Paid Time Off-No More Excuses
by Jessica Flora
Paid time off (PTO) is the new vacation. Employers have moved from providing separate banks of time off to combining it all into one pool of time so employees can use the time for any reason.
Providing PTO banks can have multiple benefits. All employees have different scenarios and things happening in their lives. The main benefit is that PTO can be applied to any time off needed instead of employees trying to use up their different banks of time off. Having separate time-off pools usually results in employees lying about being sick to use up their earned time.
The survey says:
According to AAIM Employers’ Association’s 2017-2018 Policies and Benefits Survey of 95 St. Louis and Central Illinois businesses, 70% of employers allow employees to carryover PTO time for future use when it is not taken.
What to consider:
• Unused PTO. It is important to set a policy for what happens when PTO is not used. Common practices include allowing employees to carry over a certain number of days, paying out the remaining days and making employees forfeit their days.
• Termination. What happens to an employee’s PTO if that employee leaves the company should be predetermined and part of the company policy. Most employers will pay out earned PTO if the employee provides a two-week notice.
Jessica Flora, PHR (solutions.team@aaimea.org) is on the Research and Solutions Team for AAIM Employers’ Association, which helps Missouri and Illinois companies manage their people and processes.