Back
Employee Engagement

Boost Employee Engagement by Optimizing Time Off

Boost Employee Engagement by Optimizing Time Off

Introduction

It’s no secret: companies with higher employee engagement consistently outperform their competitors on every major business metric.

According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace study, companies with high engagement are 17% more productive, 21% more profitable, and benefit from lower turnover (59%) and absenteeism (41%).

Clearly, the way your company treats employees and how employees treat one another has a very tangible impact on how enthusiastic and committed employees are to their work, which shows up on the company’s bottom line.

But with nearly 85% of employees worldwide classified as “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” by Gallup, there’s a lot of productivity and profitability being left on the table.

Boost #1: Optimize and Automate Your PTO

55% of US employees don’t use all of their PTO, leading to high rates of stress and burnout. One of the fastest ways to boost morale and transform employee engagement is to encourage people to use their paid time off.

This leaves HR leaders with a couple of questions to answer:

  • How can you inspire employees to take leave without causing workflow disruptions?
  • How can you get employees to take time off at all without having to invoke unpopular company mandates?

The solution is to optimize and automate your paid time off program.

Ideally, you'd actively monitor, manage and optimize your PTO program and time and attendance software on a daily basis. You'd look for opportunities for every employee to take time off that would be non-disruptive to their personal, team, and company workflows. Then you’d nudge those employees and give them a reason to want to take time off.

Conceptually, this isn't not rocket science. But this would require a recurring investment of your time to execute. And let’s face it: you have other priorities on your plate. 

That’s why at PTO Genius, we've built PTO Optimization tools that proactively notify employees of company-friendly times to get away and presents them with fun and inspiring activities to do while on vacation.

Boost #2: Reimagine what your PTO can do

Stress and anxiety related to finances are a very real problem for many employees in the modern workforce: 64% of US employees live paycheck-to-paycheck, and 69% of them have less than $1,000 in savings.

That's why forward-thinking companies are empowering their employees to convert unused PTO into financial wellness. PTO payout gives employees the option to convert some of their PTO into other things: cash to cover financial emergencies, student loan payments, retirement and health savings, and so on. 

Showing employees that you have their financial interests in mind can go a long way if you’re looking to transform employee engagement. The peace of mind that comes from knowing that you can tap into a small cash reserve should something come up is priceless.

The key to this one is making sure you set the right rules and policies to ensure that employees don’t take advantage of the program and cause the company to run into cash flow challenges. But if you use PTO Genius to manage this program, setting those rules is as easy as ordering an Uber.

Conclusion

Ultimately, engagement is all about how your company connects with your employee. Focus on the people behind the numbers, and look for ways to alleviate their sources of stress. Finally, don’t be afraid of questioning how you’ve done things in the past.

Sign up for our Newsletter

Get our latest articles, research, and insights on time off and human resources topics, delivered right to your email inbox.

Dive even deeper with our latest articles

Continue to expand your general HR knowledge with detailed articles, interviews, tutorials, and case studies.

PTO Accrual: The Costs of Calculating PTO
Human Resources
PTO Accrual: The Costs of Calculating PTO

Adjusted for inflation, it takes 25 to 47 minutes and costs $23.37 to $46.43 to calculate and update the PTO balances for a single employee. This article dives deeper into those costs and breaks them down by number of employees.

Read More
PTO Accrual: How It Works With Different PTO Policies
PTO
PTO Accrual: How It Works With Different PTO Policies

Traditional vacation accrual, lump-sum PTO, unlimited PTO, and flex time all work differently. Here's everything you need to know about how PTO accrual works.

Read More
PTO Accruals: How to Calculate PTO & Vacation Time
PTO
PTO Accruals: How to Calculate PTO & Vacation Time

PTO (paid time off) accrual is complicated and costly. This guide explains how to calculate PTO accruals for hourly and salary employees, with easy-to-use formulas.

Read More
See our platform in action: Schedule a demo today

Experience the Future of Time Off, Today

See how PTO Genius saves you time and money while preventing burnout and compliance issues. Try our next-generation time off tracking, automation, and compliance platform for free today.

Sign Up For Free