PTO Policies to Manage Vacation Leave Fairly and Efficiently

The holiday season is just around the corner, and for many organizations, that means the busy season is too. As if shift scheduling wasn’t complicated enough, managers often receive a high volume of time off requests during this time of year.

Paid time off (PTO) is an important part of an employee’s benefits package so it’s crucial to have a system in place that allows you to manage vacation requests fairly and effectively. The last thing you need is frustrated staff and employee no-shows. Here’s how you can best manage your employees’ PTO requests.

Set a vacation leave policy and apply it consistently

Having a clear policy is the first step to fairly managing leave requests. Vacation leave requests are typically handled in one or more of the following ways, depending on your company and staffing needs:

1. First come, first served. This type of policy rewards those who plan ahead. Employees who make plans to go home for the holidays or take a big vacation will generally know well ahead of time. This gets them to share their plans earlier so you can be prepared and plan for coverage.
2. Seniority. This type of policy benefits those who have been at the company longer or those who have a more senior role within the organization. This makes the most sense when you want to ensure the senior marketing specialist who’s put in 7 years with the company doesn’t have to squash her vacation plans for the account manager who started 2 weeks ago.
3. Organizational need. This type of policy ensures there is coverage where it is needed. For example, a restaurant is much more likely than a bank to need the majority of its staff on Thanksgiving. Some companies choose to hold blackout periods where no one is allowed to take a vacation to ensure adequate coverage.
4. Manager discretion. This type of policy allows the manager to step in and approve last minute requests, for example in cases of emergency, such as a death in the family. From an HR standpoint, the reason for a leave request generally should not be the deciding factor in approving or denying it. While manager discretion is definitely an option, it’s challenging for it to be perceived as fair.

Whichever policy is best for your company, it’s imperative to remain consistent. If your policy on paper is “first come, first served,” you should not accept a last-minute vacation request from your star employee if operational coverage is already slim.

Encourage employees to proactively plan

To ensure everyone is able to meet their needs as best as possible, encourage employees to put their requests in as soon as they can and coordinate among the team so there is time to come up with solutions that work for everyone.

Use temporary staffing to provide coverage

Accommodating three team members who all want to take off for the holidays can seem like an impossible task. But it doesn’t have to be. The good news is, there is a whole network of individuals who are available for temporary work through companies like ALTRES Staffing. You can use temporary employees for special projects, during busy seasons, and to fill in for people on vacation or leave of absence.

Have a leave request system to stay organized

Too often, holiday requests can become a disorganized pile of paperwork on your desk. Partnering with a payroll provider like simplicityHR by ALTRES can give you access to digital tools that allow you to ditch the post-its, leave slips, and paperwork to efficiently track and approve employee leave. Not only will you be able to track all your time-off requests, but you can also reference your employee’s records and process payroll all in one system.

Issues to consider around vacation leave policy

Setting any policy will come with a fair share of questions and exceptions. Here are a few to consider:

• What if some employees request time off for the same time every year? Will that be fair to all your other employees who are forced to work on a holiday, like New Year’s Eve, with no chance of taking time off?
• Could you allow your employees to work from home if they are able to still be productive while not in the office?
• What happens to employees who didn’t use their allocated vacation days and will need to use it before the end of the year, but there is already an employee who scheduled time off?
• Is there a maximum amount of time that an employee is allowed to take off at once?
• Do employees need to use all paid leave before requesting unpaid leave? If so, will unpaid time off be granted if vacation leave is exhausted?

Ultimately your goal should be to have a fair and clearly defined policy that benefits both management and your employees. Employees should be excited about a policy that promotes health and well-being by offering the flexibility to take time away from work.