Whether you’re a storied HR pro or an office manager tasked with HR responsibilities, your heavy workload is likely considered “just part of the job.” Your invaluable role in team management is all-encompassing: payroll, time cards, recruiting, training, managing PTO, conducting employee reviews, updating benefits and policies, and ensuring constant compliance—to name just a few. […]
Time Off
4 Ways to Track Vacation (and other PTO)

“What is the best way to track vacation?” This is a question that’s often on the minds of those in charge of time off tracking. It’s one of those tasks that many wish they could defer to someone else. Why? Because it’s an intricate process that requires near-constant attention…for every single employee. We take a look at 4 common methods for tracking vacation and other PTO.
8 Things to Consider When Creating Your Time Off Policy

Creating your first time off policy? Or, rethinking an existing one? Let’s explore some key points to consider. There are oh-so-many excellent reasons a person might need time away from work. From vacations planned well in advance to unforeseen circumstances (like oh, I don’t know, a pandemic), offering your employees a paid time off (PTO) […]
What is Paid Time Off? 10 Examples of PTO

Paid time off (PTO) is a company policy or benefit program that allows employees to take time away from work for illness, vacation or for personal reasons, and still receive compensation. It’s also one of our favourite topics here at PurelyHR. We take a look at what it is and some examples of paid time off.
Carryover in the time of COVID

As uncertainty lingers, this is the year that carryover policies were made for. We explore how COVID has affected time off in 2020 and how carryover can be your PTO saviour.
‘Tis the Season for Holiday Time-Off Requests

The holidays are often a hectic time of year. And, as we all know, work doesn’t slow down to make way for holiday shopping, baking, and movie marathons. So, how can you make the holidays a smoother time at the office? We’re here to share some of our favourite ways to balance productivity and holiday time-off.
The Current State of Parental Leave in America

The math on parental leave … is not there It costs about $233,000 to raise a child from birth to age 18 (when many industrialized nation students would go to college). In the very early days of a child’s life, though — especially a firstborn — the parents have a lot on their plate. Newborns […]
When to Say “NO” to Time Off

Plot twist! We’re usually all about time off, but in this post, we’re going to be discussing when to decline time off requests (and how to avoid time-off abuse).
3 Vacation Ideas That Don’t Break The Bank

We get it. Vacation planning can be really stressful, time-consuming, not to mention, expensive. We’ve talked about a few reasons on this blog as to why your employees might be avoiding their hard-earned vacation time. One topic of conversation we haven’t talked enough about… is their budget. Often times the thought of vacation gets lost […]
Comparing PTO Regulations between North America and Europe: Who’s the Winner?

FunFact: North America (the United States, Canada & Mexico) holds the bottom three spots when comparing PTO regulations all around the world, while The UK, France, and Spain occupy the top three spots. The difference between policies is rather drastic. Countries in the United Kingdom offer a maximum of 28 paid days off a year, […]
Unsick Days? Exploring PTO to Prevent Sick Days

We all have policies around sick days. We set up how many days we offer to our staff and what the rules are. We tell them what to do if they need a sick day, some of you may receive requests in PurelyHR, others may have a hotline your staff can call. But do any […]
Will Carryover Days Hurt or Help my PTO Policy?

We’ve been talking about a lot of high-level PTO topics recently, but just a couple of weeks ago we added something to our own personal PTO policy that had us thinking… What do HR Decision Makers think of this? Turns out, just like many other things in the realm of PTO – it’s up for […]
The Darkside of Unlimited PTO

If you haven’t heard about the latest PTO phenomenon known as Unlimited PTO – you may or may not be living under a rock. But that’s okay! We’re here to catch you up to speed. Unlimited PTO was made significantly popular when Netflix released it’s culture deck back in 2009 and talked about the flexibility […]
Are Your Employees Actually Benefiting From Time Off?

You know the value of PTO (Paid Time Off). You understand the benefit it has to HR and you respect the benefits of taking employee wellness seriously. You offer a PTO experience that your teams are engaged with and often rave about. You’ve done everything you can as an HR Decision Maker to ensure your […]
Why You Should Care About Paid Time Off in 2019

With all the things you as an HR Decision Maker have to worry about it’s understandable why your employees participation in your Paid Time Off policy can seem like a non issue, but rest assured if you put PTO Engagement at the top of your list in 2019, you won’t regret it and your employees […]