My hospital used to use an old fashioned method of granting time off where we had separate allotments for sick time, holiday time, and vacation time, and you drew from whichever type of allotment you were using. It wasn't perfect but I thought it worked out pretty well.

After my hospital was bought by another larger healthcare system, we were switched over to a "PTO" system which was pitched as "time to use as you please" and combines sick, holiday, and vacation into one account that accrues biweekly. However, after a couple years it's turned out to be anything but time to do with as we please. Getting personal days and requests granted is probably harder than before. You are still limited to a disgustingly low number of vacation weeks per year which is limited by season. And the policy against calling out sick is more strict than it ever was before.

So what we end up with is truckloads of PTO that we can't even use unless we're injured or on maternity (if you're a guy, forget it), and the scam is that you get capped off on PTO if you don't somehow find a way to use it (which they won't let you) or "cash it in" by the end of the year. However, I'd rather have the time off than cash it in. I find I have way less time off under this crappola than I did when we had the old fashioned system of granting time off.

Can anyone relate to this?

The PTO system is great for people who don't get sick a lot, and want to use what would be otherwise unused sick days. Or unscheduled "sick" call ins so aome one can take a personal day. Downside is that calling in sick is unscheduled PTO, and if you call in sick, you must use the PTO. Do that enough, and there is no PTO left to take a vacation.

In my department, if you have the time, and we have coverage, your request (up to 2 weeks at least) will be granted.

Most companies (healthcare are not) moved to PTO banks long ago, along with a "use it or lose it" policy, usually annually. Annually makes sense to me, but one system in my area has a "use it or lose it" that requires a cash in if you have accrued too many days EVERY SIX MONTHS. Of course, that cash in is 50% of what you would earn if you used the days. Although I can't pinpoint the exact reason why the q six months thing doesn't seem right, but it feels like robbing your employees of pay due to them. The more often that "cash in" occurs, the less money the corporation must pay out.

I've had a PTO system in every job I've ever had and I LOVE it. I wouldn't get six weeks of vacation time under a different system. I never call in sick so I don't want days designated as "sick days" that I'll never use. OP, it sounds like your employer is the problem not the PTO system.

I like PTO as well. I'm rarely sick, so it's nice that I always have plenty of time accrued for vacations.

Where I work the PTO is awful 6.33 hrs per pay period

Where I'm at right now, we don't have PTO. We used to have separate vacation, short term, and long term sick banks. Due to abuse by a very few employees, they ended up combining the sick time together. We have no maximum cap on sick time, and upon separation from employment, that can be converted to service credit for retirement purposes, but can't be paid back directly. Vacation time, on the other hand, is capped at basically 2x yearly maximum and as long as we take 5 consecutive days off... we can sell all but 40 hours back.

If we were to switch over to PTO that is capped at some level, that would be not well received. The combining of "sick time" was controversial enough as it was... Some employees have needed to use basically all of their sick time, and 6 weeks of it just wouldn't be anywhere near enough.

We have pto and I like it. I never take sick days so I can use the days as I please. Typically I take off a week in summer which uses 36 hours. Then the rest is used for when I'm called off. Typically to get a good chunk of time off, I prefer to rearrange my schedule so I work the beginning of a week and then end of the next one and it gives me 9 days off at a time and I can save my pto for when we are overstaffed. Oh and ours roll over and we can cash it out when it his 150 hours and can't have over 300.

I've always worked in places where it was PTO for sick time, holidays, and vacations. I've never had any problems with the system (and my current supervisor is willing to allow us to take the occasional vacation day without pay if we happen to be out of PTO). I'd rather have this system than a system where if I don't use sick time or holiday time, I'd lose that time. They do limit our maximum hours accrued, but they increase with years of experience and we have the option (not mandatory obligation) to cash in twice a year if we so choose. The only issue I've had with not being able to take time off is if too many people have requested ahead of me (first come, first served- seniority only applies during prime time). And obviously, the whole staff can't be off at the same time, so that's understandable.

Your problem is not with the PTO system but rather with your facility allowing you to use it.

If I actually used my PTO for what it was for, I would never work.

I love the PTO system. At my current hospital we have a PTO bank to use as we will for vacation or sick days. We also have a separate bank of holidays that we can use for scheduled or unscheduled time off. I have been with my hospital for 4 years, and if I used all my time off every year I would have 6 weeks off a year

Yes, the problem is being able to use it. And when you do use it, getting "spoken to" about how little time one may have left in their PTO time.

A co-worker who was rarely sick for many years and ended up having to cash out all kinds of un-used time got whopped with a nasty bug that seemed to last a long time. She could not come to work, got an MD letter that she couldn't come to work, it would have been against the infection control policy if she did come to work, so she used pretty much every bit of her PTO for the first time in her 12 year career at the facility.

When it came time for annual reviews, she got dinged for "calling out sick" and "using almost all of her PTO time" as some kind of "proof" that she was somehow less of a nurse because of it. She now seems to be living on the edge of "one wrong move and you are outta here" thinking--due to the ding--who cares about the history 12 years and 3 call outs for sickness.

Just give me sick days--then when I follow the infection control policy and can't come to work, hopefully you won't use it against me. Give me vacation time--so that when I am on a month cruise...oh, wait, I can't plan the month's cruise with PTO, as rarely does anyone get the time off they want to plan a big trip in advance. And holidays....rotate them, so that I am not working every Christmas from now until retirement......