Family-Friendly Benefits Bloom

By: Randy Dotinga At newspapers these days, a family-friendly workplace means more than a company picnic every summer. In Louisville, Ky., employees get subsidized day care a half-block from the office. Tucson, Ariz., newspaper employees who adopt children take home hefty bonuses. And papers from Anchorage, Alaska, to Miami offer health benefits to domestic partners.

Newspapers still have a ways to go to compete with the most progressive workplaces in the country, which provide everything from summer camps to round-the-clock child care. But across the spectrum, "companies are becoming more understanding that family and family life are crucial to the overall well-being of the employee," said Janice Roughton, vice president of human resources at the jointly operated Tucson Citizen and Arizona Daily Star.

Below are some of the most common family-friendly benefits at newspapers.

1. Days off for family matters: Newspapers have been slow to abandon traditional sick-day policies that force workers to lie about being ill if they need a "mental health day" or have family obligations. But some papers have adopted don't-ask policies that give workers a "bank" of days to take off for any reason, from illness to required attendance at a child's afternoon recital.

The Herald in Rock Hill, S.C., may be moving toward such a paid-time-off (PTO) system, said Beth Taylerson, human resources director. "All the days are lumped in one bank, so if you're never sick, you get your days for fun," she said. "You can use your own judgment on how to use those."

PTO policies work well at some large companies, but small employers may encounter resistance from workers who prefer to get sick days and carry them over from year to year, said Marna Hayden, a Pennsylvania personnel manager and former board member of the Society for Human Resource Management.

2. Family leave: Newspapers may choose to offer more family leave than the maximum 12 unpaid weeks required in cases of illness, childbirth, and adoption or foster placement of a child. According to the human resources group, 39% of employers surveyed in 2002 offer extended family leave, and 23% pay for at least some of it.

3. Adoption assistance: Only one in five companies surveyed offer bonuses to employees who adopt children. But the financial incentives are offered by some newspapers. The jointly run newspapers in Tucson offer $2,500 bonuses to employees who adopt, for example.

4. Flexible schedule and telecommuting: These benefits were all the rage in the 1990s, but many publishers haven't fully embraced them. "We have a newspaper to put out," said Darla King, human resources director at The Modesto (Calif.) Bee. "We do try to accommodate people, but we can't provide flexible scheduling for every department."

At the Gannett Co. Inc. in McLean, Va., only about 1,600 of 51,000 employees work flexible schedules, said Jose Berrios, vice president of staffing and diversity. However, he said, that number has grown rapidly in recent years.

As for telecommuting, King said only a tiny number of employees work from home at her newspaper. "It's not all that attractive to employees or the company," she said, largely because employees who telecommute lose opportunities to interact with their colleagues.

5. College scholarships: Only 20% of companies offer them to the relatives of employees, according to the human resources group survey. They appear to be more common in the newspaper business, however, at least among large publishing companies.

Knight Ridder of San Jose, Calif., for example, offers scholarships of up to $8,000; Gannett offers $3,000 scholarships.

6. Day-care assistance: Five percent of companies surveyed offer on-site day care facilities, and another 5% support local centers. But at least two newspapers haven't had much luck in this area.

At The Courier-Journal in Louisville, just six employees take advantage of a company-subsidized day care center about a half-block from the main office, said Linda Pursell, vice president of market development. And The Modesto Bee abandoned a similar program when few employees expressed any interest.

Even if your newspaper doesn't subsidize child care, you may be able to enroll in a flexible spending account that will allow you to put aside pre-tax money for daycare expenses.

7. Domestic-partner benefits: Just 23% of companies surveyed in 2002 offered benefits to the same-sex partners of employees. The situation is much different in the newspaper industry, at least among large chains. Several offer domestic partnership benefits at all or some of their properties. The list includes Belo, Cox Newspapers, Dow Jones & Co. Inc., Gannett, Hearst Corp., Knight Ridder, McClatchy Co., The New York Times Co., Pulitzer Inc., E.W. Scripps Co., and Tribune Co., according to the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. (Look for more on this topic in a future column.)

Regardless of what their written policies are, employers often can legally make exceptions for workers who are facing crises at home. Hayden said her company, Nazareth Bank, recently held a job open for an ill employee even though it had no legal obligation to do so.

The employee told Hayden that he was happy to be treated as an "employee with a problem, not a problem employee," she said. "Word of mouth gets around employees about how you treat people. They may not know all the facts in specific cases, but they have an intrinsic sense of right and wrong, and about whether you value people or don't."