It is literally Sadia Piprawala Loteryman’s job to find time for employees in need. As a member of Levi Strauss & Co.’s Leave Management department in our Human Resources division, she is tasked with working with employees who need to take time off from work for any variety of personal reasons while securing their jobs or income.
It’s a scenario Sadia herself sadly faced a few years ago when her mother was in a car accident. As hard as that incident was, a hospital visit led to a tougher discovery – that her mom’s recovery would be slow. She would need care and attention that Sadia, a new mom herself, worried would be hard to carve out in her schedule. “I was pretty much the breadwinner for my family as my husband was in school at that time. So of course, with a young one at home as well, we had to make sure that the bills would get paid.”
Sadia was able to cobble together time off through the company’s various benefits and get help for her mom through our backup care program, which provides employees with 100 hours a year for at-home care at the subsidized cost of just $4 an hour. But it wasn’t just a benefit, it was peace of mind for Sadia, whose mom lives four and a half hours away from her in Houston, Texas. “The care providers were really good about communicating with me on how she was doing, providing me with updates that she would probably not have wanted me to be concerned with, but they were more forthcoming about.”
Today, Sadia is expecting her second child and while her mother is in better health, she now has a new benefit to tap for time – our robust paid family leave program. In addition, once the new baby arrives, Sadia will receive an additional 100 hours of backup childcare to help with the transition in the first year of the baby’s life.
Our new paid family leave policy provides U.S. benefits-eligible home office and retail employees with up to eight weeks of paid time off per year to care for an immediate family member – whether a child, parent, spouse or domestic partner – with a serious health condition.
As part of our comprehensive benefits approach designed to address the needs of a modern workforce, our new program provides U.S. benefits-eligible home office and retail employees with up to eight weeks of paid time off per year to care for an immediate family member – whether a child, parent, spouse or domestic partner – with a serious health condition.
Paid family leave complements our other benefits, including the backup childcare and backup eldercare Sadia utilized three years ago, and our paid parental leave benefit, which provides up to eight weeks of paid time off for parents welcoming a new child. They are a testament to how we as a company are leading the way when it comes to employee well-being and helping our workforce to be healthy, happy and successful at work and at home.
Sadia happens to fall in the “sandwich generation” – individuals in their 30s, 40s and 50s who are more likely to be caring for both a child and an elder at the same time. With 50 percent of our U.S. home office workers between the age of 36 and 55, this benefit addresses the realities that many of our employees are facing today.
Of course, giving employees the time they need to do right by their loved ones is ultimately a good business move as well. Access to paid family and medical leave benefits can encourage employee retention, support productivity and foster a culture where employees can continue to do their best work. Just ask Sadia herself.
“It means the world because I know if something happens, I can still afford to pay my bills, but I can also take care of my mom the way that I need to and be there for my baby,” she said. “It is literally the gift of time – and there’s no price you can put on that.”
