I recently had to take a sick day from work, and discovered that sick time is vastly superior to standard PTO, excepting the downside of actually being sick.
What’s the difference? The best way to to illustrate this is with two situations – one where I took PTO, the other my recent sick day.
I took a week of standard PTO. I crafted and set up out of office messages for both internal and external clients, and provided the names of people who could help in my absence.
The first phone call came Monday from one of the people I designated to help in my absence.
The second and third calls came Wednesday, back to back, and both calls were about things that could easily have waited until my return the following Monday.
I got another call Friday, too.
I once read that it takes three full days to truly escape work for a vacation, and anything that pulls you back resets those three days. (I can’t find this reference anywhere. If you can, I’d love to cite it.) So in that PTO period, I never truly got away from work, which I find necessary for good mental health.
Calling in sick? I dropped an email to anyone who needed to know I wasn’t going to be in that morning, and then radio silence. Nobody bothered me until the very end of the day, when my boss hit me up to see if I was feeling okay, and if I planned to be in the following day. I had a full day of radio silence.
Why is this? Why can’t people respect PTO the way they do sick time? If I’m physically ill, I’m likely to be over it pretty quickly if left to heal. If I need a break, that’s probably going to take a little longer… especially if I don’t really get one.
Why can't people respect PTO the way they do sick time? If I'm physically ill, I'll be over it quickly if left to heal. If I need a break, that's going to take a little longer Click To TweetI’m not advising you to call in sick instead of scheduling PTO, though that seems the obvious solution. I’m not sure what I’m advising. I’ve let my team know that PTO means that unless someone is dying or the business is at risk, I’m not to be disturbed. In exchange, I try to do the same for them. That way when we truly need a break, we truly get one.