Our small (Pittsfield) business wants to offer paid family leave

To The Daily Sun,

As a small N.H. manufacturer, we are interested in excellent customer service, growing our business and treating our employees well. We see family leave as a critical tool for supporting employees of all ages and are highly interested in the bills before the House and Senate. We appreciate that Democrats and Republicans alike recognize the importance of family leave for retaining young employees as they start their families and for employees dealing with unexpected illness or aging parents.

We understand that working out the finances is tricky. Winging it on our own as a seven-person business is tricky too. Three employee’s wives gave birth in under a year. We saw first-hand the pressure dads feel as they strive to balance work and be there for their wives and babies, especially through unexpected complications. All three dad’s were devoted to supporting their wives and bonding with their babies. Though we offered people some leave, it did not feel adequate and we wished that there had already been an affordable family leave program in place that we could have participated in.

N.H. welcomes 12,275 babies a year and approximately 29 percent of adults are caring for aging parents.

As Democrats and Republicans negotiate to get to a yes on a plan they can both support, we ask that you find a solution that N.H.’s small businesses can say yes to as well. There are approximately 100,000 N.H. employees working for businesses with fewer than 20 employees that are counting on it.

(Statistics: Small Business Development Center, Kaiser Family Foundation and AARP)

Cyndi Paulin

Barnstead