If your company is still segregating paid time off (PTO) into the traditional silos of sick leave, vacation time and personal time, maybe you should review your policy manual.
The tide is turning strongly in the direction of combining all types of paid time off into a single bucket, says WorldatWork, a benefits association. It recently surveyed its members to see where they are today compared to 2002 on their treatment of PTO.
The result: The single-bucket crowd has grown to 43 percent from 28 percent during that time.
Recommended For You
Creating a PTO "bank" has the advantages of simplicity of concept and administration. Everyone gets so many days so tracking is much easier for human resources.
The total number of days, according to those surveyed, is less in the bank system, by as much as a third as years of service accumulated. The average PTO days for those with 20-plus years of service was 37 under traditional plans, and 27 for those with a PTO bank.
On the downside, every unused hour now has a price tag. For those who don't use them all, it becomes a PTO bonus, WorldatWork's Lenny Sanicola told the Society for Human Resource Management.
"Since all the days become earned time, even if you are cutting the number of days thrown into the bucket, all the time now becomes a financial liability on the books," he says.
Nonetheless, the trend shows no signs of abating. While separate PTO silos remain the most common policy among those surveyed, that percentage has fallen over time from 71 percent in 2002 to 52 percent today.
WorldatWork also asked about parental leave. More than 8 in 10 participants say they offer the unpaid leave required by law. Among the 18 percent that offer paid parent leave, most (54 percent) offer less than six weeks, while 16 percent give new parents six weeks and 16 percent give them 12 weeks.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
