Compensation is compensation - why the fascination with PTO?

[belfpala]

So you could have two people doing the exact same job, on the same pay, but one has a holiday entitlement and the other doesn't? Is that common, or do companies generally have PTO for all/none contracts?

Depending on the kind of job. Say, an office job, it's usually a lockstep thing. You get 1 week PTO your first year, and it ramps up from there. The pay itself is usually the point of negotiation. I've seen situations where equally skilled employees were being paid as much as 50% different just because one of them didn't ask for as much. Same PTO, etc.

[Akraen]

The point of PTO is because you will lose your job if you just don't show up to work. PTO is an allowance of time off without questions. I use PTO for a week. My boss doesn't know why or care why. That's my protection.

If the choice was "Hmm, a day w/o pay" - then I'd take a higher salary and just take days off as needed.

[Deleted]

I rather take the time off instead of a bump in money each year, its worth it.
My gf works as a nurse and due to lack of personel, the hospital offers to buy the PTO and pays quite alot of extra for it. Thats a good option if you rather take some extra money.

[ItachiZaku]

I'd go crazy without my time off. >.>

Yep. Up late for the game? Yep. Sexathon weekend that doesn't end uptil Monday mid day? Yep. Woke up and said fuck it? Yep. 3 and 4 day weeksn random? Yep. OH, MockingJay is coming out! Yep.

[Ebildays]

Is the 35k/32k before or after taxes have been taken out. If it is before you would have to do see what percent would be eaten up by taxes and even adding in if you have dependants or not.

If you are a single person with no dependants the 35k option would be a slightly better deal, anything other than that and the 32k with PTO is going to be better. Also depending on the company a person could cash out their PTO for cash at either the whole or half value.

[Annoying]

Full disclosure - I get 28 PTO days a year and usually lose about 10 - 15 due to being unable to use them.

That's really dumb. Unwind, go on vacation. That's what PTO is for. Unless of course, your company will "buy" your PTO from you, which I've done before, but generally, I'd rather use them.

[Televators]

Was pondering this at work today. Why do people value vacation time so irrationally? I love to read about how the U.S. is one of the very few countries which does not mandate paid time off (PTO). But PTO is just another version of compensation.

For example:
Person A makes $35,000 a year with no PTO
Person B makes $32,000 a year with 3 weeks PTO

Most people would sneer that Person A is being taken advantage of and Person B is being treated much more decently - but Person A makes more compensation even if they take off three unpaid weeks!

Compensation is compensation - why does getting it dollars instead of PTO make people go crazy?

Full disclosure - I get 28 PTO days a year and usually lose about 10 - 15 due to being unable to use them.

Some employers who have both full and part time positions (like my previous employer) do not allow full time employees to take unpaid days off. The example in the thread is largely irrelevant because almost no one is making a choice between two jobs where one pays more and has less time off and the other pays less and has more with a difference that is so minuscule.

[Tziva]

Well, for one, you're assuming the person with PTO also gets paid less, which I don't think is necessarily the case. In my experience working in the US, it's actually the opposite - most of the jobs that don't offer PTO are also minimum wage jobs.

Second, PTO protects your job in the event you need to be absent. It's not just about compensation. If your company doesn't give paid leave, they also might not be inclined to hold your job for you for when you return verses the job where you're actively employed while you're gone. At least, the one job I had right out of college without paid leave was like that. I am not sure what the legalities are on it -- surely you're protected in some cases, but I think in the case of just taking a holiday you're not -- but it's definitely a factor to consider.

[Moadar]

Money isn't worth anything unless you get time to spend it.