In today’s world organizations are looking to provide the best for its employees in terms of compensation, benefits and more. In helping to achieve this, a good time off policy needs to combine the benefits of vacation time off, sick leave and personal time into a single pool of days that all employees can use at will.

Employees can request time off to ensure work-life balance and flexibility. In many cases businesses look to time-off software to better manage their organizational goals. The power comes from a time off solution’s ability to automate time tracking and enforcement, and ensure that an organization is appropriately staffed and is also in compliance with internal policies.

Benefits of a Paid Time Off Approach:

• Employees can take time off at their own choice.
• It gives employers control over unscheduled absenteeism.
• Employees give value to the flexibility of time off at their discretion when they actually require it.
• Paid time off can be used to attract employees that seem “difficult to recruit”.
• It also benefits employees in a way that they feel the power in order to make decisions about their personal needs.

Disadvantages of a Paid Time Off Approach:

• Employers might provide employees fewer overall days than they had previously, and/or new employees might accumulate more leaves slowly than long term employees.
• Employees view paid time off as a benefit and use all of the time off, whereas they might not have done this in the past.

Recommendations for Managing a Paid Time Off Program:

• Make sure that it fits in with the company culture.
• A paid time off approach works best in a company which has a higher degree of flexibility.
• Establish clear guidelines in advance.
• Manage the people, not just the paid time off.

Paid time off programs can vary. It all depends however, on the number of hours allotted, the way these hours are accrued (annually or per pay period), capping hours and the ability to give employees the option to sell hours back if required. Overall though, a paid time off approach is important for any organization to increase its efficiency and better manage its resources.