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Plan empowers employees with flexibility by Cindy Abole Public Relations How can today’s employers provide their employees with greater flexibility in balancing their time through work and life issues, improve productivity and save money? The answer is paid time off plans. Companies are being more innovative when it comes to accommodating employees when they need time off, while controlling unscheduled absences. Part of the MUSC’s Medical Center's direction to becoming a public authority involves the conversion from a state employee benefits plan to its own.  Last May, Stuart Smith, vice president for clinical operations and executive director for MUSC Medical Center, worked with administrators to organize an employee planning committee to help in the transition process.  In its own balancing act, the Me Issues committee was formed. Smith met with the 15-member group, charging them to address changes and propose recommendations to the MUSC Hospital Authority plan.  Smith encouraged the team to consider their proposals based on an understanding of MUSC’s clinical enterprise strategic plan, the hospital’s financial status and outlook, human resource issues and employee input. “We knew we needed to institute a program that would keep us competitive with other hospitals in the area and at the same time reward individuals for their hard work and loyalty,” said Susan Beason, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and committee member. At other local hospitals, statewide and regional medical institutions, paid time off (PTO) programs have gained in popularity. PTO programs are organized to combine leave into a single pool. “This PTO plan is very generous to our employees,” said Audrey Wilder, PACU unit educator, Ambulatory Surgery. “It addresses the status of current annual leave, sick leave and retirement programs, issues that are on the minds of most employees.” Under the new plan, annual leave and holidays will be combined in the PTO plan for accrual purposes. Extended sick leave (ESL) will be available after an employee uses 24 consecutive hours of PTO. The PTO accrual schedule is based on an employees’ years of service. The policies are scheduled to go into effect beginning July 1.  Current employees will not lose accrued annual leave, sick leave or retirement benefits through the Authority’s plan.  For Wilder, her participation reunited her with other Me Issues Committee members first formed in 1995 to recommend a paid time-off (PTO) plan for the once-proposed MUSC/Columbia-HCA affiliation. “I think our Me Issues group was composed of a lot of talented people who were willing to work hard and come up with a good plan that employees would support,” said Gail Hale, quality assurance coordinator, Central Supply. Since last May, the committee has met more than 25 times in large group and smaller subcommittees to tackle various parts of the PTO policy such as the accrued table, methods of service date determination and conversion procedures. The thorny details group, a smaller task force, was designated to address special employee circumstances where access to ESL may be relaxed. The group also created a communications plan to support managers in reviewing the policies with employees. The subcommittees collected and compared benefit plans from area hospitals, the University HealthSystem Consortium and other organizations around the state and region.  Once they arrived at a recommended plan, the group shared draft versions with the  administrative team for their input and analysis. The final product was presented to President’s Council and the key elements were reported to MUSC’s Board of Trustees. The policy was also sent to the South Carolina  Budget and Control Board’s Office of Human Resources and the State Retirement System for input. “We never side-stepped questions,” said Hale, who remarked that the committee had the support of MUSC’s own Human Resource Management and the administrative team. “All of the resources we needed were there for us.” For the returning Me Issues members, working on this project for the second time around was different experience. “I felt much better about this plan,” Hale said. “I was happy with the direction we were heading throughout the process. We were really an organized group.” The committee was also sensitive in devising  programs that could help reward, attract and retain employees at MUSC. “I felt a greater sense of pride representing my fellow employees in certain issues and concerns,” said Wilder. “Presenting this program with the Authority would hopefully encourage employees to read and thoroughly understand programs that affect them. It shifts the way we, as employees, think regarding our usage of time.” And what did they gain from their experience? “When it comes to information affecting MUSC employees, I’ve learned that we really do have an open door policy,” Wilder said. “Having gone through this, I feel more part of the MUSC family. I’ve developed a respect for the process and our administration.” “The experience has helped me understand that there are always two sides to a story. In this case its both the clinical and financial sides of the hospital and how budgets work,” said Hale. “Our previous work with the Columbia/HCA proposal gave us a foundation to understand the ‘hot buttons’ of what we needed to consider with the Authority. It helped me to see that we really do have a good system.”  The committee will continue in their resource role to support administration until the plan rolls into effect in July and the Authority is in place. The group will meet periodically to guide management and employees throughout the following year.  The Me Issues Committee will receive employee comments and concerns by e-mail: meissues@musc.edu. ‘Tentok’ plan rewards employees  To ease the transition of the PTO plan, the Tentok (10 percent token) plan was created. Under the Tentok, employees will have 10 percent of accrued sick leave up to 24 hours, earmarked for future use without having to first use accrued PTO. This one-time Tentok plan will only apply to employees involved in the initial conversion. The Tentok will remain on an employee’s leave records until it is used. Members of the Me Issues Committee are: Betts Ellis, Integrated Services; Susan Beason, Children's Health; Adell Bell, Adult Echo Lab; Cindy Brown, Radiology; Josie Craig, Occupational Therapy; Gale Hale, Central Supply; Stacia Lancaster, Laboratory Services; Phyllis Malpas, Digestive Disease Center; Raymond Manigault, Radiology; Joan McPherson, NNICU; Sherry Miller, Ambulatory Care; Dolores Reynolds, Children's Health; Phyllis Watson, Respiratory Therapy; Audrey Wilder, Ambulatory Surgery; Cindy Williams, Patient Access Services; and Laurie Zone-Smith, Clinical Services Administration.