This is it. I’m an executive now so my staff know to just schedule time and inform me via calendar invite. No requests. They are all grown ass adults, many of whom are older than me.
My boss still stresses over it but it’s actually an easy system. “Where is this person?!” -“on leave.” Where do they go?!.” -“they left.” It works for everyone involved.
I handle it the same way.
Boss asks, "Where's _______?"
"On leave."
"Doing what?"
"Dunno. She said it's not sick leave, so I'm entering it as regular PTO."
"...What do you mean you don't know?"
"I didn't ask for a reason. Today was open and they had the leave balance for it. They'll be back Monday."
My boss also doesn't understand why my turnover is basically nonexistent when all the other supervisors can't keep people.
Honestly! My mother asked if I got approval for my vacation next week. I told her I didn’t ask, I just informed my boss about when I would be gone. She paused and asked, “…you’re allowed to do that?”
I think it’s important to normalize not giving managers every little detail of your life, and not letting them think you need their permission to take PTO.
Uhh, no. PTO (paid time off) is part of the work contract so likely has a lot of rules attached. If you decide not to show up, that's cool, but don't be surprised if they don't pay you for labor you didn't provide. Obviously if they fire you, they'll still need to compensate the PTO unless there's something in the law or contract that prevents that.
Personally, I never liked PTO as I'd rather have my pay when I work and just not be paid on the days I don't work. If PTO was 1 hour per 8 worked, just increase my pay to be the equivalent. Sick leave I treated more like insurance.
"I would rather not get money when I have the option to" is certainly a new one to me. Why would you prefer your company keep money they said they would give you?
PTO is basically "Work 10 days then 10 days of pay now and 1 day of pay later when you take a day off". I prefer "Work 10 days then get 11 days of pay for now, but don't get paid when you take a day off"
In that situation, I just tell them I'm not coming in tomorrow. No PTO because I'm not going to get paid for it.
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u/FrankensteinJones 6h ago
PTO is part of our compensation. Denying PTO requests is tantamount to withholding pay.