Vacation and Sick Days: Six Tips to Creating a Fair Time Off Policy

The majority of states are not required by law to provide vacation and sick time. Therefore, your company's policy and vacation and sick days is entirely up to you. Use these six tips to create a fair time off policy for your company.

1. Prioritize

First, you'll want to consider your goals for the leave policies. Do you need to be competitive with other firms in your industry in order to lure or keep employees? If so, you'll want a broad policy that is very generous. If cutting costs is your priority, you may need to be a bit more restrictive with the number of days you give, also limiting the amount of time that can be built up over the years.

2. Get Feedback

In order to know what's important to include in your vacation and sick days policy, you'll want to obtain input from your employees. Conduct surveys. Offer various options, and see which are most wanted. This will help you to balance the needs of the company with the desires of your staff.

3. Decide How Flexible To Be

Some companies choose to have a blanket paid time off (PTO) policy, rather than two specific separate policies regarding vacation and sick time. This appeals to many employees because it gives them a sense of autonomy when it comes to choosing how to use their time. It also feel more equitable to those who don't often need sick time. Human Resources likes it because there's less to keep tabs on. However, some companies may prefer a more regimented approach to time off.

4. Be Consistent

Once you've decided on your policies, it's important to be consistent in their implementation. It's not uncommon for potential hires to attempt to negotiate using time off as a perk. Allowing this is unfair to the staff as a whole and can hurt employee morale and loyalty.

5. Be Clear

You need to be sure every employee is clear on the policies and the expectations. Provide new hires with a manual and update that manual for company wide distribution annually. Doing so helps to avoid conflict and misunderstanding.

6. Keep Track of and Enforce the Policy

Most of all, it's imperative that policies be accounted for and enforced. Employment law often requires

that employees are paid for unused time. Accurate record keeping is essential, and is best done using a payroll company such as ADP electronic invoicing . Consistent enforcement helps to avoid disputes.

These tips should help to give you a good start on creating a vacation and sick days policy that works for your company and its employees, as well as one that ensures applicable laws are followed.