Time share - includes related article on managing emergency time pools - giving employees paid time off during emergencies through emergency time pools

HR Magazine, Dec, 1998 by Carla Joinson

Emergency time pools can be a cost-effective way to give workers paid time off.

Three years ago, civil service employee Tom Helm underwent an outpatient procedure that took a wrong turn. He slipped into a coma and remained hospitalized for nine months. With three young daughters and a wife who did not work outside the home, Helm's concern for his family's financial security was evident when he regained consciousness.

"One of the first questions out of my mouth was, 'How are you doing without my paycheck?'" he recalls. Fortunately, co-workers and other civil service employees from across the country had donated their vacation time so his paycheck continued uninterrupted until he returned to work.

Prior to his own emergency, Helm remembers making donations. "It's just like giving blood, though," he says. "You never think you'll be a recipient." Since the incident, he has donated many more hours to the program.

A recent Hewitt Associates survey of more than 300 companies found that 2 percent of respondents have a group emergency pool, and another 3 percent said they may add one within the next two years. As businesses strive to accommodate employees' personal lives as cost-effectively as they can, this sort of program can make sense. Companies with a program in place generally describe it as a win-win situation and report that employee morale increases whenever it is used.

FILLING A NEED

Many companies initially create time-sharing plans to meet a specific crisis. Christine Miller, vice president of human resources at Circle Solutions Inc., an information, health and social services management consulting firm in Vienna, Va., describes a case where an employee "was poor, living alone and facing death. He had used all his options, and financially, life was very difficult."

Many of the company's employees wanted to help. So, Circle Solutions let them donate one to two vacation days, which were converted into money according to the donor's salary and then paid to the ill employee. "The company gives 60 percent disability, so with the supplementary vacation time, this man was able to keep his full salary for more than six months," Miller explains.

Employees at Howard Young HealthCare in Woodruff, Wis., help co-workers in need through a program that allows the "compassionate transfer" of paid time off. "Working with HR, the employee's director gets VP approval and advertises the need," says Pat Campau, the company's HR director. "When the employee's leave balance is at zero, HR starts transferring time so the employee's paycheck stays the same."

Campau says that employees are tremendously grateful to their co-workers who donate time because it is a highly valued asset. "One of the first times we used a compassionate transfer was when someone's spouse was going to have a transplant," he says. "Later, that employee donated time, sort of as a thank you. It's a win-win situation for everyone."

Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Agency (PSAPCA) in Washington created its time-sharing program more than 10 years ago in response to its lack of a short-term disability program, says HR manager Mary Ann Erickson. "We have long-term disability that starts after 90 days, and this fills the gap for employees who don't have enough sick time saved to see them through," says Erickson.

Short-term disability can be very expensive, particularly in some professions with higher-than-average injury rates, says Amy Tietze, HR manager at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, Md. For employers who can't offer it - or who must offer it at a cost - an emergency time pool can help employees during a crisis without the company incurring expenses, she says.

It also offers intangible value. "There's a bonding and coming together when employees help each other this way," says Tietze. "Receiving time isn't charity or top-down assistance but a gift from their peers. Emotionally, it's very uplifting."

Tietze urges employers to closely monitor the program. "It's nice for employees to help each other, but if you see the use of a program like this escalating, you should evaluate whether your benefits are comprehensive enough to provide proper assistance to employees."

PARAMETERS TO CONSIDER

HR managers who run emergency time-pool programs also urge newcomers to "Think it through."

"Ask yourself, are you responding to a one-time incident or making a new policy?" says Miller. "Think through the guidelines or parameters, or you could be inundated with requests for every little thing. You need to know how you'll respond to requests. Then communicate what you have decided very clearly."

Here are some common issues to consider:

Confidentiality. HR can make a case either way on whether or not to let recipients know who donated time to them. On the positive side, knowing who gave the time makes the donation seem more like a gift. Tietze remembers donating eight hours to a co-worker whose mother was dying of cancer. "The employee felt bad about taking my time," she explains, "but I told her that instead of flowers, I wanted to give her the gift of a day with her mother. Later, she told me it was the best thing she could have gotten."