The U.S. taken another beating in the other thread re our societal and corporate attitudes re vacation/personal time off.
I feel like a bit of a fraud to join in that pity party.
I didn't get much the first year back to work but after 1 yr I earned approx 2 1/2 weeks/year and then since my 5 year anniversary, I take three 1 week long vacations and several long weekends per year. This on top of a good income and excellent working conditions. Several of my coworkers have taken 2 weeks without any hoopla for their big vacations but being a single mom I can't afford to take my kids on vacation to Europe, one a week at a time works best for us. If I talked to my manager about needing to take a month next year, they would try to make it work.
I had my babies back in the days of nurses not easy to replace and so my maternity time off was only limited to our financial planning, or lack thereof. I had some sick/PTO time plus my 6-8 weeks of SDI, if my then husband and I had planned better ie if he had a work ethic, I could have taken off as much as I wanted and there would have been a job for me. As it was I took those 6-8 weeks off without blinking.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
I think too many people here feel entitled. I have worked nearly 5 years and called in sick 1 day. I was in the ER that morning. I think my cumulative days-off (vacation taken) during those 5 years was probably less than 20 working days, as well. We only work 1/2 the week, typically, in the hospital setting (my situation), and just don't see what the fuss is. We have PLENTY of time off!
(accrued 170 hours of vacation that's left over for this year. I think I took 3-5 shifts off, maybe?)
So does that mean people who use their employer provided health insurance are entitled as well? Vacation time is a benefit and should be used as the person earning the benefit sees fit. My employer will only pay out up to 200 hours when leaving the organization. Having more than that would mean that my employer would get out of paying me something that I earned. I take time off every so often, whether it's an actual vacation or just a long weekend to relax at home. Heck, right now I'm making sure not to get sick as I've nearly emptied my vacation time and have calculated out that I will have exactly enough for my next planned vacation. All you're doing is setting yourself up to be a martyr, and nursing really doesn't need any more of those.
PTO is a form of compensation. It's not being entitled to use it. Many employers have caps on PTO so once you get to the cap, you stop accruing and basically you are saying it's ok for your employer to pay you less. When I worked in the hospital, our cap was 1.5x our annual accrual and then it was lowered to 1.25x our annual accrual. When they made this change, I had slightly more than 1.25x my annual accrual in my bank which my employer immediately took away from me and put into an "extended sick leave" bank, that I could only use if I had to go out on short term disability and that they didn't have to pay out when I left. This was time that I had EARNED and because I didn't use it quickly enough, they took it from me, put it somewhere where I couldn't use it and it was worth several hundred dollars.
I use every hour of PTO I'm given. I've only been home from my last vacation for 2 weeks and I already booked the next one. There is nothing to be gained by leaving this time unused.
That is how our old vacation/holiday pay/sick time package worked. When they switched us over to a PTO system I had 380 hours [the max allowed] of accumulated sick time that just went poof! gone! We were so-called compensated for this by the company picking up half the tab for short term disability insurance. This insurance won't kick in until you've been out of work for 15 days, and then it only pays at 2/3 wage. I opted in just to have some coverage if something happens that keeps me out of work, but I hope I never have to use it as I'd be hard pressed to make it on 2/3 pay and that's assuming I have a bank of PTO that will cover the 15 days off prior to the insurance kicking in.
Well, yay for you. Even though I said I don't think other countries should criticize us, that doesn't mean I subscribe to this idea that we should work as much as we can and deny ourselves downtime. Especially downtime we've earned. There are higher values than work. I work to service those, and don't define myself by work. No one should.
Well, yay for you. Even though I said I don't think other countries should criticize us, that doesn't mean I subscribe to this idea that we should work as much as we can and deny ourselves downtime. Especially downtime we've earned. There are higher values than work. I work to service those, and don't define myself by work. No one should.
