Should You Force Employees to Take PTO? Pro and Cons of Mandatory Time Off

One challenge employers often face is when their employees are not taking their allotted paid time off (PTO). To counter this, some companies implement a forced PTO policy that requires employees to use all their PTO. Discover the advantages and disadvantages of forcing employees to take their PTO.

What is mandatory PTO?

A mandatory PTO policy is when employers require their employees to use at least some of their PTO each year. Companies that offer a regular PTO policy, where employees can take off a set amount of days each year, have a few options if their employees don’t use their PTO. They include having the days roll over into the next year, cashing out the days for compensation, or forfeiting the unused days entirely. By enforcing PTO, companies avoid these complicated options and give their employees more time to rejuvenate.

Companies can enforce mandatory PTO in a few ways. They can require each employee to take off a certain amount of time consecutively each year. This could be one week, five days off intermittently, or one day off per month. Businesses can also set deadlines for employees to use their PTO. This can be on a monthly, quarterly, seasonal, or annual basis.

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CO–by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.