Can 60 days of sick leave make employees stay on the job longer? Wake County thinks so.

In what some experts call the “Great Resignation” during the COVID-19 pandemic, over 46 million people left their jobs between 2021 and 2022.

Those former employees cited issues like low pay, burnout, or elder and child care needs as reasons for their departure, according to the federal Bureau of Labor. The phenomenon left about 11 million job openings.

Wake County has struggled with employee retention. High turnover and vacancies affect the county’s nearly 4,400 jobs, from the animal center to social services.

Most of the turnovers, about 80%, occur in the first 10 years of service. Last year, the rate reached 15.4% and cost the county an estimated $66 million in recruiting, hiring and training costs. Some county employees also saw their workloads double because of vacancies.

To combat this, the county’s human resources department came up with a plan to give every employee who reaches a five-year milestone of employment 60 additional days of sick leave.

By their 20th year of work for Wake County, employees could have up to 240 additional sick days available to them.

After weeks of discussion, the Wake County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the additional sick leave on Nov. 21. It begins Friday, Dec. 1.

“I’m so happy to support this. I understand what a challenging labor market we are in and how it’s so very important for our employees to understand how much we value them,” Commissioner Susan Evans said. “I think this is one way that we can do that without incurring a huge financial burden to the county.”

As part of the plan, the county has a catch-up accrual of 120 days for employees who have reached 20 or more years of service in 2023.

How the new sick-leave policy will work

The policy rewards employees for staying on the job.

Starting with their fifth anniversary, county employees get an additional 2.5 days per pay period, or five days of sick leave each month, until they reach the full 60 days a year.

Employees must be in their fifth, 10th, 15th or 20th year of service to qualify for each additional 60 days. The leave works like regular sick days, which employees can use or roll over.

Unused sick leave is not paid out upon separation and can’t roll over to another local government within the county if an employee leaves, said Angela Crawford, the county’s chief human resources director.

It can count as service time for pension calculations under the state’s local government retirement system or can count as service time for health insurance benefits.

While 60 extra sick days may sound like a lot, one municipal government in Wake County offers its staff more.

City of Raleigh employees get an extra 5.44 days per month in their eighth year of employment, or 65 additional sick days that year. They get another 65 days at the 15-year mark, and at 25 years, 10.8 extra days per month or about 130 days.

Raleigh implemented the initiative a few years ago and since then three other municipalities — Apex, Cary, and Wake Forest — have adopted additional leave policies.

“We had employees coming to us who knew employees working in those (other towns) and asked why don’t we have this,” Crawford said. “That’s one thing that kind of happens. One jurisdiction will implement something or the county will implement something and everyone follows suit because they are our direct competitors.”

Crawford said Wake started the initiative earlier than Raleigh at five years because the county loses most of its employees between the one and 10-year mark. After 10 years, turnover rates decline.

The struggle to employ and retain

Last year, six Wake County departments had turnover rates of 15% or more.

The county Board of Elections had 27% turnover losing 10 positions, followed by the Housing Department which lost 18 employees (19%), and the Health and Human Services Department which lost 291 (18.5%).

Other departments like Emergency Medical Services, the Sheriff’s Office and Fire services also saw high turnover and challenges hiring for certain positions in 2022.

On average, current employees fall between 38 and 52 years of age, with people between 21 and 38 more likely to work for the county less than five years.

Currently, Wake County employees get eight hours of sick leave, or one full day, per month. Annual leave accruals are based on the number of years of employment with the county. Employees get two days per year for wellness leave and 40 hours per year for bereavement leave.

When county employees leave, many of them go to other local governments.

“When we raise our minimums, other towns and counties raise theirs, too, and their workload is smaller,” Crawford said. “So employees can come to us and sometimes get trained and then go to a small jurisdiction like Garner or Apex and make pretty close to the same amount of money with a lot less work.”

Some employees have also left county jobs for other markets. Medical positions in the county could be lost to hospitals, and research or information technology employees often leave for jobs in Research Triangle Park.

Crawford said the additional sick leave is only one way that county leaders are combating high turnover rates.

“This is an incentive for employees to stay, to get to those mile marker years of service so hopefully we’ll be able to keep them longer,” said Trinija Martin, the county’s deputy HR director. “One of the things we hear is room for advancement, so this would also create some opportunity, potentially, for folks who want to move up in (their careers.”

Wake County is the only government that begins the accrual at five years but it could face competition as other towns including Garner, Holly Springs, Morrisville and Wendell consider adopting additional sick leave policies.

Commissioner Donald Mial thanked the county’s human resources at the Nov. 20 meeting for working to retain employees.

“We as commissioners place a high value on staff. Without what staff does, there’s no way we would be able to do the job,” Mial said. “Especially when we start talking about our sheriff’s department. Sheriff Rowe is doing a wonderful job of trying to fill all those vacancies. This is another tool that he will be able to utilize. ... It’s the little, bitty things that make a difference.”