HELP! Converting to One big PTO bank
Paula_AZ
32 Posts
Hi, Everyone
I've posted this in the Benefits forum, but it doesn't seem to be getting much action. Either that or I'm the only fool who works from home on the weekends... Ha Ha.
I have been asked to come up with a plan to convert our current leave allowances into one big PTO bank. Any advice on how to accomplish this in the most fair way is greatly appreciated. Keeping in mind that our company is EXTREMELY employee-friendly with about 100 EEs, here's our current plan:
Sick - 1 Week (37.5 hours - we all work a modified work week) in full after 90 days. Does not accrue or roll-over. Sick bank replenishes every anniversary date.
Personal - 1 Day (8.25 hours) after 90 days. Does not accrue or roll over. Any hours left at each anniversary date are automatically paid out as the next 8.25 hours are dropped in.
Vacation - 1 Week (37.5 hours) in full after 6 months. Accruals begin at 1st anniversary at a rate of 1.44/wk until Year 4, which equals 2 weeks/yr. Then 2.16 hrs/week from 4th Anniversary to 9th Anniversary, which equals 3 weeks/yr. Then 2.88 hrs/week from 9th Anniversary on, which equals 4 weeks/year. Vacation hours can be cashed out at any time for extra $$, and are always cashed out at termination. We do have a "cap" on the bank of 3 weeks (unless you accrue at the 4 week rate - then it's 4 weeks), but it is not strictly enforced because we do not want EEs to actually stop accruing. We monitor and send out notices to those approaching so they can take time off or cash out some to help keep our liabilities in check.
I am all for a combined PTO bank, but my questions arise as I try to figure out what a good plan is while keeping in mind that some EEs have not had their initial drop in of hours yet, some have already used up their sick for the year, etc.
Has anyone done this kind of conversion successfully? Please Help!!
I've posted this in the Benefits forum, but it doesn't seem to be getting much action. Either that or I'm the only fool who works from home on the weekends... Ha Ha.
I have been asked to come up with a plan to convert our current leave allowances into one big PTO bank. Any advice on how to accomplish this in the most fair way is greatly appreciated. Keeping in mind that our company is EXTREMELY employee-friendly with about 100 EEs, here's our current plan:
Sick - 1 Week (37.5 hours - we all work a modified work week) in full after 90 days. Does not accrue or roll-over. Sick bank replenishes every anniversary date.
Personal - 1 Day (8.25 hours) after 90 days. Does not accrue or roll over. Any hours left at each anniversary date are automatically paid out as the next 8.25 hours are dropped in.
Vacation - 1 Week (37.5 hours) in full after 6 months. Accruals begin at 1st anniversary at a rate of 1.44/wk until Year 4, which equals 2 weeks/yr. Then 2.16 hrs/week from 4th Anniversary to 9th Anniversary, which equals 3 weeks/yr. Then 2.88 hrs/week from 9th Anniversary on, which equals 4 weeks/year. Vacation hours can be cashed out at any time for extra $$, and are always cashed out at termination. We do have a "cap" on the bank of 3 weeks (unless you accrue at the 4 week rate - then it's 4 weeks), but it is not strictly enforced because we do not want EEs to actually stop accruing. We monitor and send out notices to those approaching so they can take time off or cash out some to help keep our liabilities in check.
I am all for a combined PTO bank, but my questions arise as I try to figure out what a good plan is while keeping in mind that some EEs have not had their initial drop in of hours yet, some have already used up their sick for the year, etc.
Has anyone done this kind of conversion successfully? Please Help!!
Comments
John
In your case, if someone was due to earn time under your old plan after the conversion date, you could prorate a portion of that time and convert that into the grandfathered bank. I.E. you said vacation was earned after 6 months of employment, I believe? If they had worked 3 months of that time as of the conversion date, they'd be eligible for 1/2 the time they would have earned. You could do the same with the sick time as well if you wanted. Base it upon how much they earn and in what time frame, then do the math. In the vacation example, it's easy...they get 1/6 of their time for each month worked...
at 1 month, 1/6 of 1 week (converted into hours is easier) So, if your week is 37.5 hours, they would earn 6.25 hours for each month worked.
at 3 months, 3/6 (or 1/2) of 1 week...6.25 hrs times 3 = 18.75.
Now in the case of employees who have been with the company longer, and they are due to earn their vacation it's the same concept, just base it on one year or 1/12 of the time. For instance, our conversion date was 1/1...as of 12/31 people were no longer accruing vacation time on their anniversary. So, if my anniversary was in January, and I was due 3 weeks, convert the full time into the bank 12/12 (or 1 whole) so to speak. If my anniversary just happened in November, it'd be 2/12 (or 1/6 of the time). It gets quite confusing, and unless you know Excel really well, the conversion will be hard to do.
Make sense? If not, send me a message in my inbox and I'll try and explain further. Best of luck to you, it's quite a daunting task, but well worth it, take it from me. The plan was well received, PTO in most cases gave people more time than they had under our old plan and it became a 'rolling' benefit, no use it or lose it anymore. People were also quite happy that we decided to prorate their vacation that they would have earned.
Now a new employee gets 17 days of unileave each year, which accrue at the rate of 5.67 hours per paycheck. Employees are encouraged to view it as a savings account, and it is paid out at 100% upon separation. And it's paid at the rate the employee is paid on their last day, not at what they were making when it accrued.
Many employees still have old sick leave still on the books; it will be paid out at 50% upon separation, which is another incentive for them not using it. However, after an employee uses 40 hours of unileave for any illness, they may revert to use of old sick leave, which is used on a day for day basis. I believe that everyone is happy with this change. We still have some people that don't accrue any hours, but such short-sighted individuals are few. After 5 years, employees get 22 days of unileave each year, and after 10 years, employees get 27 days.
Under our old policy, no vacation or sick time carried past the end of the year, so we made the change at the first of the year. PTO accrues at 13 days per year for employees and 19 days for officers and managers. Additional days are added for each 5 years on the job. At the end of the year, any time left goes into CTO at the rate it was earned (this is for accounting purposes). Employees have a choice of using PTO or CTO.
We have a separate policy that pays short term disability after an elimination period of two weeks. --Our previous policy was that if an illness extended for 6 days we paid from day one and didn't charge the employee's sick pay. Now they have to use PTO/CTO days or take time off without pay before we pay disability. It's amazing how many people think they are going to be off a long time with stress or other problems until they realize they have to "pay" up front. Our employees are a lot healther than they used to be!
Even though Scrooge insisted on the policy change and there was a lot of complaint initially, I love the system. It's fair, the hardest workers don't lose out, and it's improved our overall attendance. --If I were to make any change it would be to add another classification with a few extra days for salaried non-exempt employees. I hope it works as well for you.