Do Now! PTO Audit

For HR practitioners in organizations where PTO is not unlimited, you are bound to get the question, “how many PTO days do I have left?” One way to get ahead of this is to do a monthly or quarterly PTO audit. Before you start yelling at the screen, yes, I’m aware of how tedious this is. And yes, to do this well, you will likely need a redundant system. Hear me out…

If you work in a small non-profit, you probably rely on your HRIS or payroll system to track employee vacation requests. Many of these systems poorly relay how many days are left, especially when handling accrual policies. Plus, some systems do not allow you to fix past requests without contacting customer service, leading to confusion and miscalculated PTO days. So, how do you keep track accurately? A redundant system can help. Tools like Google Sheets, Excel, or Smartsheet can serve as an additional record.

Here’s what I suggest: have employees and supervisors record and approve time off in one of these tools. Then, either let HR handle the updates in the HRIS/payroll system or have employees update it after their supervisor approves the time off. At the end of the month, compare the tool’s records with a report from the HRIS/payroll system. If there are discrepancies, talk to the employee and their supervisor to sort it out. This keeps everyone on the same page and minimizes questions about PTO rollovers or remaining days at termination.

(BTW… I would also instruct an organization that has unlimited PTO to keep a redundant system if you are also keeping track of how many days an employee is taking (which you should be). Statistics show that employees tend to take LESS days when operating under an unlimited PTO policy. Therefore, when a supervisor seems distressed about the perceived number of days an employee has taken, you have accurate data on which you all can rely.)

If you have questions about how to set this up for your organization, feel free to schedule a free consultation with me.