U.S. Lacking in Workplace Support Policies

The United States (U.S.) is far behind other economically successful nations in terms of adopting policies that support workers and families, reveals a new study by researchers at Harvard and McGill Universities. In fact, 14 of the world’s 15 most competitive countries provide paid sick leave, 13 guarantee paid leave for new mothers, and 12 provide paid leave for new fathers. The report also reveals that 11 of the most competitive countries provide paid leave to care for children’s health needs, eight provide paid leave to care for adult family members, and seven guarantee breastfeeding breaks to nursing mothers on the job. At the federal level, the U.S. offers its workers none of these supports.

In the U.S., legislation has been introduced in Congress to provide a minimum standard of paid sick days and paid family leave, as well as numerous other workplace supports but no floor votes are currently scheduled.

Raising the Global Floor: Dismantling the Myth that We Can’t Afford Good Working Conditions for Everyone was written by Jody Heymann, founding director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy at McGill University and Alison Earle, while a research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health. The book examines policies, protections and supports in 190 of the world’s 192 United Nations countries.

Posted by RecruitingTrends.com on November 30, 2009. Filed under Healthcare, Human Resources, Recruiting, Retention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry