Paid Time Off and Other Coronavirus-Specific Benefits to Offer Employees

As the total number of coronavirus cases crosses the 1 million mark, employers can provide relief by expanding their benefits offerings. In this article, we discuss paid time off policies in addition to Five other employee benefits to offer in response to coronavirus.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has influenced operations in every sector in nearly every country around the world.

Currently, the pandemic has crossed 1.2 million cases globally, causing severe anxiety to governments, businesses, and employees world over. It has become essential, then, that employers support their workforce with meaningful benefits, helping it to stay healthy and productive during these challenging times.

Paid time off (PTO) is among the top benefits a company can offer, assuring employees about steady wages even if they have to self-quarantine or apply for leave owing to household obligations.

In addition to PTO, we discuss several other benefits organizations can offer to make employees lives’ easier in the face of coronavirus.

Learn More: 15 Free Tools to Streamline Remote Work During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) CrisisOpens a new window

Paid Time Off + 5 More Benefits to Minimize the COVID-19 Impact

In the last few weeks, governments have started rolling out legislation around paid time off during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Traditional rules are now giving way to more specific mandates designed to tide both organizations and their employees through this period. You can offer a coronavirus-specific paid time off policy in line with these mandates and explore several other ideas when revising your employee benefits plan.

Here are the core ideas to consider:

1. Additional paid time off
 

The U.S. federal government recently passed a lawOpens a new window that requires SMBs to provide paid time off to the following employee categories:

• Those who have taken leave to undergo treatment for coronavirus
• Those taking care of an unwell family member
• Those who are the primary caregivers for a child at home due to school closures
   

This is in addition to existing paid time off laws for medical reasons. You can add coronavirus-specific leaves to your employees’ calendars, clearly communicating its availability so that employees can opt in as necessary.

The recent PTO law does not apply to companies with 500 workers or over. It also doesn’t apply to retail chains such as Amazon, whose delivery workers may be at risk of contracting the virus on the job. The government assumes that larger organizations are already providing PTO to their employees. However, if they are not, now is the time to extend this benefit to them.

2. Health benefits for dependents
 

COVID-19 is mainly known to affect the elderly as well as very young children, which means that your employees may be taking care of vulnerable dependents. A “family-first” benefits plan would take this into account, extending the medical health benefits that your employees enjoy to the rest of their family.

If possible, increase existing health insuranceOpens a new window coverage for family members. Removing co-payments and co-insurance (where employees must first pay a specific amount before accessing medical services) is also a good idea. Several health insurance providers such as Cigna and Aetna have waivedOpens a new window co-pays for COVID-19-related diagnostic testing.

Given the outbreak of COVID-19, employees may not be able to come in and collect a physical paycheck or weekly wages. A cashless insurance system for both themselves and their dependents would reassure them at this time.

Learn More: 69% of Enrollees Fail to Understand if Their Insurance Plan Covers the Treatment of Coronavirus, Surveys ehealth, IncOpens a new window .

3. Access to telemedicine
 

The need for paid time off indicates that a significant number of employees will be out of the office for prolonged periods. How can they access much-needed medical advice during this period? This is where telemedicine can help. In fact, President Donald Trump already announcedOpens a new window a push towards telemedicine in his March 13 Rose Garden address.

TelemedicineOpens a new window would serve two important purposes. It would ease the pressure on the world’s already-strained healthcare system, which is expected to face growing demand as the number of COVID-19 increases before hitting a plateau. It would also make it easier for employees to put their paid time offs to good use, staying indoors, taking care of themselves/their family, and accessing timely healthcare advice from within the limits of their homes.

4. A resource center for gig workers
 

Today, most companies rely on freelance employmentOpens a new window , contingent workersOpens a new window , and other forms of external employeesOpens a new window for daily productivity. However, this segment of the workforce is often left out when offering benefits.

Even if you are unable to provide direct benefits like health insurance, paid time off, medical advice, etc., to your gig workers, it is advisable to build a mobile resource center, at the very least, for their use.

Governments are now bringing self-employed professionals within the ambit of coronavirus relief. For example, the U.K. government has announcedOpens a new window that most of the country’s self-employed population will receive a grant worth up to 80% of their three months’ profits up to £2,500 if they are affected by COVID-19 in any way.

Your resource center should list all these details, informing gig workers of their rights and benefits in the face of a pandemic.

5. Streamlined 401(k) withdrawals
 

Withdrawals from 401(k) are unusual in regular times, given that they are long-term savings and retirement funds. However, employees may be allowed penalty-free withdrawals from their 401(k)s to pay for disaster relief. The recently announced CARES Act allows U.S. citizens to withdraw up to $100,000Opens a new window from their 401(k)s without the 10% penalty one would have to pay below the age of 59 years and 6 months.

As an employer, you can set up a resource group that guides employees through these decisions.

Does the employee’s current situation require a large amount of funds? What will the long-term financial impact be once the COVID-19 outbreak plateaus and finally comes to an end? You can partner with third-party financial advisors to ensure employees’ Opens a new window financialOpens a new window healthOpens a new window , in addition to its physical and mental aspect – which brings us to the next element in this checklist.

6. Mental health benefits
 

Whether your employees are working from home or whether they are on leave under your PTO policy, there could be an adverse impact on employees’ mental health due to COVID-19.

First, most employees must practice social distancing, staying in isolation to curb the risk of infection. Second, there is the sheer anxiety caused by such a large-scale outbreak. All this could significantly affect employees’ mental well-beingOpens a new window .

To help them, you can take small but effective measures. For example, implement a mobile app that encourages meditation, giving your distributed workforce the resources they need to take care of their mental health. Again, telemedicine could be beneficial, giving employees access to telephonic and virtual therapy sessions – a useful platform to look at in this space would be TalkspaceOpens a new window .

Learn More: Social Distancing Vs. Productivity: Finding the BalanceOpens a new window

Beyond Paid Time Off: Take Inspiration From These Companies

Several companies are going the extra mile to provide employees with reimagined benefits packages that factor in COVID-19. Here are some instances to inspire you on the way forward:

• HCM technology provider Workday has expandedOpens a new window its childcare benefit and paid time off policy for sick leaves. Further, the company has obtained a one-year subscription for the mental health and mindfulness app, HeadspaceOpens a new window , to address stress among its workforce.
   
• Uber is providingOpens a new window 14 days of paid time off to drivers who have been asked to self-quarantine or those whose Uber accounts were suspended due to the outbreak. Previously, only those who tested positive for COVID-19 were eligible.
   
• Aquent, the world’s largest marketing and creative staffing firm, announced that it would offer sick pay to all its employees across the United States and Canada. It is the first gig economy company to do so, already offering health benefits and 401(K) retirement plans to its temporary workers.
   

These moves indicate how companies are incorporating the needs of a COVID-19-affected workforce into their benefits plans.

Paid time off is the first essential step. Once employees can take leaves without fear of losing their wages, companies can take additional measures to ensure financial, physical, and mental health and take tangible steps to help employees reach their full productivity when this crisis period is over.

Have you realigned your paid time off policy for coronavirus? Tell us on FacebookOpens a new window , LinkedInOpens a new window , or TwitterOpens a new window . We would love to hear about your views!