It is that time of year again where vacation becomes uppermost in employees' minds. It is important for employees to take a break once in a while to refresh and become rejuvenated. Employers should have a plan outlined for how they will handle their employees' paid time off. This plan should be included in your employee handbook so that your employees know exactly what to expect in relation to their time off.
Paid time off is usually a bank of hours from which employees can draw. It is any time not worked by an employee in the form of vacation days, holidays, personal and sick time however, these hours can be used for various reasons at the employees' discretion.
Paid time off has taken the place of more traditional plans that specifically had required employees to label time off for sick or personal use versus taking vacation time. Employers have begun implementing PTO programs to offer their employees more flexibility with the use of their time.
PTO is a great concept from an employee's perspective. It can also help your company attract prospective employees as a part of your company's benefit package. Employees respond well to the concept of PTO as it allows additional flexibility with their time without promoting the idea of "cheating" by calling in sick to take a three day weekend, etc.
There are issues and challenges with using a PTO program as well. With the ability to take more time off, staffing can become an issue around popular holiday weekends. This is easily handled by requiring your employees to gain approval prior to taking time off. Another issue can be that employees do not want to use their PTO due to illness. They can start to view all PTO as vacation time. This can lead to "on the job sick days" where employees will come into work, but are not very productive and can spread illnesses to their co-workers.
Regardless of what plan you decide to follow, a more traditional sick and vacation plan or a paid time off plan, make sure that you do the following:
1.Make sure whatever plan you pick fits your work environment and whatever plan you pick, you should stick with it.
2.Establish a clear plan in advance and put it in writing so all staff understand the plan and are treated equally. Ideally, it should be a part of your employee handbook.
3.Make sure that you are managing your employees and not your PTO plan. Don't forget that you are offering this as a benefit to your employees but you also have a responsibility to make sure that you are adequately staffed at all times.
For more information on industry trends in PTO plans and to find out how other employers are handling vacation, sick and personal time you can reference the Society for Human Resource Management's 2007 Benefits Survey.
Meg Eynon started at the Payroll Factory in 1994. With a BA from West Chester University she looked for opportunities to build a life as a business professional. Meg's dedication to customers and quality was rewarded in 2000 when she was promoted to Vice President.
Meg loves her job and the company she helped build. She likes that The Payroll Factory's full service team helps clients grow their businesses by providing advice in the areas of payroll processes, procedures and protocols; eliminating the need for small business owners to divert their attention from running their businesses.
Meg resides in Pennsylvania and in her spare time loves to read and spends a good deal of time playing, gardening and cooking with her husband and son.
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