Paid Time Off and PTO
Banks: A WorldatWork Hot Topic Survey
PTO Banks Offer Flexibility
for Time Off
Although Paid Time Off (PTO)
banks are not yet wide spread in the business world, according to a July 2002
WorldatWork survey, they offer employees more flexibility in taking time off.
According to the survey,
28 percent of the 822 surveyed companies reported having a PTO bank system for
their employees. Among the companies without PTO banks, 23 percent indicated
they are considering implementing one.
Flexibility in these programs
may be the reason, as respondents indicate that under PTO bank systems, employees
are eligible to take time off sooner, they are more apt to be able to “purchase/borrow”
more time off and they are more free to “donate” time off to other
employees facing extended health or personal leave.
In addition, employees under
a PTO bank system are more likely to have their unused time off rolled over
at the end of the year. According to respondents, 60 percent of companies roll
over or partially roll over unused PTO bank time to the next year. Under traditional
plans, 53 percent of companies roll over or partially roll over vacation time.
Only 35 percent do the same with sick time and 11 percent with personal or other
time.
1.
Does your organization currently use a traditional paid time off system
in which each employee is allocated a certain number of paid days in categories
such as vacation, personal, sick, etc., or does it use a PTO bank in which
paid sick, holiday, vacation and/or personal leave time is combined into
one category of available time off?
Traditional
system with vacation time, sick time, personal time, etc.
71%
PTO
bank
28%
Other,
please specify
1%
2.
If you do not have a PTO-bank type system, is your company considering implementing
this concept?
Yes
23%
No
75%
Not
applicable (PTO bank in use)
3%
3.
How long do employees have to be employed in your organization before they
can take the following types of paid time off? (If you have a PTO bank,
simply answer consistently for all categories)
Vacation
Time
As
of hire date
33%
30
days
7%
60
days
2%
90
days
16%
6
months
25%
1
year
9%
Other
8%
Sick
Time
As
of hire date
49%
30
days
9%
60
days
4%
90
days
21%
6
months
5%
1
year
2%
Not
applicable
4%
Other
7%
Personal/Other
As
of hire date
45%
30
days
5%
60
days
2%
90
days
16%
6
months
8%
1
year
3%
Not
applicable
15%
Other
6%
4.
Please indicate how many paid days of each of the following an employee
of your organization is allocated annually?
Mean
Paid
sick days
14
Paid
holidays, including floating holidays
10
Paid
personal days
2
Paid
other days, please specify
2
5.
Please indicate how many paid vacation days (or total PTO bank days) an
employee of your organization is allocated annually, based on the employee's
tenure:
(Traditional
System)
Vacation Days
(PTO
Bank)
PTO Bank Days
Less
than one year of service
9
17
2-3
years of service
12
21
4-5
years of service
14
23
6-7
years of service
16
26
8-10
years of service
17
27
11-15
years of service
20
30
15+
years of service
22
31
6.
Does your organization allow employees to purchase/borrow additional paid
vacation time (or PTO time) beyond what they are allocated?
All
Respondents
Non-PTO
Bank
PTO
Bank
Yes
16%
15%
19%
No
81%
82%
78%
Other
3%
3%
3%
7.
Does your organization allow employees to "donate" paid time off
to other employees who may have extenuating circumstances forcing them to
take an extended health or personal leave?
All
Respondents
Non-PTO
Bank
PTO
Bank
Yes
18%
14%
28%
No
80%
85%
70%
Other
2%
2%
2%
8.
Does your organization have a written policy restricting the amount of paid
vacation time (or PTO time) an employee can use/take consecutively?
All
Respondents
Non-PTO
Bank
PTO
Bank
Yes
8%
8%
7%
No
92%
92%
93%
8a.
If yes, how many days?
Mean
All
Respondents
14
Non
PTO
12
PTO
21
9.
For each of the following categories, please indicate how unused employee
paid time is handled at the end of each employee year cycle:
Forfeited
Entirely
rolled over to next year
Partially
rolled over to next year
Paid
out in cash
Other
Unused
vacation
26%
26%
27%
3%
18%
Unused
sick
47%
30%
5%
4%
13%
Unused
personal/other
76%
9%
2%
1%
12%
Unused
PTO bank time
15%
32%
28%
4%
21%
10.
What percent of your payroll budgeted for 2002 is for paid time off?
Mean
All
Respondents
8
Non
PTO Bank
9
PTO
Bank
8
11.
What was the actual expenditure, as a percentage of payroll, spent on paid
time off for 2001?
Mean
All
Respondents
8
Non
PTO Bank
9
PTO
Bank
7
12.
What is your perception of your organization's level of employee absenteeism
during the first half of 2002 compared to the last half of 2001?
All
Respondents
Non-PTO
Bank
PTO
Bank
Higher
7%
8%
5%
Lower
12%
10%
15%
About
the same
59%
60%
56%
Unsure
22%
21%
23%
The following questions
are only for those organizations that have a PTO bank system.
13.
How long has your organization had a PTO system?
less
than one year
9%
1-2
years
17%
3-4
years
26%
5-10
years
30%
10
or more years
13%
unsure
when it was installed
5%
14.
Does your organization impose a limit on the total number of days an employee
can accumulate in their PTO bank?
Yes
79%
No
21%
14a.
If yes, what is the maximum number of days that can be accumulated?
Mean
56
15.
How would you describe the effect of the PTO system on the morale of your
organization?
Generally
been good for morale
82%
Generally
been bad for morale
1%
Had
no impact on employee morale
17%
16.
Does your organization feature or market the PTO bank as a key employee
benefit when attempting to attract new employees?
