NATION Paid-time-off plans replacing vacation, sick days
More companies are lumping sick days and vacation days into one pool.
ORLANDO SENTINEL
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Lori Abraham doesn't get any paid sick days, even though she has worked at her firm for 16 years.
She's not complaining. Instead, the 38-year-old GrayHarris legal secretary raves about the "paid-time-off" program her law firm introduced in January 2000.
Under the program, there are no sick, vacation or personal-leave days. Instead, the days are lumped together in a "paid-time-off bank" to be used for whatever reason she chooses.
For Abraham, a wife and mother of an 11-month-old son, the paid-time-off bank has meant more time with her family, and more flexibility when planning that time.
"It's the greatest plan. I don't know of anybody here who doesn't like it," says Abraham, who annually receives 27 days of PTO, corporate shorthand for "paid time off."
"I get five-and-a-half weeks every year, and I schedule at least four of those weeks," Abraham says. "In 2001, I used all 27 days."
Abraham adds that she makes sure to save a few PTO days for late in the year in case she or her son gets sick.
National trend
Such testimonies are becoming commonplace as paid-time-off programs proliferate. About two-thirds of U.S. employers now offer them, compared with one-third of employers who reported doing so in 1999, according to the Society for Human Resource Management's annual benefits survey.
There are many variations on paid-time-off plans, which combine paid sick leave with some or all other paid-time-off benefits.
Why tamper with paid sick leave?
"Studies have shown a rise in people taking sick leave for personal reasons," explains Jennifer Schramm, the society's manager of workplace trends and forecasting. As a result, many companies have dispensed with the traditional concept that a sick day is only for an employee's own sickness.
But that's not the only motivation. There also is the problem of different workers' viewing sick days differently, often in the same workplace.
Some use sick days strictly according to the rules: for personal sickness only. Some interpret sick days more liberally and use them to care for sick family members. And some (need it be said?) view sick days as use-it-or-lose-it entitlements, making sure every one of their sick days is used by the end of the year -- in sickness or in health.
But no matter how employees interpret the meaning of "sick day," they know the obvious: Unlike personal leave or vacation, a sick day is not scheduled in advance.
Perceptions
A paid-time-off program doesn't make real sick days any easier to schedule, but it dispenses with the differing perceptions. Employees know how many paid days off they get a year and can decide for themselves how and whether to use them.
Most paid-time-off plans allow employees to cash in at least some of their paid days off, if they prefer money over time.
So, no more "use it or lose it." Giving value to every PTO day tends to reduce the number of people calling in sick when they aren't sick, which translates into fewer unscheduled absences.
"We don't get sick calls like we used to get," says Colleen Pendergrast, administrative services manager for the Central Florida Health Care Federal Credit Union. When the credit union converted to a paid-time-off program in 1996, "our sick calls were reduced by 60 percent," she estimates.
Back when employees received five paid sick days, "it used to be like Russian roulette," recalls Pendergrast, who has been with the credit union for 15 years. "It seemed like every day I had a sick call."
Now, credit-union employees get anywhere from 15 to 25 paid time off days a year, depending on how long they have worked there. If they do not use all those days, they can either carry up to five days into the following year or cash them in on their hiring anniversary. They can cash in as many PTO days as they like, as long as they leave at least five in their bank.
These days, Pendergrast occasionally has to deal with the opposite problem she used to have: People come to work when they should stay home sick. They want to save their paid time off for vacations or for cash conversion, Pendergrast says.
"That's a downside," she says. "It's going to happen, and you have to deal with it."