[3] The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that depression cost employers an additional $44 billion annually.
Since the early 2000s studies have increasingly consider the reasons and costs for presenteeism which occurs when workers who are not fully productive still attend work.
Injury, illness, stress, anxiety, or depression can diminish productivity, imposing increased costs on the employer and potentially impacting others in the workforce.
[6] The United States is one of seven countries in the world that does not guarantee paid maternity leave, along with Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and Suriname.
The US Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938, last amended in 2009, doesn't mandate any paid vacation, instead stating that these matters are left to an agreement between employer and employee.
[10] As a result, there is a complex patchwork of federal, state, and local laws which offer workers protection for unpaid leave, based on a variety of different factors.
With these distinct laws, leave duration, accrual, use, and reporting requirements vary, making compliance difficult for employers.
Workers in these jobs earn very low wages.55% of them had no paid sick leave, creating financial insecurity for those that may miss work.
Finally, many people chose not to use their PTO at all, resulting in employers seeing unused time balloon to unhealthy levels.
According to Mercer (US) Inc., a human resource consulting firm, publication, “States, Cities Tackle COVID-19 Paid Leave.
The rule, covering employers with more than 100 employees would have required vaccination or regular testing but was struck down in court in January 2022, before it went into full effect.
Employers are placing a new strategic focus on absence management, creating more formal programs and policies.
A company may rely on a vendor's technology platform while maintaining internal staff for leave intake and management.
Third-party software, for example, can help HR professionals track a variety of leaves, return-to-work dates, and can automate a lot of mundane tasks.