PTO, Asking for More Time Than Accrued

Our company policy allows everyone a certain number of hours of Paid or Personal Time Off (PTO) per year. This is normal, standard, business practice, to allow each employee a limited amount of time off per year. The rest of the year the employee is expected to be here, working hard for the success of the company, for the paycheck that is earned and for his or her own sense of self worth. Working hard is appreciated but it does not entitle you to more time off than you are provided for by our company policy. You are entitled to the amount of PTO that policy dictates that someone of your tenure will accrue; no more and no less.

I have heard several people say, “I work hard for the company, therefore I should get this extra time off…” You are expected to work hard at your job – that’s what you get paid for. We do not hire people so they can come to work and loaf. Working “hard” is what you were hired to do. It may be that we have different definitions of “working hard.” If you are not solving major problems daily or coming in early and staying late, you are not “working hard.” You are just working. Don’t take it personally, but that is a fact.

Every week it comes to my attention that someone wants extra time off. It wastes the time of my HR people and usually ends up on Robin’s plate. I DO NOT pay her to help you manage your PTO.

Our policy does not allow for unpaid time off except in the case that you are too sick to come to work and have no more PTO to take.

If you have no PTO accrued, do not ask for any more time off. Because the answer is already “no.”

It is also not acceptable to call in sick so that you can take a personal day off to go to the beach. People do it, but it’s not ethical and anyone who is discovered to have done that will be subject to disciplinary actions up to and including termination. There is no such thing as “taking an incident” by not coming in when you are scheduled to be here if you are not sick. Incidents can’t be used as some sort of exchange for taking time off to which you are not entitled.

The longer you work here, the more PTO you will earn and the more days you can take off for rest and relaxation or whatever. If you are the kind of person that ends up “needing” extra time off for unexpected things, then you should save up your PTO. Manage it like you would manage money. Do not give my HR department the problem of covering your post or solving your time off needs. That is NOT what they are there for.

If the above sounds harsh it is because problems like this run uphill and I end up hearing about them and it wastes my time and gives me problems. I have problems enough making sure the company makes money so that you have a job to take time off from!

So, manage your time off and don’t create problems for others through personal mismanagement.