We always want employees to take a sick day when they have the flu or come down with a stomach bug. It allows them to recover and keeps everyone else from getting sick. But what about using an “unsick day” to help prevent these illnesses in the first place?
The concept is gaining traction, and for good reason. Staying healthy is about more than just bouncing back from illnesses quickly, and employees need the freedom to take time off for preventive checkups, vaccinations or therapist visits. Unsick days allow them to keep up their health without eating into their time off — meaning they’ll still have PTO open to de-stress on vacation or a sick day to go to the doctor when they catch the cold that’s been going around.
To keep reading, click here: Why Your Employees Need Sick Days — and Unsick Days
PTO is time given employees to use for whatever reason. The PTO includes vacation, sick and personal time off. Paid holidays are also a different PTO status, especially in regards to classified federal holidays, of which there are 5 at current time in the USA. A full time worker has to work at least 1500 hours over the 52 weeks of the year. That leaves ample time for vacation to be scheduled. The problem for the employers is with the use of personal time used for personal reasons whether sick or personal ( non-sick), which are not really scheduled that far in advance.
But if the wages of the employee are based on a prediction of pay for the year which includes time worked and PTO, then the only problem is getting that employee to take the time off and the employer just has to honor the time off request.
The new(ish) paid sick leave law in Massachusetts specifies that employees can use their earned sick leave for routine care as well as taking care of a child, spouse or parent. I’d much rather have someone take the time to get their kid to the doctor than to have them stressed and distracted in the office.
Thank you for writing about this, Suzanne! I’ve been lucky to work for a company that has allowed me to use a sick day for my annual “Doctor Day” for the past few years. I love that I can take this day without using a vacation day and not having to worry about rushing back to the office, especially since appointments always run late.