I just learned that someone close to me who is starting new job next week must wait 6 months before she is “allowed” to take PTO, according to her new company’s policy. This makes me sick. (It also reminded me of the Soup Nazi from that classic Seinfeld episode – “No soup for you! Next!”) Who, in today’s landscape of integrated work and life, could possibly wait six months to take a day off? Could YOU?
I am not sure how to say all that I want to say without offending any CFOs, executives or even HR Leaders out there, but frankly the ones who get most offended are those who most need to hear this. For those of you holding out, it is time to make a change. Stop making excuses for why policing your employees’ time off is so important, and rather than spending time justifying why your policies make sense, spend that time figuring out how you are going to finally step into the 21st century, trust your employees and give them what they need and want. (Hint: they need and want flexibility and freedom.) The alternative is that you can join the ranks of over half of the Fortune 500 who have disappeared over the past decade. Get with the program, people. There is really no way around the issue of flexibility for employees. If you want your organization and your people in it to grow, you must make some serious changes, and how you treat “time off” is one of them. Don’t take my word for it – take it from the workforce themselves. From this survey done by Robert Half in October 2018:
Notice employees are screaming for flexible schedules, shorter workweeks and virtual work. But employers are not coughing it up. Instead, they are offering things employees are not asking for like social events. (For those companies still asking themselves why employees aren’t showing up for these things – read the data….they don’t want it.)
I am personally an advocate for an open PTO policy. Otherwise known as “flexible PTO,” or “Unlimited PTO” it is a system that doesn’t put boundaries on time off. The focus is on the work that needs to be done rather than how and when it is done. My experience is that this will not result in you losing money. This will not result in a bunch of bandits stealing time from you. This is not going to result in corporate sabotage. This will not result in an empty warehouse floor where orders are going unfilled and customers are going unserved. This will not result in Shelia complaining that Bobby gets all the breaks. Well, maybe it will create some employee issues, but those will be the exception rather than the rule and quite frankly it will be the exact same employees who are already causing you headaches. The big picture result will be a higher level of leadership among your front-line managers, which I know for a fact you’ve been begging for for years because it’s all we talk about! It will also result in a higher level of satisfaction among your employees and a higher level of ownership and collaboration. And it will result in a lot less administrivia for your HR function and bookkeeping nightmares for your Accounting teams. All of this will result in your company taking an important step in modernizing in order to compete and win in the marketplace of today and the future.
According to Ray Wang in his book, Disrupting Digital Business, there are four categories of companies when it comes to transformation: Market Leaders, Fast Followers, Cautious Adopters and Laggards. The Market Leaders are those who proactively transform – they go first. I think of Netflix as it relates to their unlimited time off policy in this example. Only 5% of organizations fall into this category. Fast followers are those who are afraid to go first but they are watching and ready, and once it’s safe they pull the trigger. They represent 15% of the market. The Cautious Adopters are those companies who study what the first two groups are doing and collect endless data, discussing it ad nauseum and focus a lot of their time talking about and analyzing risk, legal ramifications, safety, security and what could go wrong. Sound familiar? It should, because they make up half of all companies. The Laggards’ position is that they are doing fine as-is; basically, “it’s not broken, so don’t fix it.” They are in denial, along with 30% of all companies. It is no surprise that the last two of these groups represent most of the 52% of the Fortune 500 who have been merged, acquired, gone bankrupt or fallen off the list.
Which group are you in? What are you doing right now to change so you don’t fall prey like the rest of them? Let 2019 be your year to transform your policies as it relates to flexibility and time off and watch how this improves your workforce and your workplace. Here are some things to think about:
- Virtual Work
- Flexible schedules
- Shortened Workweeks
- Part time schedules and job sharing
Still wondering how to get started? Here’s one idea. First, apologize publicly to all of your employees and those you serve for being so archaic and parental in the handling of their lives. Then, invite them to a PTO policy bonfire party on the front lawn. (Be sure to videocast this for your remote workers). Then, have your front-line leaders work within their teams to come up with their own solutions for handling flexibility based on their individual and team needs. The most important thing in this scenario: trust your leaders to handle it, don’t micro manage it, and equip your leaders with an experienced mentor to guide them through this process if this is new for them. (PS….that’s where I come in.)
