Your state might require you to offer paid or unpaid time off to vote.
Generally, paid voting time is limited, as employees only need a few hours to vote.Īccording to one SHRM study, 44% of employers offer employees paid time off to vote. Paid voting time is time off employees can use to vote in presidential and local elections. You might require that employees show you their jury duty summons letter before offering them paid jury duty. You must offer paid jury duty if your state has jury duty pay laws.Ī federal, state, or local court will send your employee written notice summoning them for jury duty. If an employee gets called to serve on a jury, you might offer jury duty pay for the time they are away. And, your state might have more restrictive parental leave laws. Under federal law, you might be required to offer unpaid parental leave, depending on your business size. Paid parental leave is time away from work that employees can use for maternity leave, paternity leave, or adoption. And, you may require employees to provide proof, such as an obituary or funeral program. Be explicit when creating your bereavement time off policy. Some businesses give different amounts of bereavement time off, depending on the employee’s relationship to the deceased. Employees can use bereavement to cope with their loss, make arrangements, and attend funeral services. Paid bereavement leave is time off employees receive when a family member or friend passes away. You may also offer floating holidays to employees, which are days off they can use at any point in the year. Examples of federal holidays include Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. You might follow the federal holiday schedule when determining which days employees have off.
According to the BLS, employees who earn holiday pay receive an average of eight paid holidays per year. Holiday pay compensates employees for time off during holidays. Employees can use personal time without having to dip into their vacation days. Personal time doesn’t have to be used for anything specific. Personal timeĮmployees can use personal time off to handle things like doctor’s appointments, car checkups, attending events (e.g., parent-teacher conferences), and anything else that doesn’t fall under sick or vacation time. Check with your state and follow mandatory sick leave laws. Offering sick pay can reduce the chances of illnesses going around your small business by encouraging sick employees to stay home.ĭepending on where your business is located, you might have to offer sick pay.
Paid sick leave is time off that an employee can use when they are sick or injured. For example, you may require employees to give you ample notification before using vacation days. A typical vacation policy should explain rules relating to when and how employees can take off for vacation. The number of vacation days that businesses offer varies. Seventy-seven percent of employees receive paid vacation days. Vacation pay is paid time off you give employees to travel, spend time with family or friends, or take a break from work. When creating your paid time off policy, consider the following types you can include. State which employees are eligible for which types of paid time off, how much time they receive, whether they receive their regular pay rate for time off, when paid time off is available to use, and what happens to unused time at the end of the year. You can manage paid time off, as well as time off requests, with time and attendance software.īe sure to include your paid time off policy in your employee handbook. Other businesses offer a certain number of days per type of time off. Some businesses choose to offer a lump sum of days employees can use for time off from work. You can encourage morale, engagement, and productivity by offering paid time off. But, taking time off work is critical for employees to manage their lives. Under federal law, you are not required to offer paid time off. Get the scoop on different types of paid time off below. Although these are common paid time off programs, sick and vacation days aren’t the only time off work you can offer. Over 70% of employees have access to paid days off from work for sick or vacation time.