PTO: absent with leave
Joyce Gioia would rather have employees schedule time off beforehand - not feign ill with an hour's notice - if what they really want to do is root for a child's soccer team or catch up on paying the bills.
That's one reason her company, the Herman Group, switched from a traditional plan of vacation, personal, and sick days to a paid time-off bank that makes no distinction among the reasons employees don't show up.
The rise of such "PTO banks" nationwide comes against a business backdrop in which many employers are struggling to hold the line on wages and benefits.
Last year, unplanned absences across the country were the highest they've been in five years, driving production costs higher. It's a burden on companies, but experts say it also reflects new burdens on workers: After waves of downsizing, those left carrying the workload at many firms are straining to find opportunities to escape their desks. Sometimes that means calling in sick when they really aren't.
Supporters of the PTO system say it's good for employees as well as employers, offering greater flexibility and equal treatment for workers. Critics, however, argue that time-off banks add new stress, often by limiting total days off and forcing tough choices. Exceed a set number of days, for instance, and you might have to forgo plans for a long weekend the next time your child needs home care.
"This can be a two-edged sword," says Karen Noble, a senior consultant at the human resources firm WFD Consulting in Watertown, Mass. "There can be intangible costs in terms of negative impact on morale and commitment among employees" who have the impression they are losing out.
Paid time-off policies like this one have been growing in popularity each year, according to CCH Inc., a human resources firm in Chicago that studies nationwide trends in the workplace. In a 2004 survey of employers, 63 percent of respondents indicated having paid leave bank programs, up from 27 percent in 1999. Many who have adopted PTOs are noticing a change for the better.
"It's improved attendance, because people don't have to lie to take the time off they need," says Gioia, the North Carolina futurist. "When I talk about it on the platform, [attendees] look at each other, and immediately dive for the paper to write it down."
Unplanned absences are costly to organizations, and while absences typically go down when job security is tenuous, they increase when employees are unsatisfied. And in today's reality of lean budgets, "most organizations now are trying to operate shorthanded," says Robert Drago, a professor of labor at Penn State University, creating a cycle of worn-out employees who feel they can't leave the office.
Paid time-off banks were introduced in the 1990s in the healthcare industry, a 24/7 operation where replacing staff at the last minute is expensive. The model has since branched to various sectors, from technology to insurance, reflecting the changing needs of the workplace with a growing number of dual-earning couples.
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