Flexibility on Sick Leave Helps Workers Breathe a Little Easier

Those little germ factories also known as children have a pesky habit of getting sick on a regular basis, which leaves working parents with a dilemma: to lie (call in sick with an imaginary illness of their own) or not to lie (use up a precious vacation day).

Of course, in a perfect world, this would not be a problem. The village would provide so that you could go back to your hunting and gathering. Boy, those Stone Agers had it easy.

Nowadays, some corporations have found a way to help when there is an illness in the house and the employee doesn’t happen to be the victim. It’s called flexible sick leave, and even those without children can benefit.

Wrinkles on the concept of “sick kid days” also include the ability to take small pieces of vacation time, perhaps only one or two hours at a shot, for appointments and the like, as well as chunks of company time for school or community activities.

The home of Barbie has been doing this for years.

“One of Mattel’s co-founders was a working mother and, in general, Mattel has been family-friendly and flexible,” said Grace Moniz, manager of human resources programs at the El Segundo-based toy manufacturer.

Mattel, which regularly lands on lists of companies that are hospitable to women and parents, views such policies as a necessity because more than half its work force is female. That includes President (and working mom) Jill Elikann Barad. (Talk about combining work and family: On the way into the delivery room for the birth of her second son, Barad grabbed a phone to check in with the office.)

This kind of flexible sick leave is becoming more common. A recent survey by benefits consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide Corp. found that nearly a third of 620 corporations polled offer a single bank of paid days off from which employees may draw for illnesses--even those that aren’t their own--as well as vacations and holidays.

Employers are not required by law to grant any form of sick leave that doesn’t involve a pregnancy, heart attack or other recognized medical disability. And while the Family and Medical Leave Act does allow workers time off to care for sick family members, the illness must be a serious medical condition, not a bout with the flu.

Here’s how it works at Mattel. Employees get six days a year of sick leave, but the sick person does not have to be the employee. If the employee needs to care for a child, spouse or parent, sick leave can be used. No faking required.

Mattel also provides up to 16 weeks of unpaid leave for more serious illnesses.

A company with a similar program is PacifiCare Health Systems in Cypress, where sick days are accumulated in a bank and may be withdrawn for any illness of the employee or a relative. Employees are not required to detail whose illness is causing the time off.

“We trust you,” said Wanda Lee, senior vice president of human resources at the health maintenance organization. “We also know that when [employees] are having problems in their personal lives, they may be here physically but their hearts and minds may not be here.”

PacifiCare doesn’t track how its 5,000 employees use their sick time, but Lee estimated that about a third of the time goes to caring for family members.

“There are some companies that feel employees should take their personal days off or vacation” for family illnesses, Lee said. “We like to take a more progressive approach.”

“When you help people be more effective in their personal lives, they will be more effective in their professional lives,” she said. “It is a basic part of our belief system.”

Mattel, which employs 6,400 people in the U.S., takes the concept of flexible time off further than most companies. Workers can take their vacation time in pieces as small as one hour. This allows employees to run out to a child’s soccer game or to drive Mom to the doctor.

Mattel also grants full-time employees up to 16 hours a year of paid time off for “school-related absences.” Part-timers get up to eight hours a year.

The time is available to employees even if they don’t have children in school. That way, not only are school performances, parties, field trips and the like covered, but parents and nonparents alike are given an opportunity to contribute to neighborhood schools, perhaps by helping out in the school library or computer lab or by volunteering to speak at a career day.

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Has your company developed an interesting way to help employees balance work and family life? Write to Balancing Act, Los Angeles Times, Business News, 130 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Or send e-mail to nancy.rivera-[email protected]