Establishing a time off policy is an important benefit that most employers provide to their employees. You should describe the details of the time off policy to ensure that it is not abused by employees and that it is implemented fairly for all employees. Clearly communicating the time off policy will also eliminate questions from employees. The first element in deciding on your policies is time off eligibility. Then decide how long each employee will increase.

The time off eligibility date will determine when an employee can begin to increase the time off or when they can begin to use their increased time off. For example, some companies begin to increase time off from an employee’s hire date, but the employee cannot use that time off until after a 90-day trial period.

Next, you will set up an accrual schedule. The employee could increase the time off by the number of hours worked or by receiving a lump sum during the set time periods. An accrual schedule might look like this:

o For those employees with 0 to 5 consecutive years of employment, they will receive 23 days of PTO per year;

o 5 – 15 consecutive years of employment will receive 27 PTO days per year;

o More than 15 consecutive years of employment will receive 32 PTO days per year

By clearly delineating when an employee can expect to receive an increase in their PTO days and how this time will increase, you will save your organization a lot of confusion and questions about when employees can expect to receive time off and how much paid time off. may increase.

Your organization may want to keep separate types of paid time off, such as specific accrual rates for vacation time, sick time, and holidays that the company will observe. A good database will help you keep track of the days employees increased and used for each type of paid time off.

Regardless of how your organization decides to establish time off eligibility for its employees, it is important to have time clearly defined and written in a policy so there is less confusion; There will always be questions about how time is increased or accumulated, but as long as your organization has a clear policy on when employees are eligible for time off and how it is received, then your organization will appreciate your clear communication.