Benefits March 8, 2007

Workers Say Paid Sick Leave Should be Required

March 8, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Eighty percent of adults say some or all employers should be required to offer paid sick leave to their employees, but 52% admit this could have an adverse affect on small employers, according to a recent poll.
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The Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Healthcare poll of 2,733 adults also found that less than a quarter (23%) agree that their employer does not offer enough sick time for its employees, and that 78% say that employers who don’t offer their employees paid sick leave pay for it in other ways.

Full-time employees are three times as likely as part-time employees to get paid leave from their employers, (77% versus 24%).

Other survey results include:

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  • 31% of workers strongly agree that taking sick days off from work will jeopardize their job, compared to 46% that strongly disagree with that statement;
  • 58% of employees who lack paid sick time say they cannot afford to take time off work when they are sick;
  • 28% of those who have paid sick time also say that they cannot afford to take time off;
  • 33% say they usually choose not to take sick days because doing so would affect their performance review.

For the full results of the poll go here .

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