The HR Manager conducted an orientation with my team last Friday due to the policy changes. We were all ecstatic to find out that our 10 sick leaves and 10 vacation leaves were combined into 20 Paid Time Off (PTO). That means we need not “get sick” just to be able to utilize the sick leaves. Hehehe. 0;)

According to the HR, the company prefers fresh and happy employees since this would mean a more productive and happy company as well. They combined the leaves to make sure that people really avails of them and need not lie about getting sick. After all, those were placed as benefits and everyone needs to rest – all work and no play is definitely not healthy.

What’s more exciting is the fact that managers (ehem, that includes me) have an additional 2 PTOs, people who’s been in the company for more than 5 years have an additional 4 PTOs, AND if there are unused PTOs from the previous year, a maximum of 5 PTOs can be carried over to the next year. I happen to fall into all those categories! *jumps up and down with glee* That’s a total of 31 PTOs! More than a month-long vacation. 0:D

At the moment I have availed of only 6 PTOs… I’m planning to take 3 more for my birthday leave on October – my friend already booked us at the Outer Banks rentals. Frankly, I’m not sure how I’ll avail of the rest of the 22 especially since I don’t have anyone I can just drag to my vacations at my whim. Oh well… there’s plenty of time to think about that. I’ll just make sure I’ll avail of all of those this year since those are not convertible to cash AND the company encourages everyone to utilize it. Hehehe.