Although taking time off is very exciting, it’s not a great idea to let yourself mentally check out before you’ve left the office. If you don’t prepare correctly, you’ll find yourself with an abundance of phone calls, emails, missed meetings, and questions from colleagues upon your return. To avoid stress when you come back from vacation, we’ve provided a checklist to help you prepare for your departure.
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Americans work long hours by the world’s standards, and take very few vacations comparatively. This trend may be motivated by American’s work ethic but it’s counterproductive; overworking hurts employee productivity.
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When a company offers vacation time or PTO, they have to decide on a vacation rate for the accrual. There are a few options. Vacation time can accrue by hours worked, by the day, the week, or pay period. Alternatively, employers can choose to give out a lump sum at the beginning of the year. There are many rates to choose from and they are all suited for different needs and scenarios.
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We all look forward to a break from work – a vacation that lets us relax and rejuvenate. However, in the US paid time off is not a given. Employers don’t have to offer time off. Even when they do, not all Americans use it all. And still some workers don’t completely disconnect during their vacation. Vacation time is lacking compared to the rest of the world. The US has the seventh least vacation days behind Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Canada, China, and Mexico.
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There are several ways to calculate time off but only one of them is ideal for part-time employees or employees who work variable schedules. The by hours worked accrual rate ensures that employees only earn time off for the number of hours they actually work making it a great solution for anyone who’s not working full time. This by hours worked method satisfies many state and local sick time requirements.
Timesheets.com has a free by-hours-worked calculator if you need to determine how much time off your employee should be accruing.
Continue reading below to understand more about this useful accrual method.
According to recent research commissioned by Ricoh Americas Corporation and conducted online by Harris Interactive, 54% of Americans work while they’re on vacation. They do things like stay on top of emails, keep in touch with co-workers, and take care of small tasks. Generally, employees don’t simply trade working full time at the office for working full time at the beach, but they aren’t disconnecting either. And this, reports Rioch, is bad for worker’s relationships and their health.
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Do vacation hours count as overtime? This is a common question among employers and employees alike. If an employee takes 8 hours of vacation or PTO on a week where he works more than 32 hours in that week, will those hours over 40 be counted as overtime?
(Before I answer that, I wanted to share a link to our free accrual calculator in case that comes in handy.)
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Calculating PTO by hand is a not a simple task. There are many rates to choose from and the calculations aren’t always intuitive. For this reason, most small business owners just end up using a yearly accrual rate. This method is easy. You just have to decide how many days employees should get per year and give it to them in a lump sum. However, if you’re a little more math savvy, you can calculate PTO with other accrual rates that may be a better fit for your business. I’ll explain the different rates and the calculations.
Also, Timesheets.com has a free tool for calculating time off that you can try.
This might sound contradictory at first. Why would you have to pay out vacation if you don’t even have to offer vacation to begin with?
Well, if you choose to offer vacation, you have to follow some rules. You don’t actually have to offer vacation in California at all if you don’t want to (although, it is a perk that employees find desirable so maybe you should!) but if you do decide to implement some vacation benefits, you’ve got to stick to it till the end.
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Employees need to take short breaks during the day to recharge during work. If they don’t, they can become burnt out and less productive. Likewise, employees need longer breaks during the year to recharge on an even deeper level. Offering paid vacation time can improve an employee’s long term health and well being within the company.
If you’re interested in allocating time off, try our free calculator.
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