Parental leave, volunteer time off and discounted childcare added to benefits program
Chester County Commissioners Michelle Kichline, Kathi Cozzone and Terence Farrell approved a series of new employee benefits for full-time County of Chester employees at a recent public Commissioners’ Meeting. The benefits include paid parental leave, volunteer time off and a discounted childcare program.
The County’s Human Resources personnel developed the new benefits at the Commissioners’ request, following recommendations made by County employees who are part of Chester County government’s Employee Engagement Committee.
“Chester County government provides many crucial services for county residents, and we are very proud of the professionalism of our staff in delivering those services. We appreciate them and we want to keep them, so we enlisted the help of County staff to explore ways of ensuring county employees remain engaged,” said Chester County Commissioners’ Chair Michelle Kichline.
“The suggestions made by our Employee Engagement Committee included benefits that could be offered to County staff while still being extremely mindful of our fiduciary responsibilities,” added Commissioner Kichline.
Paid parental leave gives up to six weeks’ time off as a way to support both moms and dads to ensure they can spend special time with their growing families.
Volunteer time off gives Chester County employees up to two additional days each year to use for volunteering in the community.
“Many county employees already give back to the community as volunteers of a wide variety of non-profit organizations and we applaud that,” said Chester County Commissioner Kathi Cozzone. “This benefit demonstrates that we appreciate what they do and how difficult it is to find the time to volunteer. It also provides the potential of an additional 28,000 hours of volunteer time in Chester County every year.”
The County also negotiated discounted childcare programs for Chester County employees at different locations around the county, and the options for the network of discounted childcare facilities is anticipated to increase.
“Chester County prides itself as a great place to work and every day we hear of, and see examples of how County employees go above and beyond to serve the citizens of Chester County,” said Chester County Commissioner Terence Farrell. “In fact, in our 2018 Quality of Life citizen survey, Chester County residents graded County employees with 90 percent and higher in the areas of courteousness, knowledge of the issue, overall performance and responsiveness/follow up. We are proud of the work that they do every day.
“We were pleased to review the suggested benefits put forward by our Employee Engagement Committee, and know that the benefits we are introducing will help our employees support their own families and give back to the Chester County community.”