When I was growing up, it always seemed that my parents accrued sick time and vacation time and that there was a solid line between the two. Now most private businesses seem to be going toward the definition of paid time off (PTO) which doesn’t care why you aren’t at work. With these hours combined into one title and one effective unit there seems to be some minor problems that are generated.

First off, when you could save up sick days then cash them in upon retirement it leaves a really big nest egg of money to be spent upon your retirement. This was really convenient for people who rarely use sick time and an added perk to not taking unscheduled vacation days. Also, these days if used as holidays turned out to be a Friday or Monday a few weeks of the year rather than a scheduled week or two off during the busy season.

Now with everything being seen as a day off rather than part sick time and part vacation time, many people see this as 100% vacation time. Who wants to sit at home and feel terrible on a day off? I don’t. This thought process though brings many people will contagious illnesses into my work place and most likely yours. I can clearly recall at least 2 instances this year, when I have been subjected to people that had severe cold at minimum up to something similar to a bad flu virus that didn’t want to use vacation time. Being the caring person that I am, I even took it upon myself to ask them to stay away from me (and go home) because I don’t need to be sick.

Do you think that switching over to a PTO based schedule is better for a company, or is it better to have the vacation/sick time split? If you’ve ever had sick co-workers that should have went home, or you are the sick worker that should have when home I would like to hear about it.