Contemporary Benefits Issue Research Paper

Contemporary Benefits Issue Research Paper:

The implications of PTO leave systems in an educational organization.

Brandman University

HRCU 653

Critical Issue

With vacation, sick leave and personal days being the most commonly used benefits it is important to examine their impact on an organization (Singleton, 2004). Keeping absenteeism in check should be a priority for all organizations. By keeping absenteeism in check an organizations “overall productivity and product or service quality should be higher” (Martocchio, 2014, p.136). One way employers can mitigate the amount of time employees are out of work is to offer a limited amount of time off with pay. These types of paid time off policies “compensate employees when they are not preforming their primary work duties (p.226). Employees and employers value these benefits because they allow employees the “opportunity to balance work and non-work interests without incurring loss of pay or benefits, which should help reduce unapproved or unscheduled absenteeism form work” (p.226).

Conventional paid time off policies vary by organization and according to Martocchio (2014) include a variety of paid time off policies, practices, including but not limited to holidays, vacation, sick leave , personal leave, bereavement leave, personal service leave and military leave. In the field of education teachers earn leave on an annual basis and can carry their time off over annually to create an unlimited pool of leave. In this traditional paid time off system a portion of the days awarded are for personal leave and another portion is for sick leave.

In addition to personal and sick leave employees are awarded additional time for bereavement leave, jury duty and professional development. Teacher absences in education are extremely important because of the cost of hiring substitutes, the perceived valuation of PTO, the disproportionate absence rates in low income schools, and the effect on academic achievement (Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdor, 2009,p36 ). With absences in the traditional educational paid time off system coming at such a premium it is imperative to examine its efficiency and possible alternatives.

Key Components

The bureau of labor statistics (BLS) estimates the four million full time American workers fail to report to work each week and although the absolute cost for any single employee may be insignificant the overall costs can exceed the cost of the sick leave itself (Rickert, Duncan, & Ginter, 1995). The rate of teachers’ absence in the United States is “on the order of five percent, or about nine days per one hundred and eighty day