A Cool Strategy to Handle Sick Leave and Holiday Pay

An issue with which many offices struggle is how to handle sick leave with their staff members? If you’re inclined to offer this benefit (and I’m a fan of offering this benefit to loyal team members), I have a suggestion for a wonderful way to handle it.

You may decide to reward your long-term, full-time (more than 32-hours per week) team members with one-week’s worth of sick or personal leave. We all know what an inconvenience it is to the efficient operation of the office when a team member unexpectedly misses work. For that reason, it’s a great idea to offer some motivation and incentive to be present at work.

The way to do that is to offer “well pay,” instead of “sick leave.” Well pay is offered for all unused sick leave during a twelve-month period. Notice that I wrote “during a twelve month period.” Twenty-five years ago, I changed my payroll year to begin on December 1 (or the first Thursday in December). Since our payroll period consisted of a two-week period beginning on a Thursday and ending on a Wednesday, the payroll year began on the first of these two-week periods, each December. By ending each payroll year in December, I was able to issue well-pay checks during the second pay cycle in December. Not coincidentally, a very important holiday also falls around that time. An earned well-pay check comes in very handy around Christmas time, and the employee feels like they are getting a bonus for being healthy and dependable…which they ARE. Since I’m not a fan of cash rewards to team members solely based on a holiday popping up on the calendar, the-well pay check is a great substitute.

By ending the payroll period on a Wednesday, and distributing checks on the following Friday, we know that the recorded hours are accurate. There is no estimating or guessing. This also allows a full day for the payroll service to process the payroll checks.

Dr. Mike Goldstein
Goldstein Management