Employees select their ideal employers after consideration of several factors. These include wages or salary, working hours, flexibility in the workplace and benefits. Flexibility and benefits go hand in hand. Employees seek employers who offer some flexibility in regard to taking time off when necessary, and this ties in with benefits as well. Different scenarios could lead to an employee request to take time off. These include general annual leave, sick leave, compassionate leave, or personal time off.

A benefit that some employers choose to offer is paid personal days. The calculation of paid personal days may be based on the number of days an employee has worked within the organisation. The other method is by allocating a fixed number of paid personal days to all employees for a fixed duration of time.

What is Considered a Personal Day?

A personal day enables employees paid time off from their jobs for a host of personal reasons that may affect their ability to perform. These include the following: –

• Family events
• Voter registration and voting
• Maintaining healthcare appointments
• Parent-teacher conferences
• Moving to a new house
• Selling or purchasing a home

 The key feature of paid personal time is that it allows employees to take time off to cater to things happening in their personal lives. For employers, this ensures that absenteeism is under better control. Furthermore, there is an elevation of employee focus as worry about personal issues reduces greatly.

Personal Day vs. Sick Day

When starting any new job, employers can choose to offer sick days, vacation days and paid personal days. Vacation days, for example, are typically accrued based on the number of days the employee works within the year. Sick days, on the other hand, can be taken if someone is ill, has an appointment with a doctor, or needs to get surgery. On average, the number of sick days that an employee can take each year is eight days. These days require some evidence, such as a doctor’s note or medical report. The paid personal time off offers more flexibility than sick days, with less evidence required.

It is worth noting that there are no paid personal time off laws. Rather, personal time off is given at the discretion of the employer. This allows the employer to decide how many personal days will be given, and the basis for offering them. There are some legal implications that employers need to stay within, especially those employers who offer a benefits package that includes all paid time off elements. Ultimately, paid personal days can be a part of the comprehensive benefits package so that employers are more competitive when hiring staff.

The paid personal day policy is put in place as a form of control to ensure that employees understand the total number of days they can take in a year. With this policy, employees do not take advantage of paid personal time, as it offers guidance on how and when these days can be utilised.