Paid Time Off – Back to Basics

In a 2017 small business survey conducted by Justworks and Squarefoot, it was reported that less than half (44%) of employees felt that unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO) is important. Only about 28% work at organizations that offer unlimited PTO. This week in Astronology® we discuss the basics of PTO.

In general, PTO is identified as vacation, sick leave, and / or personal days; in other words, allotted paid time away from work. While in some cases employers designate a specific amount of days / hours for each reason for being away from work, this article will focus on policies that allow employees to earn a bank of paid time off, and then use the time as they see fit.

The majority of organizations provide employees with paid time away from work, even though it’s not legally required (with the exception of sick leave in certain states and major cities). Paid time off is considered an excellent recruitment tool. As explained by Chron.com, “…many job postings state that the company has a ‘generous vacation policy’ or ‘generous time-off policy’ to increase the company’s appeal to qualified applicants.” This is understandable as there has been an increased focus on work-life balance by the incoming generation of workers.

Two popular forms of awarding PTO are banked and accrued. Banked time is typically awarded at the beginning of the calendar or fiscal year. Accrued time is gained through a designated rate per days (and / or years) worked by the employee. Adds Chron.com’s small business website, “if an employee takes time off before accruing the hours, the time is unpaid. An employer may decide to cut employee compensation costs by reducing the number of PTO hours an employee can accrue.”

Some advantages to having a PTO policy include the following:

• Managers are no longer put in the position of policing and reporting employees’ use of benefits.
• Unscheduled absences are more controlled.
• Employees have more flexibility of use (they can use the time to take care of a sick child, or go on a restorative beach day, for example).

Some disadvantages include the following:

• In cases where paid time off is banked, an employee could save his / her PTO, and leave an organization with a balance of banked time for which the organization would then have to pay the employee.
• Sometimes employees view PTO only as vacation time and will attend work while sick.

Humana, a medical insurance company, gives some suggestions regarding specific elements to consider when building a PTO policy:

• Who is eligible for PTO? (Full-Time, Part-Time, Interns, All?)
• How much PTO will be offered?
• How does PTO time accumulate? (What is the rate? Will it be banked?)
• How can PTO time be taken? (Hour increments? Full days?)
• Can unused time carry over from year to year? If so, how much?
• Can an employee opt to cash out his / her unused days?

The Humana website also suggests that “many employees don’t take vacation because they simply feel they have too much work to do. Creating a culture that prioritizes work-life balance must start from the top.” To avoid some of the disadvantages listed earlier, employers can begin to emphasize the need for proper work-life balance and encourage proper use of the organization’s PTO policy.

Does your organization have a robust PTO policy? Are you considering adjusting the policy to appeal talent in the coming years? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Don't Report Your Time Off?

WorldAtWork recently posted a blog entry titled: "Vacation time: Is It Time to Stop Tracking?" It's an interesting question and one which has a lot of different answers depending on who you ask. From WorldAtWork:

Many companies over the years have migrated from siloed leave policies that designate a specific number of days for vacation, sick leave and personal time off to paid time off (PTO) banks programs that provide a total set number of days off that employees can use for any reason. Newer, even more flexible, programs now provide employees with more informal personal time and vacation arrangements with their managers when it suits them, guided mainly by their ability to perform their jobs successfully.

Now this is much like an honor system, and like any honor system, you have the chance of abuse or free riders. But the idea makes sense. With people permanently tethered to Blackberries and the internet, the job doesn't have to stop when you leave the office. If people don't abuse the system, they'll get their job done and be happy, which should increase productivity even more. I once interviewed for a job that was run like this, though they expected you to make up for the time you missed...but you could miss as much as you wanted.

Some companies allow you to trade time off credits, work a Saturday/Sunday to get another day off, or other similar ways to make time off more flexible for the employees.

The problem here is this is not for every job. You still need to know when people are going to not be at their desks--especially in service-oriented companies--and reporting time off (or at least letting their managers know ahead of time) is one way to accomplish that. This also can only occur at companies where the management and the employees feel secure with one another. Employees have to feel comfortable enough with taking the time off (since there are issues with them feeling that way as it is) and employers need to feel comfortable enough in the fact the job will get done and the person will not abuse it.

But in the world of increasing attachment to the office, allowing an employee to have the ultimate "flex" time off doesn't mean they'll truly be away from the job and could be another "benefit" that separates your company from the rest when recruiting new employees.

Question to the audience: do any of your companies do this? what are your opinions on the subject?

Staycation

It's certainly a buzzword according to the New York Times (click here) and, well, the Washington Post has been using it since 2005 (click here)...but what does it mean?

The Washington Times has some answers here (click here), but the Orlando Business Journal just reported that fewer than 1 in 10 Americans actually plan staycations (click here)

It's one way of offsetting the high gas prices, and the Arizona Republic has some other ways that employers can help in that process: click here

And, lastly, Thomson Reuters came out with some job data today which says that the job market is softening like the polar ice caps (they left out the part about the polar ice caps, however): click here

:)

Career Couch

We're all New York Times for this blog...

Starting with the Career Couch, which says even though you have no internship yet, there's still time: click here

Next, also from the Times, their Preoccupation section writes about a "professional media transcriptionist": click here

Then, Shifting Careers tells you why leisure matters in a busy world: click here

We go back to the Career Couch which gives advice on a gainful way to use a sabbatical: click here

Podcasting!!!

Adding to our Web 2.0 personality here at Astron Solutions, we have our first podcast courtesy of Workforce Management about managing the unpredictability of talent in today's world: click here

From the Business Wire, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) will be surveying presidential candidates on key workforce issues: click here

Also, make sure to check out some other podcasts on Daxle's website of business podcasts...some good stuff there: click here

Lastly, the Baltimore Sun's "On the Job" has an article about sick and vacation days all being in the same bank: click here

And since we decided we needed some representation between New York and DC, we're adding the feed of the Baltimore Sun's career section on the right...

What I’m Hearing…Heartache Leave

Here’s one I’ve never heard of before. Receiving paid time off to get over a breakup.

Japanese firm Hime & Co offers heartache leave to employees. Employees under 25 can take 1 day per year. Employees 25 – 29 can take 2 days per year. 30 and over? You can take 3 days per year to get over a failed relationship. According to CEO Miki Hiradate, "Women in their 20s can find their next love quickly, but it's tougher for women in their 30s, and their breakups tend to be more serious."

Here in America, FMLA and EAP programs may cover some of the medical / physical issues which sometimes manifest themselves at the end of a relationship. Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act would also address whether it’s OK to create such a policy here in the States. (Short answer – “no” to the Hime program. There’s too much discrimination based on age and gender.)

Should corporate policy cover heartache leave? And what about those employees who are happy to get out of a relationship – should they be eligible for an extra vacation day or two to celebrate? I don’t think we’ll be seeing any programs like Hime’s making their way across the Pacific anytime soon. It is interesting to explore what other nations are doing in the area of employee relations, though.