Know Your Adoption Benefits
For years, American companies have offered benefits like paid leave and medical-care reimbursement to employees having a baby. Many employers feel it's the right thing to do -- and it's the law.
But not every employee has a child through birth. Some adopt. Now, spurred by increasing numbers of international adoptions, greater acceptance of adoption by single parents and gays/lesbians, and the efforts of the late Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's and himself an adoptee, more companies are offering benefits to adoptive parents.
What Are Adoption Benefits?
Adoption benefits include paid or unpaid time off during the adoption process and financial reimbursement for expenses. Costs vary, depending on whether adoption involves an American infant, an older American child in foster care (many of whom have disabilities or siblings) or an adoptee from overseas.
The average stipend companies offer is $5,000, according to Gloria Hochman, director of communications for the National Adoption Center, though some employers pay up to $10,000. Reimbursement covers expenses like home studies, legal and agency fees, and travel. Total adoption costs can run from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands.
Many employers also offer adoption assistance to employees, such as counseling and referral services. Some companies provide flexible scheduling. Hochman calls that an important option, because adoptive parents are generally anxious about the process.
Larger corporations have bigger benefit budgets, Hochman says. Smaller companies and nonprofits are more apt to provide leave. Some combine financial reimbursement with other benefits. Hochman says that in 2004, 89 percent of Working Mother magazine's top 100 companies offered a combination of benefits to adoptive parents.
Who Offers Adoption Benefits?
Rita Soronen, executive director of the Adoption Friendly Workplace initiative, the signature program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, sees "growing interest and a move to action" in workplace adoption benefits. Soronen cites a Hewitt Associates workplace study showing that in 2004, 39 percent of 1,000 major corporations offered financial benefits to adopting employees. This represents a major increase from 1990, when only 12 percent did.
According to Hochman, 650 American companies offer some type of adoptive benefits. Many are large corporations, such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Chubb.
Soronen notes that companies that provide adoption benefits are spread evenly across the US and include all industries and sectors. However, she warns, those benefits are not widely used. Why? According to The Adoption History Project, only 125,000 children are adopted annually -- down from 175,000 in 1970, Soronen explains.
And not all companies offer adoption benefits, Soronsen adds, because "it's not on their radar. They don't think of it until an employee raises the issue, and it takes a savvy employee to know if her company or a competitor offers it. Some companies don't think it's worth the effort to put them in place, because it's such a special niche. Some companies think they can't afford it, and some just don't want to offer them."
Why Adoption Benefits?
Yet, Soronen says, adoption benefits make a company popular -- and are cost-effective. "Businesses that offer them like them, because they don't really cost a lot -- the number of employees who use them are so low -- but they pay a lot of dividends in goodwill and loyalty," she says.
And these dividends are important, Soronen says, because the adoption process can be stressful, confusing, preoccupying and expensive. Children can become available quickly, particularly in international adoptions. An employee considering adoption must act decisively, sometimes in the middle of a big project or assignment. Bureaucratic snags may keep a parent overseas longer than anticipated. Adoptive parents may also need bonding time with their children. And employees who adopt older children may require time off to deal with psychological or medical issues.
Hochman says few companies differentiate between married, single and gay/lesbian parents. "Basically, the companies that offer adoption benefits do it because they want happy employees," she says. "They're not going to withhold benefits for arbitrary reasons."
Adds Soronen, "This is about recognizing that families are created in a variety of ways. And companies today want to support them all."
-
【必备】大学生求职信模板汇总九篇
日子如同白驹过隙,我们将带着新的期许,开启新一轮的求职,是时候静下心来写一封求职信了哦。求职信要怎么写?想必这让大家都很苦恼吧,下面是小编帮大家整理的大学生求职信9篇,仅供参考,大家一起来看看吧。大学生求职信篇1XX经理:您好!感谢您抽出宝贵时间来阅读我的求职...
-
有创意的简历
求职中,个性突出,特征鲜明的求职者容易在竞争中取胜,而简历也需要个性突出,特征鲜明,个性化的简历会从众多简历中折射出光芒,吸引招聘官的目光,但在各种简历模版,写作规则,注意事项前,许多求职者迷失了自我,简历失去了个性,把简历当成了自我吹捧的抒情散文,过于专注自己取得...
-
中专生个人求职信10篇
时间一晃而过,又到了求职找工作的时候,感觉我们很有必要写求职信了。千万不能认为求职信随便应付就可以喔,下面是小编为大家收集的中专生个人求职信,欢迎大家借鉴与参考,希望对大家有所帮助。中专生个人求职信1尊敬的贵公司领导:您好!非常感谢您在百忙中抽空审阅我的...
-
国际贸易求职信模板锦集八篇
时间稍纵即逝,又将迎来自己找工作的生活,你的求职信写好了吗?但是怎么写才更能吸引眼球呢?下面是小编为大家整理的国际贸易求职信10篇,欢迎阅读与收藏。国际贸易求职信篇1尊敬的公司领导:您好!首先对您能看完这封信表示深深地感谢。本人欲申请外贸及相关工作。我自信...