With the movement from traditional paid leave plans to paid time-off banks, many employers may wonder if the switch is effective in managing employee absences. Nearly one in five employees in the United States receive leave in the form of a PTO bank, but the contours of such policies are often little understood – especially outside of the human resources community, according to a new study out by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and CLASP, a nonprofit that works to improve the economic security of low-income families.
Among employees with paid leave, lower-wage employees are less likely to have access to a PTO bank than a traditional paid vacation system. Fifty-one percent of employees in the lowest average wage quartile have access to any vacation time, and only 9% of the lowest wage employees have access to a PTO bank, while 89% of employees in the highest wage quartile have access to vacation time, and 28% have access to a PTO bank. Similarly, part-time employees are less likely to have a PTO bank with 9% of part-time employees having access to a PTO bank, as compared to 23% of full-time employees.
