The Importance of Tracking Leave With Unlimited PTO

Unlimited vacation and PTO policies are an increasingly popular trend among startups and established small businesses alike. This type of policy can simplify a company’s paid leave programs while demonstrating to employees that work-life balance matters to the company.

Key Reasons to Track Unlimited Leave

Even with an unlimited PTO policy, it’s still a good idea to track how much time employees take off from work. A challenge with the unlimited vacation policy is that employees are allowed to take as much time as they want, while also effectively managing their workload. It’s important to find balance.

Prevent Employee Turnout

Tracking time off can help prevent employee burnout. Top employees often tend to err on the side of caution with an unlimited leave policy, which results in them taking too little time off rather than too much. By tracking time off, managers can become more efficient at keeping track of people who are not taking enough time off and encouraging them to take more, thus serving to help prevent burnout.

Identify Work Habit Challenges

Tracking paid time off can help managers recognize when employees may not be performing as they should. Does this employee fail to work ahead prior to an absence? Does your team run into a bottleneck every time that person is away on vacation? Maybe that person isn’t sharing key information with team members so that the work can go on when they’re out of the office. Tracking leave can help you identify the sources of such challenges and pinpoint areas where coaching or team development might be needed.

Manage Based on Performance

When you’re more aware of the ebb and flow of work when team members are away, this can provide a foundation for a constructive conversation regarding that employee's approach to work and contributions to the team, as well as the company’s expectations surrounding what to do in advance of taking PTO or vacation. By tracking time off, managers can easily identify how key performance indicators are impacted by a particular individual's absence. As a result, they’ll be empowered to manage based on performance.

Benefits of Unlimited PTO Policies

Even though it’s still advisable for companies that have unlimited leave policies to track employee time off, that effort is well worth the benefits of having such a policy, especially when you use a simplified time-and-attendance solution like Justworks Time Tracking.

• Work-life balance: Unlimited PTO encourages work-life balance in a substantive way.

• Loyalty: Meeting employees’ need for time off can boost loyalty to the company.

• Retention: Employees are more likely to stay with a firm that offers unlimited leave.

• Motivation: Team members may be more efficient and motivated with sufficient rest.

• Creativity: People who aren’t exhausted or burned out are likely to be more creative.

Creative Solution for Unlimited PTO

Once you have determined that people need to take time off and have a system in place for tracking leave, the question becomes how you can encourage them to go. The company Evernote has an interesting way of encouraging people to schedule leave. There, employees who take at least a week of vacation get a $1,000 bonus as spending money.

This helps encourage people to take time off, while also contributing toward the expense of getting away from it all. It’s also a great way to help make sure your team members will come back more refreshed and ready to work. Justworks makes it easy to track time off, so whether you go with a generous policy like this, or find other options to boost work-life balance via your company’s unlimited leave policy, we’ve got your back. Learn more about how Justworks can help you and your team find the work-life balance you deserve.