Unique PTO Policies You Didn’t Know Existed
Rabid policing isn’t going to create a company culture that leads to employee retention
Posted on 05-23-2019, Read Time: Min
Share:
We all have co-workers who mysteriously fall ill on December 26, their birthdays, and anytime they need haircuts. Faking sick is shockingly common: 70 percent of people fake sick over the holidays to spend time with family and friends(1) and almost half of all employees admit to using sick time to run errands(2). Sometimes, people call in sick just to nurse a hangover; in 2019, about 17 million people called in sick the day after the Superbowl(3).
My advice to you? Don’t overcorrect. Rabidly policing and asking for doctor’s notes like an eighth-grade gym teacher isn’t going to create a company culture that leads to employee retention, and paying your employees for their unused sick time offers its own set of problems(1). Additionally, you don’t want people coming in sick and infecting you or your employees. The better solution, for employees and businesses alike, is offering outside-the-box—or even downright necessary—PTO policies and allowing people to save sick days for when they’re actually sick.
Fun, varied, and pragmatic options for time off can set your business apart from competitors and, if you’re looking for ideas, a number of my clients already have creative PTO plans.
1. Powder Days: I have always said time with nature is incredibly important; that’s why I think Bridge View IT is something special. Based in Colorado, they take a cue from their natural surroundings and offer one day a year to ski and snowboard, without any advance notice, when the mountains get hit with fresh snow. This way, they don’t have to miss out on the perfect day on the slopes after waiting for it all year.
2. Wellness Days: Burnout, especially in the modern job market, is a real and pressing risk, and the majority of managers agree that proper time off alleviates the pressure.(4) Overworked employees end up unfocused, unhappy, and fatigued, often costing their companies more money. We could all learn something from the Mount Sinai Hospital, which offers its fellows one day a quarter to recover and take care of themselves.
3. Half Days: Nine-to-five workdays aren’t conducive to the minutiae of everyday life. Need a haircut?Forgot something at the store?Trying to make time for your parent-teacher conferences? The G.R. Little Agency’s monthly half-day policy is an elegant solution to these daily gripes. Once a month, employees can take off half of a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday to accomplish errands, spend more time with their children, or get some needed R&R. It saved their employees an average of six days of PTO a year—valuable time they can use for vacations and family time.
4. Volunteer Days: Most people want to do good but struggle to make the time. Businesses can make generosity easier. At Built for Teams, we’ve started offering time off for volunteering (Utah is the number one state for volunteerism so this really matters to our employees(5)).
When I was an employee, I would have leapt at the chance to take days off to go skiing or volunteer in a soup kitchen without cutting into my PTO. So now that I’m the employer, I’m a big believer that part of maintaining work-life balance is actually having the time for life outside the office. We have the opportunity to help our employees stay healthy, happy, and productive by offering PTO policies that are designed around finding and keeping that balance. And how does that benefit our businesses? Creating time off policies that encourage work-life balance can be a huge competitive advantage in attracting, recruiting, and retaining talent.
Notes
1.https://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-11-16-Increased-Number-of-Workers-Calling-In-Sick-When-They-Arent-Finds-CareerBuilders-Annual-Survey
2.https://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-11-16-Increased-Number-of-Workers-Calling-In-Sick-When-They-Arent-Finds-CareerBuilders-Annual-Survey
3.https://www.marketwatch.com/story/an-estimated-17-million-people-may-miss-work-the-monday-after-the-super-bowl-2019-01-31
4. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/sick-leave-abuse-a-chronic-workplace-ill-1918577
5.https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/workers-taking-more-vacation-.aspx
My advice to you? Don’t overcorrect. Rabidly policing and asking for doctor’s notes like an eighth-grade gym teacher isn’t going to create a company culture that leads to employee retention, and paying your employees for their unused sick time offers its own set of problems(1). Additionally, you don’t want people coming in sick and infecting you or your employees. The better solution, for employees and businesses alike, is offering outside-the-box—or even downright necessary—PTO policies and allowing people to save sick days for when they’re actually sick.
Fun, varied, and pragmatic options for time off can set your business apart from competitors and, if you’re looking for ideas, a number of my clients already have creative PTO plans.
1. Powder Days: I have always said time with nature is incredibly important; that’s why I think Bridge View IT is something special. Based in Colorado, they take a cue from their natural surroundings and offer one day a year to ski and snowboard, without any advance notice, when the mountains get hit with fresh snow. This way, they don’t have to miss out on the perfect day on the slopes after waiting for it all year.
2. Wellness Days: Burnout, especially in the modern job market, is a real and pressing risk, and the majority of managers agree that proper time off alleviates the pressure.(4) Overworked employees end up unfocused, unhappy, and fatigued, often costing their companies more money. We could all learn something from the Mount Sinai Hospital, which offers its fellows one day a quarter to recover and take care of themselves.
3. Half Days: Nine-to-five workdays aren’t conducive to the minutiae of everyday life. Need a haircut?Forgot something at the store?Trying to make time for your parent-teacher conferences? The G.R. Little Agency’s monthly half-day policy is an elegant solution to these daily gripes. Once a month, employees can take off half of a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday to accomplish errands, spend more time with their children, or get some needed R&R. It saved their employees an average of six days of PTO a year—valuable time they can use for vacations and family time.
4. Volunteer Days: Most people want to do good but struggle to make the time. Businesses can make generosity easier. At Built for Teams, we’ve started offering time off for volunteering (Utah is the number one state for volunteerism so this really matters to our employees(5)).
When I was an employee, I would have leapt at the chance to take days off to go skiing or volunteer in a soup kitchen without cutting into my PTO. So now that I’m the employer, I’m a big believer that part of maintaining work-life balance is actually having the time for life outside the office. We have the opportunity to help our employees stay healthy, happy, and productive by offering PTO policies that are designed around finding and keeping that balance. And how does that benefit our businesses? Creating time off policies that encourage work-life balance can be a huge competitive advantage in attracting, recruiting, and retaining talent.
Notes
1.https://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-11-16-Increased-Number-of-Workers-Calling-In-Sick-When-They-Arent-Finds-CareerBuilders-Annual-Survey
2.https://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-11-16-Increased-Number-of-Workers-Calling-In-Sick-When-They-Arent-Finds-CareerBuilders-Annual-Survey
3.https://www.marketwatch.com/story/an-estimated-17-million-people-may-miss-work-the-monday-after-the-super-bowl-2019-01-31
4. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/sick-leave-abuse-a-chronic-workplace-ill-1918577
5.https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/workers-taking-more-vacation-.aspx
Author Bio
| Brett Derricott is a Serial Entrepreneur and an active Angel Investor. He's been recognized by Utah Business Magazine's Forty under 40 for his business acumen. Brett is the Founder and CEO of Built for Teams. Connect Brett Derricott |
Error: No such template "/CustomCode/topleader/category"!
