Days off/ sick days

[Groundedfaith]

I own a photography studio and have just started to impliment policies and procedures for our company. I am looking for advise on how to draw up rules and regulations for days off/ sickpay, etc. Any information and advise is greatly appreciated....
Thanks!

[Doug Nelson]

Having a written policy is an excellent idea.

I don't currently have any employees, but I used to run a company with 10 employees, and I had a pretty seat-of-the-pants policy. I offered a week off after they were there a year, and pretty much used the honor system for sick days. I figured it was a perk to partially compensate them for working at a small company that couldn't afford to pay much.

I do recommend being 'nicer' to employees than a larger company might be, but not at the expense of harming your company.

[Groundedfaith]

We wanted to credit vacation days if the employee wanted to take a day off with pay~ but also do not want to create a situation of "calling in" and getting paid for being unreliable. I'd hope that this would not happen in a small company, but for future hires. Never know...

[Stephen M]

I am sure things are similar to some degree in other places, but in Australia there are federal and state awards which grant a base level of pay and conditions (federal often being more generous).

In the graphics area it is common to have six or perhaps eight days paid sick leave granted per year and twenty days paid leave. Usually a doctors certificate is not required for a random day, but for two or more consecutive days or either side of a weekend the policy may vary from place to place.

Stephen Marsh.

[john_opitz]

Check also with state and federal laws as well. In Texas(Gods' country). It's a "right to work" state..... also, "work at will". In a way,Texas is it's own country. Even the small business has to go with the min. standards. That might not apply to you, but bigger(some Co.) Co. might have "Standards" that exceed the state and federal laws. But can not go below the federal and state laws. Having a "company handbook" or "written policy" is a start.
Btw. Believe it or not. In the state of Texas an Employer can fire an employee "without just cause". And "Unions" are not, too common down here, but also, not popular.

[Blues_X]

Personally (and this may just be me) I would be pretty flexible with the employees. But I would be clear on what is not tolerated.

My concern would be that if you impose too many limits, you'll risk burning out the creative employees that you need.

But, to put my view in perspective, I think we Americans are overworked. We spend more hours working than many other countries at a similar economic level, but our actual production isn't increasing. Just our stress and lost family time.

I think that a google search could show you some employee satisfaction studies, and then you could see what the companies that employees like are doing.

I'd also allow people (salaried employees, anyway) the option to work at home (if that would be allowable in their particular job function; obviously a receptionist wouldn't be able to do his/her work from home).

But, of course, maybe I'm nuts...

[Jeff L]

Having never had any employees but have worked for many contractors, I think the best system I have seen was the 1 week of sick/personal time a year. Nothing for the first 90 and then you accrue hours every pay period. I'm not sure of the formula but it was nice to have a few personal days in your pocket just in case. You have to inform the foreman you want to take a personal day at least 48 hrs in advance. Vacations are run the same way but don't start accruing til the beginning of the second year. Vacation requests were due at least 3 week prior to the event in order to insure coverage. Hope that helps a bit.

[LactoBeeZor]

Originally posted by Jeff L
Vacations are run the same way but don't start accruing til the beginning of the second year. Vacation requests were due at least 3 week prior to the event in order to insure coverage. .

IMHO this would cause burnout. If you couldn't accrue vacation untill the second year you could not get enough hours to take one (vacation) untill the third. In my field of work (Health Care) this would be a very bad policy. The new trend is, time starts to accrue after 90 days but one year has to pass before it is allowed to be taken.

[winwintoo]

In Canada, we have federal and provincial laws governing pay scales and vacation days. I'm not sure about sick time, but I think there is probably a law for that too.

Vacation starts to accrue from day one and amounts to 3 weeks after one year. It's at the descretion of the employer when the first vacation is taken - if the employer really wants to retain a good employee, it might be in his best interest to accomodate some vacation in the first year.

If employment ends, vacation is paid out at 3/52 of annual salary less any time already taken.

I believe that the law also stipulates an increase in vacation time to 4 weeks after 10 years, 5 weeks after 20 years etc.

Of course, Canadian employers, like so many crafty business men, don't hire permanent employees. They prefer to hire "part-time" and pay out the vacation pay with each pay check thus saving themselves the bother of having to cover for an employee who chooses to take their alloted time.

HTH, Margaret

[ArtistColumbus]

Groundedfaith,

Are you looking to see examples of how to create an employee manual?

There is one I used to set up a screenprinting and embroidery shop for someone else, and is what I am going to use for my own shop.

I picked it up at a chain office supply store for about $25 and it was VERY helpful! It's a CD that you install onto your computer (PC only) and it has all of the forms spelled out and written for you. As you go through the different sections (hourly rates, reviews & raises, vacations, sick time, smoking policies, etc.), if generally gives you choices to select from. I highly recommend it for a beginner company owner. Go here to read more about it from the manufacturer and order it straight from them if you like.

My only suggestion would be to have a lawyer review it if you are worried about any possible litigation against you in the future.

Let me know if you have any other questions. And good luck!

[winwintoo]

Just another thought. Too many written rules and regulations make for a contentious workplace as people try to interpret the rules to their own benefit.

Wording of the rules is very important.

I once was in a dispute with an employer over a rule that they claimed was in writing - I was shown the written item and it was so badly written, in such mangled language that it only served to further muddy the waters rather than clarify anything. That was a union shop by the way and I was the shop steward at the time.

Margaret

[tyeise]

I sort of like the way my husbands new job handles vacation/sick days.

Accumulation started when he did, with so many hours of free time earned for each 40 hours of work. (I'm not sure of the exact ratio, I think it's something like 2 hrs vacation for every 40 hrs work.) By the end of the first month, he'd earned 8 hours "vacation". This also counts toward sick days. So by the end of the first year, he will have earned 12 or 13 days.

This was a big help to us when we had a situation where he needed to be available on a workday not long after he had started. He had accumulated enough hours so that he could take the day off.

Tyeise

[ArtistColumbus]

That part is true PM -- the bottom line is the people you hire!

Tyeise, I like that structure for days off/sick days! A "reward" system is a great incentive for some employees. As long as you have the rules established up front it's pretty simple. Sure, there will be some cases where you may want to make exceptions, but having the ground work laid out is crucial.

That program I mentioned has that as one of the option ( I think) or you can set it up as such. The nice thing about it was that it covered a lot of little things that normally may be overlooked. (I'm beginning to sound like one of their sales reps, aren't I? )