A recent study conducted by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) revealed that workers today are placing an increased amount of importance on their time outside of the office.
The survey was conducted using 2,000 employees and found that overall workers are highly interested in flexible schedules and greater autonomy in managing their time away from the office. The survey was mostly private employers with 500 employees or less. Answers came from all different sectors including manufacturing, scientific, insurance and technical.
Over half of the HR professionals surveyed explained that the organizations they belong to offer their full-time employees some amount of paid time-off, or PTO. These types of plans include time for illness, vacation or personal time.
Many HR experts said that they have seen an increase in human resource management interest in these types of leave plans because the question concerning whether they exist is coming up more and more in the interview process. Some applicants find PTO to be so important that it is a “make it, or break it” factor in the decision to sign on with a company.
The survey found that while most companies offer a fixed number of PTO days, some companies set an unlimited number of paid leave days as long as the employee doesn’t abuse the privilege.
For companies that do have a fixed number of days, employees are able to accrue this time by calendar year or pay period. Sometimes, employees accrue more time depending on their tenure with a company. The longer the employee has been with the company, the more time they have. This is strictly up to the company, though.
Some HR experts explain that having a PTO plan in place acts as a trade-off for employees that really want to work from home. The plan allows for some flexibility and makes the employee feel as if they have more discretion when it comes to when they are, or are not, in the office.