Quite right. I don't disagree with any of your post. I'm simply saying we have plenty of downtime in America. I choose not to use much of mine because of how I was raised. Vacation and time off was for rich folks who have nice things and good lives. I'm totally rich by my childhood standards as a nurse, but old habits die hard. That aspect is personal.
Wow! Do you get to carry over all of that unused PTO? We are only allowed to carry over 40 hours, beyond that it's use it or lose it. It definitely encourages us to actually take our earned time off instead of throwing away the time.
Good for you! Not only did I lose all my sick time when we switched to PTO, as of last year our PTO is accrued as we work. I start the year with a bank of 80 hours only because I've worked there for so many years. Some start with a bank of 40 hours, if less than 5 years employed it's zero. Add that to the up to 40 hours we can carry over and those are the hours that are avaialable as of Jan 1rst. Beyond that PTO is granted based on some crazy math equation, it works out to about 7.25 hrs a pay period for me. Since we are "earning" that PTO the entire year now this is why we can carry over 40 hours, used to be we lost all unused PTO at the end of the year.
The real kicker is the new language specifically states "PTO is not an earned benefit." So, I guess that means the company gives us this time off out of the goodness of their hearts?? NOT! The powers that be were smart with this one, what that means is now when we quit [or get canned!] there is no pay out of any PTO you have banked. Yet another reason I make darn sure to use as much of my PTO as possible as I'm getting it. I never used to take long vacations until summer, I've already used a week in Feb, using another week in March and in May, 2 weeks in July and Dec. Plus I'm sure I'll schedule some more time off in the fall.
Wow! Do you get to carry over all of that unused PTO? We are only allowed to carry over 40 hours, beyond that it's use it or lose it. It definitely encourages us to actually take our earned time off instead of throwing away the time.
I currently have 300 accrued hours. My facility currently allows 500 hours max but is reducing to 360 by the end of this year and 260 at the end of next year. But these all carry over year to year. If you reach the max, you just stop accruing. They will only pay out 30 days worth when you leave.
That's weird. I worked HR for 5 years before I was a nurse and never saw a policy like that. So, for an 8 hour shift, half is unpaid and 4 hours are PTO? I work weekend overnights so I lose a substantial amount of differential when I call in or take vacation. But I get the full 8 hours PTO.
Good for you! Not only did I lose all my sick time when we switched to PTO, as of last year our PTO is accrued as we work. I start the year with a bank of 80 hours only because I've worked there for so many years. Some start with a bank of 40 hours, if less than 5 years employed it's zero. Add that to the up to 40 hours we can carry over and those are the hours that are avaialable as of Jan 1rst. Beyond that PTO is granted based on some crazy math equation, it works out to about 7.25 hrs a pay period for me. Since we are "earning" that PTO the entire year now this is why we can carry over 40 hours, used to be we lost all unused PTO at the end of the year.
The real kicker is the new language specifically states "PTO is not an earned benefit." So, I guess that means the company gives us this time off out of the goodness of their hearts?? NOT! The powers that be were smart with this one, what that means is now when we quit [or get canned!] there is no pay out of any PTO you have banked. Yet another reason I make darn sure to use as much of my PTO as possible as I'm getting it. I never used to take long vacations until summer, I've already used a week in Feb, using another week in March and in May, 2 weeks in July and Dec. Plus I'm sure I'll schedule some more time off in the fall.
I would check into your state law regarding this. In some states, it is illegal for you not to be paid out your accrued PTO upon leaving.
Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN
6 Articles; 12,057 Posts
So does that mean people who use their employer provided health insurance are entitled as well? Vacation time is a benefit and should be used as the person earning the benefit sees fit. My employer will only pay out up to 200 hours when leaving the organization. Having more than that would mean that my employer would get out of paying me something that I earned. I take time off every so often, whether it's an actual vacation or just a long weekend to relax at home. Heck, right now I'm making sure not to get sick as I've nearly emptied my vacation time and have calculated out that I will have exactly enough for my next planned vacation. All you're doing is setting yourself up to be a martyr, and nursing really doesn't need any more of those.