what is pto

PTO stands for "paid time off" and is a policy in some employee handbooks that provides a bank of hours in which the employer pools sick days, vacation days, and personal days that allows employees to use as the need or desire arises. PTO policies are becoming more prevalent in the field of human resource management and are used primarily in the United States, where there are no laws for minimum vacation time. Unlike more traditional leave plans, PTO plans dont distinguish employee absences from personal days, vacation days, or sick days. Instead, PTO policies typically bundle employees’ personal days off, sick days, and vacation time in a single block of hours rather than specifying separate numbers of days allowable for each reason. PTO policies can be structured in many different ways depending on a given company’s size, structure, and industry.