PTO Banks

cathyb12 · March 2010

We are considering changing from our traditional paid time off program to a PTO Bank. Managers believe this will cut down on absenteeism, especially "last minute" call outs. Does anyone have any experience in creating and administering a PTO Bank? Any insight on whether or not it impacts absenteeism ? Any tips on implementation of the changeover.

cathyb12

NaeNae55 · March 2010

We changed to a PTO policy in 1998, and modified it about 2 years ago. The employees LOVE it, and it is easier on managers too. We found in general that employees were more likely to come in and save their time for scheduled vacations. (In this state we don't pay out sick banks when employees leave and many felt they needed to use it up.)
There have been exceptions, but those few (Monday or Friday call-ins) were dealt with when we added a point policy for unscheduled absences.

We created it by looking first at sick leave. We ended up putting both sick and vacation in one bank, but employees could only get a percentage (based on that sick leave calculation) when they left. A few years ago we added the two floating holidays and allowed employees to get 100% of the PTO when they left. We also added a buyout feature. This is the only portion that employees don't like as they can only buy it out at 50%.

We let the employees know we were making a change as soon as we feasibly could (about 2-3 months ahead of time), and explained it a number of ways so employees would be ready when we finally implemented the changes. We did not have any complaints, except about the percentage pay out in the original plan.

If I ever have to leave here and work somewhere else, one of the first things I will look at is leave and make sure they have a PTO plan. There are many advantages, and the only disadvantage I have seen is if you normally don't pay sick leave out but end up paying out 100% of your PTO.

Good luck!

Nae

cathyb12 · March 2010

Thanks Nae ! Lots of good info here

carolg1600 · April 2010

We also have a PTO system. It is used for sick, vacation, and holiday. We figured for 6 holidays. Non-exempt employees can earn up to 200 hours earned time. Exempt can earn up to 250 hours earned time. If an employee leaves they get the full PTO.

We also have a Extended Illness Bank. 4x a year staff can take some of their earned time and transfer it into an extended illness bank. Staff can accrue up to 320 hours. This is great for an extended illness situation. They must use 16 hours of earned time before using the extended illness bank. We don't offer short-term disability so this takes its place.

Staff like being able to control their time. Works well for us. We just added 8 hours to the bank for another holiday but, of course, they can use the 8 hours as they wish.

PTO Banks

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