By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady

In our January 2010 Survey of Paid Time Off (PTO) Practices, 54% of respondents had a PTO plan rather than a traditional plan with individual policies for vacation, sick leave, and personal leave. By contrast, in BLR’s Survey of Employee Benefits in late 2007, only 43% used a PTO plan.

Survey respondents also detailed their holiday and vacation practices. Thanks to the nearly 2,000 readers who participated.

PTO Plans

Of the companies that offer a PTO plan, virtually all apply that plan to both exempt and nonexempt employees.  Most include vacation, sick time, and personal days in the plan, and nearly half include days off to care for dependents.

In addition:

  • 72% of companies with a PTO plan allow days to be carried over to subsequent years. 
  • 29% allow the bank of accumulated days to grow to between 20 to 29 days.
  • 26% allow the bank to grow to a maximum of 30 to 59 days.

Those who reported offering a PTO plan described their plans as follows:

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Types of leave included (percent of respondents):

Sick

90%

Vacation

94%

Holidays

29%

Personal Days

84%

Death in Family

32%

Care for Dependents

45%

Other

  8%

PTO days allowed per year (percent of respondents):

1-5 days

8%

6-10 days

15%

11-19 days

42%

20-24 days

21%

25+ days

15%

Maximum number of days that can be accumulated in a PTO plan (percent of respondents):

1-9 days

  9%

10-19 days

15%

20-29 days

29%

30-59 days

26%

60-89 days

  5%

90+ days

  9%

No limit

  8%

PTO days carried over from year to year (percent of respondents):

Yes

72%

No

28%

Jury Duty

About one-half of respondents had no limit on the length of jury duty; the rest set limits ranging from less than 2 weeks to over 5 weeks.

Paying for leave for jury duty (percent of respondents):

Practice

Exempt

Nonexempt

Pay full salary

55%

49%

Pay difference between salary and jury duty pay

32%

33%

Do not pay

9%

14%

Other

4%

5%

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Holidays Observed

Respondents almost universally (all over 90%) observe the "standard six" holidays: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. The Friday after Thanksgiving was the next most commonly observed holiday.

The following percentages of companies reported observing the indicated holidays (in calendar order):

Friday, January 1, 2010 (New Year's Day)

93%

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

26%

Lincoln's Birthday

  2%

Washington's Birthday/President's Day

30%

Good Friday

24%

Memorial Day

94%

Independence Day (observed Monday, July 5)

94%

Labor Day

94%

Rosh Hashanah

  1%

Yom Kippur

  1%

Columbus Day

12%

Election Day

  1%

Veterans Day

15%

Thanksgiving

96%

Friday after Thanksgiving

64%

Friday, December 24, 2010 (Christmas observed)

84%

Employee's birthday

  7%

Other special day/floating holiday

36%

Vacation

Survey respondents offered weeks of vacation as indicated:

One week offered after:

Do not offer

16%

Fewer than 6 months

28%

6 months

25%

More than 6 months, less than 1 year

  9%

1 year

21%

More than 1 year

  1%

Two weeks after:

No second week

  8%

Less than 1 year

27%

1 year

36%

Greater than 1 year, fewer than 2 years

  7%

At least 2, fewer than 5 years

19%

Greater than 5 years

  3%

Three weeks after:

No third week

12%

Fewer than 5 years

29%

5 years

29%

More than 5 years, fewer than 10 years

17%

10 years

10%

More than 10 years

  3%

Four weeks after:

No fourth week:

28%

Fewer than 10 years

23%

10 years

19%

More than 10 years, fewer than 15 years

11%

At least 15 years, fewer than 20 years

13%

20 years or more

  7%

Five weeks after:

No fifth week

68%

At least 10 years, fewer than 20 years

17%

20 years

  6%

More than 20 years, fewer than 25 years

  4%

25 years

  4%

More than 25 years

  1%

Also, 65% of respondents indicated that earned vacation is lost if not used within a specified period of time.

To see a PDF of the entire survey:
HR.BLR.com subscribers, click here
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Thanks to all who participated in the HR Daily Advisor's PTO Practices Survey.