Thirty Seven Percent of Workers Don't Use Their PTO

Washington, D.C (WorkersCompensation.con) – According to new study from benefits company WorldAtWork, employees are under-utilizing their paid time off benefits.

The “2019 PTO/Paid Parental Leave Programs & Practices Survey” conducted by WorldAtWork and PTO Exchange suggests that 37 percent of employees are not fully utilizing their PTO even though half of employers (52 percent) offer immediate use of time-off benefits, and more than half (62 percent) allow use of pooled time-off.

Of those employers that have a “use it or lose it” written policy, only 19 percent of employees actually lost their time benefits after not using their PTO. The study suggests that employers are considering time off alternatives such as donating unused PTO to a co-worker (20 percent), reallocating unused PTO cash out to 401K plans (2 percdent), or donating to a charity (2 percent).

Scott Cawood, President and CEO, WorldatWork believes that time off is the key to happy employees. “Organizations that deliver benefits like paid time off, flexibility, and paid parental leave – benefits that provide a great work experience and a great life experience -- are often valued higher by employees than other rewards like salary or health benefits,” he said

According to an O.C. Tanner survey, taking time off from work has a direct impact on employee mindset. For those employees that took a full week off from work, 70 percent felt they were highly motivated, compared to only 55 percent who did not take the time off. Longevity was also impacted as 65 percent of employees who took time off stated they wanted to still be working for their employer a year from now as compared to 43 percent who did not take vacation. Additionally, 65 to 67 percent of vacationing employees believed in their employer’s purpose and were motivated by that in comparison to 51 percent that did not take vacation time.

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