As a person working in Corporate America, I know the PTO hurdles of trying to plan a trip or two. During my first year at my last company I only had 11 PTO days. 11 days!
Any time a person wanted to take off was subtracted from these 11 days: sick time, vacation time, personal time.
As you can guess, this did not leave me with a lot of wiggle room and I had to get creative.
If you are also working in Corporate America and trying to maximize your PTO days, try out these practical tips.
Maximize Your Pto by Planning Around A Long Weekend
Admittedly, this kind of stinks. But if you are trying to maximize your PTO days, the best way to do so is to plan around a Holiday. Each year there are always one or two holidays that fall on a Monday or on a Friday.
This is great as far as vacation planning goes. Especially if you have very limited PTO. You can use these Holidays to plan some extended weekend getaways trips or even a short international stint.
Utilize Half Days
Using half days allows you to get to your vacation destination early so you can start the next day well refreshed.
Often times the dreaded (and longest) part of our vacation is getting there.
If you work in an office, you more than likely have a slightly flexible start time. Utilize this to your benefit.
You can head into the office a little earlier (7:00 AM) and dip out 4 hours later at 11:00 AM. This will give you enough time to head to the airport and get underway with your trip. You could even use this extra daylight hours to get a head start to your road trip.
Bottom line: Do not waste a full day of PTO just to get to your destination.
Weekends Are A Great Way To Maximize Your PTO
A 5 day vacation doesn’t have to be like the typical work week. You do not have to start your vacation on Monday and finish it on Friday. Instead, try to utilize the weekends to squeeze in an extra two days of fun.
For instance, you can plan a relaxing vacation from midweek Wednesday and be back to work by Monday. Staggering your days like this still gives you five days of rest while only using 3 official days of PTO.
Extra Golden Nugget: Take Advantage of Both Weekends
Start your vacation on Friday take advantage of the upcoming weekend and stay until the next weekend. This will grant you 9 full days of vacation while only using 5 official PTO days.
Negotiate More Time Off
It won’t come as a shock, that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If you want to maximize your PTO – Ask!
Perhaps your boss does not realize how much extra time off means to you. Do not suffer in silence. There are many benefits to a flexible work schedule.
According to Project Time Off, a research group in Washington DC, workers who have more time off are more likely to be happy at work.
These workers also tend to perform better at work after time off. Sharing these highlights with your boss could earn you and your team some extra PTO days. Talk about a quick way to become the office hero!
TLDR: Maximize YOUR PTO
Finding work life balance can be challenging, but it is not impossible. If you are looking to maximize your PTO try out the tips and tricks listed above.
According to a The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average amount of PTO allotted is just 10 days. Even more disturbing, 40% of people don’t even use their PTO days. YIKES.
Life is way too long to not be able to enjoy some relaxation every once in a while.