Equitable benefits
Compensation, advancement, child care, work/life balance, flexibility, vacation, holidays, sick leave, family leave, health insurance, etc.
Now more than ever, employee benefits are a key tool in recruiting, and, more importantly, retaining a diverse staff for your organization. Employees are demanding equitable benefits and greater flexibility overall. For many, especially women, greater work flexibility, especially for employees of color, is a top priority. In the post-COVID world, human resources leaders are predicting that employee benefits packages may look dramatically different in the near future as employers will have to make changes to keep their workforce and acquire new employees.
Low pay, a lack of opportunities for advancement and feeling disrespected at work are the top reasons why Americans quit their jobs
A 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that low pay, a lack of opportunities for advancement and feeling disrespected at work are the top reasons why Americans quit their jobs in 2021. The survey also found that those who quit and are now employed elsewhere are more likely than not to say their current job has better pay, more opportunities for advancement and more work-life balance and flexibility.
Majorities of workers who quit a job in 2021 say low pay (63 percent), no opportunities for advancement (63 percent) and feeling disrespected at work (57 percent) were reasons why they quit, according to the Feb. 7-13 survey. At least a third say each of these were major reasons why they left.
Roughly half said child care issues were a reason they quit a job (48 percent among those with a child younger than 18 in the household). A similar share point to a lack of flexibility to choose when they put in their hours (45 percent) or not having good benefits such as health insurance and paid time off (43 percent). Roughly a quarter say each of these was a major reason.
The study also found notable differences regarding flexibility by race and ethnicity. Non-white adults who quit a job in 2021 were more likely than their white counterparts to say the reasons include not having enough flexibility (52 percent vs. 38 percent).
Are your benefits equitable?
Here are some key questions to take into consideration to ensure the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion are embedded into your overall benefits:
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Is the same health insurance available to all employees, their spouses and or partners, and their families—regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity?
Are employee contributions for health insurance just as opposed to equitable? In other words, do you have a sliding scale for employee health insurance contributions so that employees without families and single parents with one child, are not footing the bill for families with spouses/partners and/or multiple children?
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Family, vacation, sick and personal leave
Are your family leave benefits available to all families?
Do your family leave benefits adequately support the caregivers within your workforce
Can employees use their sick days to care for immediate family members?
Can employees donate their unused sick or vacation days to help other employees who have exhausted their leave due to a long-term illness?
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The U.S. Equal Pay Act may be over 50 years old, but the wage gap has continued. As of 2021, women only earn 82 cents for every dollar a man makes. That gap is even bigger among Black and Hispanic or Latina women, who earned 61 percent and 53 percent, respectively, of the average salary of white men.
Is there pay parity in salaries in your organization? If not, why?
Does your land trust include salary ranges in job postings?
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