We take our commitment to our people and core values seriously! We are proud to offer robust benefits and support to the parents within #TeamTupelo.
Paid Parental Leave
Welcoming a new life into your family can be a whirlwind. We offer 4 weeks of PAID parental leave to ANY team member who has worked as part of the team for 9 months. Whether they are full time or part time, hourly or salary, the mom or dad, biological or adoptive family, the benefit is available to them.
Team members receive 40% of their average earned wages for 4 weeks when participating in the leave program. When combined with Short Term Disability insurance offered, team members can be paid up to 100% for the four weeks.
“We formalized our parental leave program in early 2017. We wanted to solidify our commitment to working families, to remove a layer of uncertainty – and make it fully known that we believe and support the value that working parents have in our company,” our Senior VP of HR Caroline Skinner explains.
Chris & his family
Chris, our Executive Chef in Greenville, SC, took Paid Parental Leave for the birth of his second child. We spoke to him and his wife, Sydney, about their experience. “Babies are only weeks old once and I got to soak it all up, it was amazing. Plus helping my wife while she was recovering was very important to me,” Chris describes.
Sydney says, “It was amazing. I mean he did everything. I know he enjoyed it a lot because he got more time with a newborn. Which is such an important time right when the baby comes home.”
At a previous company, Chris worked 2 weeks straight up until the birth of his first child to collect extra days off and only had a total of 7 days off. “You’re so tired and (as the mother) in so much pain still. And you’re up every couple of hours with the baby. You’re just a zombie for that first week especially. So, having that extra time to enjoy as a family when you’re in a better state of mind, it makes a difference,” Sydney recalls. For Chris the leave benefit also gives, “Peace of mind that you work for a company that looks out for your best interest.”
In fact, 92% of the food service industry does NOT offer paid parental leave1. As part of the small percentage of employers offering this benefit, we hope to not only positively impact our team members, but to raise the bar in our industry.
At Tupelo Honey, we’re proud to make this investment in our team members and go beyond the status quo of our industry. Skinner says, “Most rewarding for us to see is the impact this investment has for team members and being able to support them through this extremely memorable moment in time.”
“When Chris was home, he played with our two-year-old while I just got to hold the baby. If he had to go back to work, I’d have to get tough real quick because you can’t keep a two year on the couch all day… We are very grateful for that time off,” Sydney states.
Chris adds, “I’ve worked at 3 other companies and they don’t come close to having our benefits.”
We provide a Honey Pot of benefits for our team members that help support working parents and everyone throughout #teamTupelo.
Fair Wage and Medical
“Money doesn’t grow on trees,” a parent somewhere is currently saying. We ensure our team can make wages that sustain an independent economic livelihood through our Fair Start Wage program and full-time employees medical benefit packages.
Paid Time Off
It can’t be all work and no play! We know it’s essential to take a family vacation or time off for a sick family member without disrupting pay. That’s why on DAY ONE our paid time off benefits begin for ALL team members.
Hourly team members accrue PTO hours based on hours worked according to an increasing rate scale based on tenure. On average our team members across all locations, new and old, earn 28 hours of vacation and 4 sick hours each year. Salary team members receive PTO each January based on number of service years attained. On average, our salaried team members are receiving 80 hours of PTO and 24 hours of sick each year.
#FURBABIES
Find yourself in more of the Dog Mom or Cat Dad category? We feel your love for your furbabies and want them to get the best care too! All team members with us for three months are offered the chance to enroll in Pet Insurance to help cover costs related to pet’s medical expenses.
1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2018, September). National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States. Retrieved May 2019, from https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2018/ownership/private/table32a.htm