Almost half of small business owners would support mandatory paid time off

(This post originally appeared on The Washington Post)

Ask any millennial–those between the ages of 18 and 34–what benefits they prefer the most and I bet you’ll hear the same thing. Sure, health insurance is important (particularly for those on the higher end of that age range). But in survey after survey, this generation has made it clear that paid time off is very, very important. In some cases, even more so than compensation.

It seems that employers–even small employers–are starting to get that message.

A study released this week by human resources company Paychex revealed that almost half (48 percent) of the 257 U.S. employers surveyed who employ between 2 and 500 employees said that they would, on some level, support legislation requiring paid leave. Not surprisingly, a whopping 71 percent of them are millennials.

The reason? Probably because employers are starting to read the writing on the wall. California, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, Washington, Rhode Island and, as of Jan. 1, New York State, as well as many other cities and jurisdictions already require some form of mandatory paid leave . President Trump and his daughter Ivanka have championed paid time off for new parents and included the proposal as part of his most recent budget. Even the new tax reform legislation that passed last month includes a provision giving employers up to a 25 percent tax credit on salaries voluntarily paid to employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

However, there’s still a lot of debate. The Paychex study found that 35 percent of small business owners “lack strong feelings” about mandatory paid time off. That’s because it’s mostly larger companies (78 percent) that are fully in support of some type of legislation. Why? “Whether it’s having a key member of a small team out of the office for an extended period of time or the back-end administration of such a program, mandatory paid leave will introduce new dynamics small business owners will have to navigate,” the company’s CEO said in a press release.

The biggest challenge is how a mandatory measure like this would be paid for. On this issue, business owners were very much split, with 43 percent feeling the federal government should pick up the tab, while 40 percent saying it should fall on the shoulders of employers.

Note: Paychex is a client of my company, The Marks Group PC. I have received no compensation to write this column.