The question is, what exactly does an employer owe its employees?

As many people know the United States is the worst offender in providing quality benefits for its employees. Lets compare some figures...

Paid Maternity Leave

United States - 0 days

Afghanistan - 90 days at 100%

Sweden - 480 days at 80% (cost shared with the government)

I understand that Republicans would blow a gasket if liberal hippies started forcing corporations to provide valuable benefits to their employees, so those of us that are stuck in the good ole USA need to look for a solution outside of the government.

That solution is progressively minded business owners. I know that they are few and far between, but they have the power to influence the entire world.

I have been reading the book "Let My People Go Surfing". It is part biography, part business philosophy. The book follows the life of Yvon Chouinard one of the founders of Patagonia. Chouinard (who is an American of French Canadian descent for all of you French bashers out there) strives to provide meaningful benefits to all of his employees and give them as much flexibility as possible. The result has been an extremely successful business, with employees that stay for years. In the late seventies and eighties they were one of the first workplaces to offer on site childcare, a decision that had national ramifications. As well as providing for his employees well being Chouinard has been successful in creating an environmentally sustainable business model, in keeping with his progressive values.

My inspiration for writing this post was seeing a job posting at The Motley Fool. The Motley Fool allows employees to choose many of their own benefits as well as not having any set amount of vacation. The result has been happier employees, and according to the The Wall Street Journal there are more problems with getting the employees to take any vacation than taking too much, with the average being between two and three weeks.

Unhappy employees are unproductive employees. Paying your employee to spend time with her family does not seem like a direct benefit to your business, but constant turnover and disaccord is far worse.