This report summarizes the findings and recommendations of the Employee Benefits Review Working Group, which was charged with a comprehensive review of non-medical benefits. The group evaluated benefits against four objectives: supporting employees, standardizing offerings, preserving competitive advantage, and managing costs. The working group chose to aim for a cost-neutral set of recommendations while prioritizing equity and employee support.
Synopsis of Recommendations
A. Leave and Paid Time Off
The committee found clear inequity in vacation days for Nonexempt Staff compared to Exempt Staff and peer benchmarks.
- Actionable Recommendation: Increase vacation accruals for early- and mid-career Nonexempt Staff to improve equity and competitiveness (e.g., 0–5 years from 10 to 14 days and 5–10 years from 15 to 16 days).
- Cost Management: To reduce long-term financial liability, the committee recommends limiting annual vacation carryover for all employees to 12 days and ceasing the practice of paying out unused vacation time to unclassified administrators upon departure. This yields significant savings.
B. Educational Assistance Benefits
Several key changes were recommended to modernize and enhance educational benefits, which were cited as a high priority for recruitment and retention.
- Tuition Cash Grant Modernization: The grant amount, fixed since the 1980s, is low and does not scale with inflation. The committee recommends expanding eligibility to include Nonexempt staff, setting the grant amount to 10% of Lehigh’s tuition, and standardizing a 5-year waiting period for all employees.
- Tuition Remission for Employees: To improve retention, the committee recommends implementing a tuition retention period requiring employees who receive graduate tuition remission to repay the tuition paid in the previous two years if they depart.
- Tuition Exchange Program: The committee recommends joining the national Tuition Exchange Program as a low-cost intervention to provide employees' children with affordable options at other participating universities.
C. Retirement Plan Contributions
Retirement contributions were consistently ranked as the most important non-medical benefit by employees. Lehigh’s maximum contribution rate (11%) is competitive with peers. The committee recommended against any cost-saving changes to the retirement benefit stating that any material reduction would further weaken Lehigh’s competitive compensation position.