We’ve just graduated from the nursing program at Husson University and are eager to begin the next chapter of our lives. That means pursuing our careers in nursing. But we’re also looking at all the future has to offer.
That means making decisions about our personal lives, planting roots and even starting families. As we consider this, one question is at the forefront: Should we stay in Maine or move elsewhere?
It is very important to us to find a balance between career and family. We want to live somewhere that will work for both. There are a million factors to consider, but we keep coming back to one important topic we considered during our final year of nursing study: paid family medical leave.
During our senior year nursing policy course we worked with professor Moira O’Neill and state Sen. Geoff Gratwick, M.D. and surveyed family medical leave plans across the country. We talked with experts and reviewed the literature.
Our research showed that paid family medical leave would have enormous benefit for our state and for Mainers like us.
In our clinical work, we already have witnessed the impact of family-unfriendly policies. We’ve heard patients ask how they’d care for ailing parents without losing their jobs or welcome a new child into their lives without going broke. Paid family medical leave would eliminate the sacrifices families are forced to make between choosing to put food on the table and caring for a loved one. The benefits of paid family medical leave would snowball, even beyond these obvious ones.
It would help businesses: In our research, we learned that employers with paid family medical leave benefit from low turnover, higher productivity and better workplace morale. In a California survey, 91 percent of businesses reported that paid leave either had no effect or a positive effect on profitability.
It would help state budgets: Family medical leave decreases long-term unemployment and reliance on food stamps or other forms of public aid. Older adults who are able to stay in their homes do not lose their assets to pay for long-term care or shift costs to state programs, such as Medicaid. The caregiver has a job to return to and, studies show, more options for advancement because of an uninterrupted work record.
The inherent value of paid family medical leave is so obvious that it is the standard practice in 185 countries and territories, according to a report from the International Labor Organization, an agency within the United Nations. But, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, only 12 percent of private-sector workers have access to paid family leave. While the federal Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 provides workers with job protection without pay for 12 weeks to care for a new child or sick family member, the choice of taking time off without pay is no choice. Most of us simply cannot afford the loss of income.
As Maine grapples with its aging population and declining birthrate, we need policies that will draw young families to our state and keep them here to build the workforce and industries of tomorrow. Many states, cities and even private companies, such as Facebook, are adopting family-supportive policies to attract and retain young workers like us. Maine should do the same.
We considered many questions as we did our research. How long should an employee have been working to qualify? Should part-time employees be covered? What percentage of a wage should be paid? What is the duration of leave? What is the effect on small businesses as opposed to larger ones?
The answers to those questions are different in every state, but there are answers.
California, New Jersey and Rhode Island now offer paid family medical leave funded through employee payroll taxes administered through the state’s disability programs. In April, New York became the first state to fund family medical leave by utilizing employee and employer contributions.
The programs are not cookie-cutter; each state has found its own way to make it work for employees, businesses and state governments alike. The question for us is, can Maine find a creative way to make a family friendly policy work here, too?
We want to be able to stay in Maine, close to our families and the places we love. This is a great place to live and work. If we adopt carefully designed, fiscally prudent family medical leave policies, Maine can make it easy for us to stay and attract other young people, too.
We are beginning to work with our legislators in Augusta to draft a bill that will make our dreams a reality. Then, Maine will be an even better example of “The way life should be.”
Tayla Baker and Kayla Merrill are Maine residents and recent graduates of the Husson University School of Nursing.