HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 118 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 22-118
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 16, 2022
Page 1 of 3
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SUBJECT: PARENTAL LEAVE UPDATE
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The goals of the City of Fort Worth employee benefit leave structure are to ensure benefits are simple to
understand, simple to administer, provide employees with adequate financial protection when they need to be off
from work, be competitive in the marketplace, and be sustainable for the productivity and budgetary needs of the
City. During FY21, the City introduced the paid Parental Leave benefit program for all City employees, including
general and civil service employees. The benefit provides six(6) weeks of paid leave to employees following the
birth or placement of a child in connection with adoption, foster care or another legal placement. The purpose of
paid parental leave is to enable qualified employees to care for and bond with a newborn or newly placed child
while creating financial continuity during this time without regard to other available leave benefits.
The initial cost was estimated to be at least $850K per year, based on an estimated 100 births per year on the City's
health plan. It was noted births outside of the City's health plan could increase cost over$1M. That proved to be
true in that the cost in lost productive time, during the first year of paid parental leave, was over$1.4M. The charts
below show the highest usage of the parental leave benefit were civil service personnel both in number and
cost.
Total • • - - and Cost by Department
Police68 IF Fire Civil Service
Transportation18� Police General Fund SW.266
Compliance13= Code
46 Human Resources ,:
4@ Financial Management Services x.
0:
Municipal31
Propertyso
6N Park and Recreation %Z5r999
Development
41 Neighborhood Services IS18.439
21 information Technology i
I I Planning and D.
I Fire General Fund 06
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 22-118
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 16, 2022
Page 2 of 3
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SUBJECT: PARENTAL LEAVE UPDATE
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257Employees
Participated
r7 3 016 2:7.0%
Male Employees Female Employees
187 •
• � % r73% Female Employees
1 Total Employees
(:27% Male Employees
Total00, 3 C2% C41 0/6 187
t •
The chart above also shows that male employees utilized the parental leave benefit more than female employees,
mostly due to the Fire/Police Civil Service usage, but also because other departments have large male populations
in field operations such as Water and Transportation Public Works (TPW). The citywide average amount of Parental
Leave usage was 4.2 weeks out of the six-week benefit with female employees, on average, using more leave time
than males.
average
4,2wm*s used Pa ffnp"m
088total
of Parental Leave Used
1.4 million
Cost of Parental
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 22-118
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 16, 2022
Page 3 of 3
i
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SUBJECT: PARENTAL LEAVE UPDATE
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1075
Not surprisingly,this benefit tends to affect younger employees, and therefore 77%of the users have worked at the
City for 10 years or less and 50%of the City's workforce has been employed with the City for fewer than 10 years.
(see charts below)
Parental Based on f
r
Human Resources recently reviewed the amount of paid parental leave being offered in Fort Worth to the
marketplace and concluded that it is a competitive amount. While there are a few exceptions, most other cities,
and even private organizations, offer six weeks or less for the benefit. Additionally, the productivity costs listed
above for sworn Fire does not include the additional costs associated with minimum staffing requirements. The
sworn employees backfilling the positions are typically earning overtime. Therefore, a $400K cost in lost
productivity could actually be considered a net$1M cost to the organization ($400K lost productivity+ $600K in
backfill or overtime compensation). The total cost to expand the program to 12 weeks, including the backfilling
cost for Fire Civil Service would be $4.1M for the organization.
Fir-
LostiiTotal
$2 $4.1 If expanded to
MILLION OT Expense for Fire MILLION includes Backfilling Cost
Due to minimum staffing requirements C) for Fire Civil Service
The paid parental leave benefit has proven to be a successful and highly used benefit by employees. Dianna
Giordano, Human Resources Director, is available if you have any questions.
David Cooke
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS