I’ve had some interesting discussions lately about taking time off from work.  It usually starts when I tell a person that about once a month I take a Friday off. I call it PTO Awareness Day or better yet, Attitude Adjustment Day. 

I don’t know how many people respond with: “Oh, I could never do that. I have so much to do at work. I’m so busy” I guess they define busy as toggling back and forth between internet surfing and that spreadsheet they’re allegedly working on. That’s what I often observe anyway. Seriously, I’ve found that Friday’s are usually pretty kicked back in the cubicle farms of America. If there is any day of the week when my presence would be least missed it is a Friday.

If you work in “Corporate America”, you probably get Personal Time Off (PTO) days. In the same way I think it would be ridiculous to not take all of the paychecks offered to us each year, it’s foolish to not take all of the PTO offered to us.

Here is how John Reh from about.com explains PTO.

Most US employers offer their workers 10 paid holidays, 2 weeks vacation, two personal days, and 8 sick leave days per year. Under a PTO plan, the employees would be credited with 30 days paid time off instead (10+10+2+8).

On a bi-weekly pay schedule (26 pay periods per year) employees would accrue an additional 1.3 days of PTO every two weeks. Where a semi-monthly pay schedule is used (pay days on the 1st and 15th of each month) employees accrue 1.25 days PTO on each of the 24 pay periods.

He goes on to say that some believe that a PTO program invites abuse. Employees would use the “sick” portion of PTO for regular days off. Really? Haven’t there been studies about how reducing stress and being active reduces my chance of getting sick? Taking a day off to play, may actually prevent me from being truthfully sick and end up taking even more days off. Fortunately, for me I guess my employer sides with me. I’m very open with my management about my plan to take one Friday a month off. They agree that taking a planned day off, is better than unplanned days. Don’t wait until you become sick to use your PTO. It may be that a systematic use of PTO would prevent many sick days anyway.

For me, taking a day off each month is a no-brainer.  It equates to 12 days a year. Since I accrue over 30 days it still leaves me time for a full-fledged family vacation and some extra days for emergencies.  Sure, there are months where deadlines or the vacations of others in my department render a day off impossible. I gladly accommodate the situations of the month. However, knowing that I generally have a day coming is extremely motivating.  I believe that I’m more productive at work because I have an attitude adjustment day coming.

The practice has made my personal life more productive and fun as well. I know a day off  is coming each month so I know there are projects or events I can schedule on that new found 3-day weekend. It’s very relaxing and stress reducing.