New Ways of Working

We get it: you need flexibility to balance work and the rest of your life, especially your commitments to caring for others. Through New Ways of Working, you can take care of what — and who — matters most.

Care@Work benefits

Through Care@Work, Schneider Electric offers 5 days per year of Company-subsidized emergency back-up child care, adult/elder care or pet care for when full-time care is not available (e.g., when school/day care is closed, your nanny or pet sitter is on vacation, etc.). Plus, you also receive a free care.com premium membership.

When you need back-up care, you pay only $5 per hour copayment for in-home care (either a care.com sitter or your own network) or $10 per day copayment per child for care in a Care@Work center. Pet care is a $10 per day copayment.

Access centers or in-home providers that are either care.com employees or from fully vetted partner agencies.
Use your own personal network (such as a neighbor, family member, friend).

A care.com membership allows you to:

Browse the large network of local caregivers or providers.
Post a job describing your needs for housekeeping, pet sitting or child care.
Set up interviews, access background check options and pay through care.com.
Access tools, articles, blogs, calculators to help make more informed hiring decisions.

Learn how Tina Jepson uses Care@work. Visit Rewards@Schneider for more details.

Home office enhancements

Schneider Electric offers support for your home office needs:

A home office furniture package if you work from home at least 3 days a week, subject to your manager’s approval. Get this one-time package that includes an ergonomically correct desk, chair and monitor arm, as well as ergonomic training and assessment for correct home office setup.
Home office equipment for items like a keyboard, mouse, monitor or docking station. You can request the remote office kit package or individual items through the 2929IT portal.

See how Philip Haynes uses home office enhancements to work more comfortably. Visit Rewards@Schneider to learn more.

PTO Purchase Program

Schneider Electric supports you at every stage of your life. Sometimes you need additional time off to focus on an important life event or take a long awaited, extended vacation. Whatever the reason, the PTO Purchase Program provides you with the added flexibility to take a few extra days off.

Each year during Annual Enrollment, you can elect to purchase additional paid time off (PTO) to use over the next calendar year:

If you’re normally eligible for 5 or 6 weeks of PTO, you can purchase 3 or 5 days.*
If you’re normally eligible for 3 or 4 weeks of PTO, you can purchase 3, 5 or 10 days.*

How it works

You pay for purchased PTO through pre-tax payroll deduction or allocated Benefit Bucks over the next calendar year at your current rate of pay.
All regular, accrued PTO (Company-paid PTO), including any carryover, must be used before using purchased PTO.
Purchased PTO cannot be carried over to the next year.
If you do not use your purchased PTO (including PTO purchased from allocated Benefit Bucks) by the date communicated in December, you will be refunded for your purchased PTO by your final paycheck in December.
If your employment ends, any unused, purchased PTO will be paid out on your final paycheck.

NOTE: Purchased PTO cannot be elected when a life event occurs or as a new hire.

Learn how Elliott Jepson purchases additional PTO. Visit Rewards@Schneider for more details.

IMPORTANT: Because of the order in which PTO days must be taken, the PTO Purchase Program may not be a good option for employees who regularly carry-over PTO balances into the next calendar year.

* These will be noted as hours when purchasing in BenefitsLink. One day of purchased PTO equals 8 hours, regardless of the number of hours you are normally scheduled to work in a day.

Recharge Break Program

The Recharge Break Program gives you flexibility to support your unique work and life. With Recharge Break, you can take from 6 to 12 weeks of paid time away from work to use when and how it works best for you.

Think of it as a way to save for a future paid leave of absence:

You can elect to pay for 1 or 2 Recharge Break Weeks during Annual Enrollment each fall.
When you have enough time banked (after 3 years), you can take time away from work to help you balance your life when it works best for you.

Company-provided Recharge Days

When you take your Recharge Break, Schneider Electric covers the cost of some of those Recharge Days depending on how long you’ve worked for the Company:

	If you have less than 5 years of service		If you have 5 or more years of service
If you elect…	1 week	2 weeks	1 week	2 weeks
Company-provided Recharge Days	1 day	2 days	2 days	4 days
Recharge Days you pay for	4 days	8 days	3 days	6 days

Using your Recharge Break.

Here’s what you need to know:

You need to get your manager’s approval 90 days ahead of your planned break.
The number of Company-provided Recharge Days you receive will be determined by your years of service on your anniversary date in the next calendar year following Annual Enrollment.
You’ll receive the Company-provided Recharge Days when you actually take your Recharge Break.
If you don’t have 6 weeks banked, you can combine up to 2 weeks of PTO with Recharge Days to get to the 6 weeks.
If after 6 years you’ve accumulated 12 weeks, you can add up to 2 weeks of PTO for a 14-week maximum.
If you use only a portion of the time you’ve banked for your Recharge Break, you can apply your unused time to a future Recharge Break.
You need to wait 3 years between Recharge Breaks.

If you don’t take your Recharge Break:

You’ll forfeit any unused Company-provided Recharge Days.
After 7 years, you’ll receive a refund of only your first-year contribution.
After 8 years, you’ll receive a refund of your second-year contribution, and so on…
If you leave the Company, you will be refunded only the money you contributed.

NOTE: If you experience a financial hardship, you may request to stop participating and receive a refund of the Recharge Days you purchased (subject to Recharge Break Program rules).

See how Carolyn Blaylock plans a Recharge Break. Visit Rewards@Schneider to learn more and to find out how Recharge Break affects your benefits.

Voluntary Part-Time Program

Another New Way of Working is the Voluntary Part-Time Program,* designed to give you flexibility at work. You’ll have two opportunities to enroll:

During Annual Enrollment for:
- 20, 24 or 32 hours per week
- 6 months (January – June) or 12 months (January – December)

During Q2 for:
- 20, 24 or 32 hours per week
- 3 months (June – August) or 6 months (June – December)

Learn how Melissa Chapel uses the Voluntary Part-Time Program. Learn more at Rewards@Schneider.

To enroll, make your request via support@Schneider. Your manager must approve your request. You’ll find out if your request is approved through updates to your support@Schneider ticket.

* Not available to manufacturing hourly employees.

Which program should you use when?