HR & Service

Experts: Domestic-partner perks bolster staffs, retention

By Dina Berta

(May 10) - Mike Ensberg, human-resources director for Applebee's International Inc., had decided to quit during the mid-1990s to take a job with another company that was offering employees domestic-partner health benefits.

"I thought it was very progressive and open for that company," said Ensberg, who is gay. "It was so unknown really, then, for most companies."

Ensberg ended up not taking that job, however, because when he told his boss, Applebee's chief people officer, Lou Kaucic, why he intended to leave, Kaucic asked him to stay and help get domestic-partner benefits started at the Overland Park-based casual-dining-segment leader.

Applebee's is now among several restaurant companies that provide health benefits to unmarried partners of employees. At a time when gay and lesbian marriage is a hotly contested topic in courts and legislatures around the country, the number of American businesses offering the benefit is rising. About one-third of Fortune 500 companies provided benefits to domestic partners in 2002, 13 percent more than those that did so in the prior year, according to the Human Rights Campaign, or HRC, a national gay and lesbian organization based in Washington, D.C.

HRC listed nine restaurant and foodservice contract companies that offer partner benefits, and People Report, a Dallas firm that tracks personnel data for 78 restaurant companies, reported that 21 percent of them offered domestic-partner benefits in 2003 to full-time hourly employees. That same percentage offers the benefits to their management employees as well. Those figures from the 2003 Survey of Unit Level Employment Practices were fairly stable from the prior year, Joni Doolin, People Report's chief executive, said.

About 9 percent of People Report members also offered the benefits in 2003 to part-time hourly employees. The restaurant chains' People Report tracks represent 12,798 restaurants, 45,865 managers and 638,412 hourly workers.

While the restaurant industry may lag behind other industries in providing partner benefits, some operators and human-resources executives argue that those benefits may help to attract and retain good employees and stay competitive.

Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, the Dallas-based parent of T.G.I. Friday's restaurants, began including the benefit to salaried employees a year ago, according to Anne Varano, senior vice president of human resources.

"It was really to make sure we were offering comparable benefits to all our employees," Varano said. "It's part of our culture of inclusion. We want to value all our employees equally."

Some restaurant executives who asked not to be identified said their companies do not offer the benefits because their organizations are too conservative or because their restaurants operate in states that do not recognize civil unions or marriages between same-sex partners.

Legal skirmishes have been flaring up around the country in recent months over gay and lesbian unions. HRC reported that some 7,000 gay and lesbian couples have gotten married in the United States, but such unions are being opposed in some states.

Massachusetts may begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples May 20, after its state Supreme Court had ruled last fall that it was unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. The state's Legislature, however, voted to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot to define marriage as a union between a man and woman.

Last month Virginia lawmakers passed a law that prohibits the state from recognizing civil unions and denies "any partnership contract or other arrangements that purport to provide the benefits of marriage."

And nationally, Congress is considering an amendment to the Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Despite all the controversy and politics, restaurant operators said their decisions to offer domestic partner benefits simply have been a response to employees' requests.

Dallas-based Brinker International Inc. instituted the benefit in January for salaried managers because of employee interest, spokesman Louis Adams said.

"This was a component some people were looking for, and so we added it," Adams said. "We want to ensure that our benefits packages are relevant for our employee base."

Red Lobster and Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants Inc. of Orlando, Fla., also offers such benefits, both for same-sex partners and opposite-sex partners.

"We talked to our folks, and there was clearly a demand for it," said Jim Lynde, former vice president of human resources for Red Lobster. "People wanted to be able to extend the same benefits to the people who were important in their lives."

The costs are fairly nominal for operators as the benefit is basically the same offered to married couples, human-resources executives indicate.

It's a red herring if a company complains it cannot afford domestic-partner benefits, asserted Daryl Herrschaft, a spokesman for the HRC in Washington.

"In fact, it's likely to be less expensive, as domestic partners tend to be younger and have fewer children," he said.

After Ensberg had agreed to stay with Applebee's, he made a presentation on the advantages of having a corporate domestic partnership benefit to Kaucic, chief executive Lloyd Hill and the chain's executive staff.

"It was a no-brainer," Kaucic said. "We have everything to gain at no cost. It was one of those easy, progressive tools to implement. It's been a yawner ever since." Applebee's benefits are for both opposite- and same-sex unmarried couples, and heterosexual couples are using it the most, Kaucic said. About 75 percent of couples who signed up for it are heterosexual.

"We thought it was going to be a gay benefit or could be, but the primary users are straight couples living together," he said.