每日英語跟讀 Ep.K067: Salaried or Hourly? The Gaps in Family-Friendly Policies Begin to Close
As the labor market tightens, employers have been competing for highly educated workers by trying to make it easier for them to do their jobs and also have families — benefits like egg freezing or reduced schedules for new parents.
隨著美國勞動市場緊俏，雇主競相推出福利措施以招攬高學歷員工，讓他們更容易兼顧工作與家庭，例如協助員工冷凍卵子，或減少新手父母的工時。
Now, some employers are beginning to address the same challenge for lower-wage workers, starting with paid family leave.
現在，一些雇主開始幫薪水較低的勞工解決同樣的問題，第一步是提供有薪家事假。
Starbucks last month announced raises and stock grants for all employees in the United States, along with new benefits aimed specifically at workers with family caregiving responsibilities: paid time off to care for sick family members and paid paternity leave for hourly employees.
上月，跨國連鎖咖啡店星巴克宣布給美國所有員工加薪並配股，並針對承擔家庭照護責任的勞工推出新的福利：讓員工帶薪休假照護患病的家人，並讓時薪制員工享有帶薪陪產假。
It followed the announcement by Walmart last month that it was raising pay and adding family-friendly benefits. It gave full-time hourly workers the same paid parental leave as salaried ones and said it would help pay for adoptions, including for hourly workers.
跨國零售企業沃爾瑪則在1月稍早宣布給員工加薪並提高安家福利，讓全職的時薪制員工享有與年薪制員工同樣的帶薪育嬰假，並將替員工支付部分領養小孩的費用，時薪制員工也適用。
It’s a sign that the effects of low unemployment have reached companies that rely on low-wage workers. Both companies also credited tax cuts.
這個跡象顯示，低失業率的效應已觸及仰賴低薪勞工的公司。這兩家公司都表示，減稅也是它們有餘裕提高員工福利的原因。
“It brings the talent we’re looking for, and industry-leading retention,” said Reggie Borges, a Starbucks spokesman. The company had been planning to add benefits for a while, he said, but the corporate tax cuts “were an accelerator.”
星巴克發言人柏爾赫斯說：「家庭福利能引來我們尋覓的高手，並讓我們保持業界領先的地位。」他說，星巴克計畫提高福利已有一段時間，不過企業稅降低「讓此事加速實現」。
By focusing on family-friendly benefits, companies are also catching up to the fact that family life has changed faster than workplace or public policies. In families of all income levels, it’s more common for both parents to work or women to be the breadwinners, and the lack of family-friendly benefits has led to declining labor force participation as people struggle to combine work and parenthood.
企業在專注改善家庭福利的同時，也順應了一個事實：家庭生活改變的速度比職場或公共政策來得快。不論是哪一種收入階層的家庭，雙親都工作或女性養家的情況都更為常見，而缺乏安家福利已使人們難以兼顧工作和親職，以致勞動參與率下降。
Benefits like paid parental leave are a crucial factor for people, especially women, in continuing to work. Yet hourly workers, who generally have the most need for paid parental leave, have also been the least likely to get it. Only recently have more companies begun to change that.
有薪育嬰假這類福利對人們繼續工作十分重要，尤其是女性。不過，通常最需要帶薪育嬰假的是時薪制員工，偏偏他們卻是最不可能得到的一群人。直到最近才有更多公司著手改變這個情況。
The United States is the only industrialized country not to mandate paid parental leave. Employers choose whether and how much to offer, and this varies greatly. Of the 20 largest employers, all but one, Lowe’s, offer some form of paid parental leave. Eight of them give hourly employees less than salaried employees — in time, pay or both — including Starbucks and General Electric, according to a Times analysis.
美國是唯一未強制規定給予有薪育嬰假的工業化國家。給不給育嬰假和給多少假由雇主決定，而雇主之間的差別很大。根據紐約時報分析，美國前20大公司，除家居裝修產品零售商勞氏外，都提供某種形式的有薪育嬰假，其中8家給時薪制員工的育嬰假條件，不如給年薪制員工的，包括星巴克和奇異，或者在天數方面，或者在薪資方面，也可能兩方面皆然。
Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/323365/web/
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