A Third of Small Oklahoma Firms Don't Offer Health Coverage

More than half of all small companies – those with less than 50 employees – provide no retirement plan for workers, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission survey found, according to a Daily Oklahoman report.

Meanwhile, nearly all state businesses with more than 250 employees provide health care benefits to employees and to their dependents, the survey showed. More than eight of 10 large businesses in the state offer some form of retirement plan.

The state survey also found that 26.5% of employers are combining leave time such as sick days and vacation to be used at the discretion of employees. More than a third of responding companies offer six or fewer paid holidays each year.

Roughly the same amount – 35.2% – offer seven or eight paid holidays annually, with the remainder offering more. More than 6% of companies provide 12 or more paid holiday days off to employees, according to the survey. The vast majority of companies provide paid time off for Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day, Labor Day, Independence Day and Memorial Day.

The next most popular paid holidays were the day after Thanksgiving, offered by 46.2% of companies responding; New Year’s Eve, 31.9%; Christmas Eve, 30.5%; Good Friday, 17.6%; and a floating holiday or personal leave day, 12.7%.

The commission conducted the survey in late 2003. The agency mailed an eight-page, 45-question form to 3,384 randomly selected employers of varying sizes in different industries across the state. More than 61% submitted survey responses.