Paid Leave Policy revised to be more family-friendly

Fathers and adoptive parents can now officially use two weeks of sick leave to spend time with their new children, thanks to a recent revision of Ohio State's Paid Leave Programs Policy. Previously, they would have been expected to use vacation time to be away from work.

The entire policy has been revised to clarify procedures and to update the benefits available for faculty and staff when they need to take time off from work. It was last updated in June 1997.

Birth mothers also benefit from the revisions. The minimum amount of sick time available to them has increased from six work weeks to eight. As always, additional paid leave time is available if specified by a physician statement. No physician statement is required at all for the minimum eight weeks.

"Adoption and birth benefits are one part of a process to becoming a completely family-friendly employer,"said Larry Lewellen, associate vice president for human resources. "We have done national benchmarks and we're following the level of benefits leading employers are offering. My guess is this is a good beginning and we're likely to see our benefits continue to improve over time."

The revised policy addresses the use of intermittent sick leave for reasons of birth, adoption or foster care placement. The previous policy made no mention of intermittent usage.

"It now expressly provides for that flexibility,"said Marjie Hamlett, human resources consultant and a member of the Human Resources team that drafted the revised policy. "For example, a new father may need to take Wednesdays off for a few weeks, to fill in for a gap in child care. Under the Family Medical Leave Act, he has that option for the first 12 weeks."

The revision process for the Paid Leave Policy included adding language to clarify leave procedures relating to supplemental pay arrangements, such as supplemental appointments, faculty teaching overloads and faculty quarter off-duty appointments. The policy states that for supplemental pay arrangements, sick leave cannot be used and does not accrue.

Creating consistency among policies that address time off was part of the reason for updating the policy, Hamlett said. The Family Medical Leave Policy, revised in April, the Civil Service Rules, and the Paid Leave Policy now have matching definitions for who is considered an immediate family member.

The Office of Human Resources is in the process of putting together a Parental Leave Guidebook, which will assist employees and managers in understanding how all of the leave policies work together.

"It will be a guide to parental benefits, beginning with the infertility benefit and prenatal care and on through to maternity leave itself. We want to make that leave even more successful for faculty and staff and eliminate any barriers to motherhood,"Lewellen said.

The guide should be available in print and Web versions by spring of 2002.

"This is our effort to make these benefits less implied, and more explicit. We want a cohesive set of paid leave policies for birth mothers, birth fathers and for either parent for adoptions. We believe this isn't done, but will require a next phase of more intensive examination to get it right,"he said.

The changes adapted so far have been very positively received by faculty and staff, Lewellen said. "We've received a lot of wonderful feedback,"he said.

Ohio State's work/life efforts also have been acknowledged from beyond the University.

"We recently received an award from RESOLVE of Ohio for being one of the most family-friendly organizations in Ohio. The award recognizes our total combination of infertility, maternity and adoption benefits,"Lewellen said.

RESOLVE of Ohio Inc. is a chapter of a national nonprofit organization that provides education, advocacy and support for those who experience infertility. The award was made at its annual conference on Oct. 6.

Discussion group supports working moms

Once per quarter for the past several quarters, a group of Ohio State women has gathered over lunch to talk about work. And home. And their children. And about how talking to each other about these things can take the edge off of the complicated lives they are living.

Because striking a comfortable balance between professional life and home life poses a challenge for women who have children and work outside the home, these participants have chartered a grass-roots Working Mothers Group at the University. Founded by Jamie Mathews-Mead, director of graduate career programming in the Fisher College of Business, the group is about a year old and generally attracts about 20 women to each meeting. But recent indications suggest that it is growing and gaining more recognition as a valuable campus discussion group.

Meeting quarterly so far, the group now is considering more frequent gatherings. The mothers meet in brown-bag lunch sessions at The Women's Place (TWP) offices in Smith Laboratory, and the group receives administrative support from TWP, as well -- primarily provided to date by Sara Childers, graduate administrative associate at The Women's Place, who has assisted with room reservations, posted meeting notices to the community and sought volunteers to lead meeting discussions.

Mathews-Mead, a mother of two daughters, ages 5 and 1, pondered the idea of such a group for awhile -- and with more urgency after the birth of her youngest child. She shared her idea with the University Staff Advisory Council, which she chaired in 1999-2000, but had a hard time finding a home for the project. After Judy Fountain, director of The Women's Place, made a presentation about TWP's role in the University to USAC early last academic year, a relationship was born. Fountain agreed that TWP would be an administrative sponsor with the expectation that the Working Mothers Group would be a members-driven organization.

"It turned out to be a nice combination,"Mathews-Mead said. And it has turned out to be a nice collaboration for those who have joined so far.

"Women who have come to the meetings invariably say that knowing people who are going through the same things that they are -- struggling to maintain balance in their lives -- gives them support and validation that they are doing OK,"she said. "It's helpful to know that other people are in similar situations. And for me personally, it has been helpful to learn about what other women do in the University. It's provided a professional network, as well."

Meeting discussions typically have centered around a theme. Most recently, the participants consulted with each other about negotiating home/life responsibilities with their significant others. Topics have ranged from time management and organizational skills to simplifying life and navigating crunch time -- those hours from about 5 to 7 p.m. during which parents tend to juggle dinner preparation with quality family time and getting the kids to bed.

Yet another positive aspect of the group is that it provides a common ground for staff and faculty women at Ohio State.

Betsy Vonk, assistant professor of social work, faced scheduling conflicts that made her unable to attend Working Mothers Group meetings until this autumn. In the meantime, she tracked group activities via an e-mail listserv.

"I was able to get to this first meeting, and I loved it,"said Vonk, also a mother of two daughters, ages 3 and 6. "It's great to be with other professional women who work at the University and who are dealing with being a mom and being professional at the same time."

In other work settings, she added, it's just not typical to run into a conversation about the ups and downs associated with trying to do both.

Vonk, too, tried to initiate contact about two years ago with other faculty women who had young children. She met for lunch with other mothers interested in the idea of regularly getting together, but a lack of momentum brought the gatherings to a halt. A colleague found out about the Working Mothers Group through the Ohio State Child Care Center and tuned Vonk in. And after one meeting, she's hooked.

"I appreciate the ability to connect with other people dealing with the same issues,"she said. "One woman said that after the meetings she feels more normal. That was the main thing I got out of it, too -- that there are other people out there with similar concerns.

"Sometimes I feel that I'm not such a great mom and sometimes I don't feel like such a great faculty member. But overall, I see that I'm actually doing fine."

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