Paid holidays were available to 82 percent of full-time employees. Employees received, on average, nine holidays per year. For companies that offered paid holidays, 75 percent gave their employees a substitute holiday off when a holiday fell on a regularly scheduled day off.
Paid vacation
Eighty-eight percent of full-time employees received paid vacation time. The amount of vacation time a worker receives often depended on the length of time the employee had worked at a company. For one year of service, vacation time averaged around eight days per year. Vacation time rose to about fourteen days per year for ten years of service and to around fifteen days per year for twenty years of service.
Medical care
Medical care is one of the most common employee benefits offered by small businesses. Seventy-one percent of small business employees participated in a company-sponsored medical plan. One-third of the employees participating in these plans were covered by nontraditional medical care plans such as health maintenance organizations (HMOs) or preferred provider organizations (PPOs). All of the participants in medical care plans have coverage for hospital room and board, in-hospital physician visits, and surgery, x-ray, and laboratory services. Fifty-three percent of the employees were in individual-care plans that were paid for entirely by the employer and 27 percent had family-care plans that were paid for entirely by the employer.
Paid funeral leave
Paid funeral leave was available to 50 percent of full-time employees. Funeral leave averaged three days per occurrence.
Paid jury duty
Paid jury duty was available to 58 percent of full-time employees. The amount of paid time off depended upon the length of the jury duty service. It should be noted that some states mandate paid time off for jury duty.
Paid sick leave
About 50 percent of full-time employees had paid sick leave. Sick leave plans, on average, provided about nine days per year, with full pay for employees with over five years of service with the company.
Life insurance
Life insurance protection was available to 64 percent of full-time employees of small businesses. Typically, the cost of basic life insurance was paid for in its entirety by the employer. Nearly 40 percent of the life insurance plans offered were linked to the base salary of the participants.
Retirement plans
Forty-five percent of all full-time workers were covered by at least one retirement plan. Typically, retirement plans included defined contribution plans, such as 401(k), profit-sharing, and employee pension plans. These plans typically specified the level of employer and employee contributions to the plan. Individual accounts were set up for participants, and benefits were based on amounts credited to these accounts, plus investment earnings. Nearly one-fourth of the full-time employees were covered by a 401(k) plan, usually implemented through a salary reduction plan.
Educational assistance
Educational assistance programs provided full or partial reimbursement of employee expenses incurred for books, tuition, and fees associated with advancing or maintaining their level of education. Thirty-six percent of full-time employees were eligible for job-related educational assistance, and 5 percent were eligible for non-job-related educational assistance.
Short-term disability
Short-term disability was available to 26 percent of full-time employees and provided 50 percent of regular pay for a period of up to twenty-six weeks.
Long-term disability
Long-term disability insurance coverage was offered to 23 percent of all full-time workers. This coverage was three times more common for white-collar workers than it was for blue-collar workers. Long-term disability insurance typically offered 60 percent of regular pay, commencing three to six months post-disability.
Dental care
Dental care was available to 33 percent of full-time workers. Virtually all of the dental plans offered covered preventive care and restorative dental procedures.
Support programs
Support programs were available to 17 percent of all full-time employees and provided these employees with referral and counseling services for alcoholism, drug abuse, and emotional difficulties.
Family benefits
Family benefits include child care, elder care for parents or spouses, and adoption assistance. Only 3 percent of full-time workers were offered family benefits as employees of small businesses.
Paid personal leave
Paid personal leave was provided to 12 percent of full-time employees in small businesses.
Paid maternity leave
Two percent of full-time employees had paid maternity leave available to them.
