Learning from the pandemic

It’s been on our minds and in the news. On February 7th, the Maine State Breastfeeding Coalition participated in a rally at the State House in Augusta. After a year of the Paid Leave Commission’s review, the Maine legislature is now discussing Paid Family Leave. 

The purpose of a paid family leave law is to support workers with needs of their own and their families. Clearly, the MSBC knows this will encourage new parents with their breastfeeding goals and thus aid the health of families. Paid Leave addresses many issues that will reduce the stress for mothers and fathers, for elderly parents, for adults with a medical issue… long Covid or recovery from surgery, as examples.

The question is how will businesses manage this? 

“The concept of paid family leave may sound good until you realize that it costs money," said Republican Representative Josh Morris, of Turner, the lead Republican on the Health Coverage, Insurance, and Financial Services Committee. "To now have another additional cost be dumped on them is just not the right time."

Given that the pandemic revealed major flaws in family care options and challenges with maintaining full employment, it seems obvious that the right time is now. We should learn from this. 

Representative Morris has a valid concern that Paid Family Leave “costs money”. Though the fact is, not having Paid Family Leave costs money, too. 

Employers have had difficulty in hiring enough employees. This curtails business growth. In addition, it costs money to hire and train new employees when there is regular turnover due to lack of leave time and it takes time for those new employees to get up to speed.

There is value in retaining employees who have been and can continue to contribute. A study done by the Boston Consulting group showed the value of flexibility to care for their family. For businesses that offered paid family leave, employees were more loyal and productive. A Forbes article makes a similar case. Providing Paid Family Leave as a benefit makes the business more attractive to prospective employees.

These two points: employee retention and good morale are also important for small businesses. In addition, offering paid leave makes a business more competitive with the larger companies. Polling by the Small Business Majority in 2021 showed that 70% of small businesses support a national Paid Leave program. “But many small employers view their employees as family,” says Katie Vlietstra Wonnenberg, a principal with public policy firm Public Private Strategies. “They want to take care of their people.” 

Eleven other states have some form of paid family leave, each with a structure they created for their state program. We can learn from these other states and we can learn from the distress of the pandemic. Now is a very good time to respect the need for balance between families and work. Without the participation of healthy, loyal workers, there really is no thriving business.

It’s time. Paid Family Leave can make Maine a healthier and more appealing place to live and work. 

Image credit: Ekaterina Bolovtsova