the work/life benefits they might use–and that they also are willing to pay, though not as much, for benefits they themselves might never need,” said Robert Drago, professor of labor studies and women’s studies at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pa.
From 1996 to 2000, Drago, who has a doctorate in economics, studied 343 public elementary school teachers, 90 percent of them women and 48 percent parents. Their average age was 42 years and their estimated income $40,000 annually.
“We asked, if there were a referendum, would you vote for a deduction from your weekly paycheck for work/life benefits for everyone,” said Drago, who has a PhD in economics. “And then we asked how much would you be willing to pay for each of them. Finally, we gave some suggested figures to choose from for each benefit.”
And even though the average respondents were mature workers, who, if they were parents, had older children, an estimated 50 percent “voted” to help pay for the benefits. And, in the area of paid child-care leave, more than half of those who did not have young children were willing to pay for others to have it.
The numbers: Those surveyed said they’d be willing to pay 87 cents a week for child-care referral; $1.62 for counseling services; $2.76, elder-care referral; $4.72, after-school child care; $6.18, paid childbirth leave; $6.44, free child care for teachers’ children at or near their schools; and $6.73 for one week of annual paid family-care leave.
Such support doesn’t mean employers are off the hook for providing work/life benefits but that employees are willing to help pay some of the cost for them.
“We wanted to find out if average employees think parents are getting too many benefits, if there is a backlash against work/family benefits–and we found there is not, that employees care about each other,” said Drago.
“People who don’t use them also think they’re important and worth paying for,” he said. “Being human, participants voted more money for benefits they themselves would use but still voted for deductions that would help others.”
More Top Picks Strabismus In Children When An Eye Turns In Or Out
The problem, says Drago, is that “employees aren’t being asked. Employers right now pay for most benefits and don’t offer the ones they can’t afford. Yet workers don’t have a vote on these issues, and there certainly has never been a state or national referendum on whether any of the benefits–such as paid leave for the federal Family and Medical Leave Act–is something people want to help pay for.”
Ignoring how employees really feel is “ignoring the needs of families,” Drago said. “If employers can’t afford to provide benefits, employees don’t get them. Let’s have a vote and see how the American public actually feels.”
A referendum makes sense, according to Janet Kraus, CEO and co-founder of Circles, a Boston-based firm that provides employee and customer loyalty programs such as concierge services and personal assistants. “It’s always a good idea to ask people what they want and what they’re willing to pay for, because more information creates more and better informed decisions for employers and human resource executives,” said Kraus, who started her firm in l997.
The executive points out that cafeteria benefits and co-payments for employees already are in place. But she notes that a willingness to share in paying for benefits for others is a different matter.
“The proof is in the pudding,” said Kraus, who has an MBA. “Indicating what you are willing to pay is different from actually paying it.”
———-
Carol Kleiman’s column also appears in Wednesday’s Working section and Sunday’s Business section. Watch her Career Coach segments Sunday and Tuesday mornings on CLTV. Send e-mail to [email protected].