Sandra Moran, Chief Customer Experience and Marketing Officer at WorkForce Software talks with SHRM in a recent article about employees not utilizing their paid time off (PTO). The article introduces a survey that reveals that 48% of U.S. workers don’t expect to use all their allotted vacation days by year-end, with various factors impeding time off.
Moran comments that this trend can be problematic for both employees and organizations, potentially indicating inadequate communication of vacation policies or employees’ reluctance to take time off. She suggests that employers should regularly remind employees about using vacation time, including information on blackout dates and notice periods – and that scheduling flexibility is also important for employees this time of the year. Moran recommended analyzing data to identify correlations between PTO trends and negative business outcomes, using these insights to implement changes that improve PTO utilization, boosting employee morale.
“When employees have PTO left on the table at the end of the year, it can signal a couple of things,” Moran said. Mainly, it can “indicate that employers aren’t adequately communicating and reinforcing their vacation policies to employees and managers, or that employees are purposely refraining from taking PTO due to fear of work piling up, impact to career progression, burden to team members, or not recognizing the need or value of time away to their overall health and productivity,” she said.
Moran also suggested employers analyze and share data illuminating any correlation between employee PTO trends and negative business outcomes, such as increased turnover, reduced productivity, or higher absenteeism.
“To change those trends to improve utilization, leverage data to identify specific actions the company can implement to drive change,” she said. “Are there actual workplace cultural or business requirements impacting employee PTO? For example, are employees who don’t use vacation days the ones who are promoted more regularly than those who do not? Are there seasonal or workload peaks prohibiting employees from taking time off that can be addressed with improved scheduling?”
