I get a lot of questions about how we implement paid time off (PTO) at Onlinejobs.ph.
We offer unlimited PTO.
We don’t track it.
We don’t really care.
I know unlimited PTO isn’t for everyone. The best way to implement PTO really depends on your business and what you’re comfortable with.
But some of you are wondering
1. How can my business afford to offer unlimited PTO?
2. How do I get maximum productivity from my OFS team when they know they can take as much time off as they want?
3. How can I keep track of things when my team can take time off whenever they want?
1. How can my business afford to offer unlimited PTO?
I pay my OFS team a monthly salary. I don’t add or subtract from their salary when they work more or less. I don’t pay them more if they work on a holiday or the weekends. I don’t pay them less if they don’t work on weekdays.
Because I know exactly how much I’m paying for a month, it’s easier to budget and keep track of our labor costs.
That leads to question #2: How do I get maximum productivity from my OFS team when they know they can take as much time off as they want?
I personally value productivity more than time spent working or looking like you’re working.
If you can finish your work within an 8-hour shift, that’s great.
If you can finish it in under 5 hours, that’s even better.
Because I trained my OFS team and I communicate with them most days, they know what they need to do.
They also regularly check their Basecamp and email to see if I assigned them new tasks.
Because they’re part of entire business processes, they sometimes assign tasks for themselves or assign related tasks to their teammates.
They message me often for feedback and follow-up.
There’s no slacking off because they know exactly how much work they must do to meet deadlines and keep our projects moving.
When they’re done, they can take time off.
But I noticed that most of them try to do more and take on more responsibilities.
Why?
Because I give yearly raises. They know that if they do more, they’ll get a bigger raise at the end of the year.
As a result, they don’t abuse the unlimited PTO. Getting the work done pays off more than taking multiple days off.
In fact, usually we have the opposite problem. Usually they don’t take ANY time off, even when we wish they would.
One disadvantage of unlimited PTO is it can be challenging to keep track of people’s schedules. This leads to question #3: What if they take their time off at the same time, and how do I keep track?
Do I keep track of their PTO? No.
My OFS team is trained to get as much done before they take their time off. Also, most of our work isn’t time-sensitive; we don’t have to worry about scheduling as much.
They inform us ahead of time when they’re taking time off (or as soon as possible when they’re sick) and when they’ll be back.
For teams that have time-sensitive tasks like our customer support, they have a system for that. They inform everybody when they take their time off and work out who can cover their shift.
We give most of the team time off on Christmas week since it’s a slow time for our business anyway. We tell them to check their emails just in case they’re needed.
That’s how unlimited PTO works for us. It keeps our employees happy. It makes us really attractive when we’re recruiting people. We’re getting a lot of productivity because people want to keep this benefit when needed.
What’s your PTO strategy? How does it work in your business? Let me know!
John
PS. Ready to hire someone? OnlineJobs.ph