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?