We have noticed, especially this year, that employees have not used all of the paid time off days (vacation, sick, and personal days, kept separate) and then "burning" them in the month of December. How do we keep people from "saving" their paid time off days and then "burning" them during December? BYW - we do not allow paid days off to be carried over from year to year.

Change your policy to allow them to roll over.

We also do not allow paid time off to carry over into the next year (other than for exceptional circumstances), nor do I think that we should. We, too, have experienced some "burning off" this month.

I don't know that there is much you can do to stop it, nor do I necessarily think it is something you should worry about stopping. In our case, the supervisor must approve any vacation time or personal days. That gives me control over when they are taken. So if I'm OK with a number of days being taken in December, no problem. I figure, everyone gets 3 personal days per year, so most people will take all three. What difference is it to me when they take them, as long as I have approval power?

Sick days are the only problem. And I keep track of those meticulously, so they can be factored into the annual employee review.

well, if they are entitled to them, I don't see an issue here. If there is a policy in place and they are circumventing it, you need to clamp down on the offending parties.

I'm trying to figure out why sick days would be factored into someone's review - as a manager I've never given a positive or negative review to someone who did or did not take their alloted sick time - am I missing something here? Aren't sick days part of their benefit package - under this reasoning, wouldn't we do the same with someone's vacation time and personal days. I'm sure I've lost something in the translation of this post, so I apologize in advance.

And I'm 'assuming' you're discussing something other than those employees who are given 10 sick days and are out for 15, without any major medical issues.

Sorry, should have been more specific. I keep track of the sick days, so that I can let employees know when they are running low on them, and so that, should someone exceed their allotted number, they will know that they have done so.

I've gotten dinged on taking too many sick days even tho I never got close to using up a year's worth. It was written up as something I should work at reducing.

And one place I worked (years ago) actually paid a bonus if you made it through the year with no sick days! I did it once but it wasn't worth the $$.

Having been on both sides of the fence, and acting as a supervisor too, I think what I have at my present employer is best. We have Unexcused Abscense days that are earned at the rate of 1 per month. They can be used for everything from sickness to appts to child care issues. They carry over indefinitely but are never paid out when you leave.

Vacation carries over for one year only. If I had 2004 vacation time left now and I didn't take it before Friday I'd loose it...and I'd deserve to!

We have no issue with employees taking accrued vacation or personal days at the end of the year. Sick days are another story. For non-exempt employees, they get 10 sick days a year and are paid out for any they don't take, assuming they are still with us in February. We expect sick days to only be taken when the employee is sick - they are not the same as personal days. We also track them in the employee's performance review. If we see a history of Mondayitis or Fridayitis it impacts their review and possibly their raise, while the same number of days out with the flu or other health situation would not. We also reserve the right to dock the pay for a holiday if the day before or after is a sick day without a doctor's note, although we rarely take this action.

How do you handle short term leave? (surgeries, in particular)

We have a lot of people burning them up this year, but I wish some would use more. This time of year people are more likely to get sick too, you better be sure you aren't looking at penalizing people for being sick.

There is going to be some taking advantage of the days if they get no compensation for not using them. We get 6 days, if you are sick more you don't get paid for them and it is an attendance issue at your review time. If you don't use them, we allow roll over up to 144 hours. If you use your 6 days there is no issue for review as you didn't go over the alloted sick time. We don't require doctor notices on those 6 days as they are all adults. If you have staff that you don't trust that is unfortunate, but I really don't know how you can prove they aren't sick.

The previous company I worked for alloted 10 sick days per year, but using them counted against us in our review. Coding on a 1-3 numerical for each area of our review (1 being excellent, 3 being needs improvement), we were coded the higher number if we used sick days. Not a fair practice, if you ask me.

I don't think it's fair either. Last time I checked being sick or having a sick child should not count against your job performance. I would not be able to work somewhere like that.

Instead of trying to monitor who is beating the system (it's fruitless to even try - someone will always abuse the system) look at it from a production stand-point. Is the work getting done? Is there coverage? If the answer to both those questions is a "yes" then it shouldn't matter. If the answer is a "no" then you need to address the issues that relate to work.

Sick days are like insurance. You have them if you need them for those times (when you are sick). Just because you have car insurance you would not go wreck your car just to get the benefit. In previous employment I had the same issues. When this was explained to me it made sense. Vacation days are the benefit. Sick days are insurance if you get sick.

I agree w/Txbanker...we allow sick days to be carried to a max of 30 days (we get 12 days per year) and can build them to 30days , if at the end of the year, you have more than the 240 hrs, you get paid out at 50% rate, to bring you back to the 240 hours. Also, someone in the list mentioned that carring for sick family should not count against performance. That is not a requirement and can be used against for abuse.

I am glad I am at a small bank. When I have to stay home with my child because he is sick, I don't feel it should count against me. I know many people on this site that agree with that fact. If my son having an illness is abuse of my sick time, I would most certainly move to another employer. Not because it may count against me in my review, but I wouldn't want to be associated with an employer that does not understand how important my family is. If I am at work and my son is with a sitter or at school sick, I can assure you my performance would not be 100% and would be worse for the bank than me being gone. I would rather my staff care for their family so when they are here, their mind is here and not worrying about a sick child.

I am stunned to hear people's reviews can be negative if sick days are used, specifically if one hasn't gone over whatever number their employer allows. I would never negatively review an employee for that-if they go over the number, the circumstances would dictate if they are abusing the system.

Just burning up days at the end isn't right, but if someone calls into me saying they are sick, not much I can do.

I agree, Beagle Queen. Our bank is very small. I commute 40 to 45 minutes one way to work each day. My 80+ year old mother lives in another small town with about the same drive time from where I work. On days that she has to go to any of her doctors, I have to leave work, go pick her up, drive to the town I live in to go to her doctor, drive her back to her house, and then drive back to my house - total drive time - almost 3 hours that day. My bank is good enough to let me off if I need to take the time. We close early on Thursday afternoons, so I try to schedule her appointments then, but that can't always happen.

Thank goodness for small banks and understanding bosses.

I really do agree with Sweetpeas. The managers/leaders are responsible making sure the work is getting done. The focus should be on the behaviour. It sounds like there are two opposite camps. At Halloween, there are those who eat all their candy the day they get it and those who save it all and eat it right before the expiration date. Either way, your dentist will say that too much candy is bad. Ideally, it would make sense to spread it out over the year, but that's not always feasible.
When talking about vacation and leave, I think jealously comes in a lot of times. Everyone wants more.

I will have to go and review FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act), but I do believe that sickness of family members cannot impact upon a worker's evaluation or status. Even if it doesn't, it's the manager's job to manage the work and the employee's responsiblity to show up for work. A bit of compromise on both sides (management and employee) will go a long way in the end.
It has also been said that Americans work too much anyway.

One more thought I wanted to add. Best Buy (electronics retailer) is really thinking outside the box. Employees at their corporate headquarters can make their own schedules and their productivity measurements are pretty strict to show that the work is actually done.

From what I hear, they are even toying with the idea of implementing such a practice in their retail stores.

At my better half's company, which is here in Wisconsin, but based out of Paris, they have four weeks vacation, 12 paid Holidays, and no limits on sick or personal time...they are all salaried, so if you need time to get well, take it...just make sure your work gets done!

My understanding that 5 or more consecutive days off will require doctor intervention/approval.