Had an interview today that I feel okay to good-ish about. Was hoping to talk to the person I’d be working under but they were tied up on time sensitive stuff so I just talked to the HR person.
He was telling me that in addition to a very modest amount of conventional PTO, they give a paid weekday off every three weeks. It was spun like a good thing because the amount of total time off was more than the national average, but that’s pretty dishonest right? PTO is conventionally understood to be time you can take off whenever for whatever reason, not fixed days off like holidays.
I generally like the vibe of the place but it’s got weird things like that, plus not being open to hybrid because it doesn’t align with their “values” and some Russel Brand quotes hung up on the walls
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Russell Brand quote tells me you should run
I’m extending a little grace because it’s an addiction recovery center and apparently he’s very outspoken about addiction and all that, so I can see how it got there. But if hired that would be like my #2 thing to bring up to my boss like “hey you know that guy is a SA’er right??”
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Most Amerikkkans don’t actually get public holidays off in the first place.
Most do not. I only did once I moved into a white collar job, but not all white collar jobs do even.
Generally it’s up to your employer. It can vary from state to state, but in California—one of the most allegedly “progressive” states in the country—it used to be that literally the only real legal protection was the federal one: that if you work more than 40 hours in a week and are an hourly or “non-exempt” worker, you have to be paid overtime. Recently it has instituted a couple more, such as requiring that full-time workers (with exceptions, of course; liberals LOVE their exceptions!) get at least two weeks per year of sick time separate from their PTO, and that if you have accrued PTO, it must carry over from year-to-year instead of getting lost, and must be paid to you if unused when you leave the company for any reason. I believe this bit about accrued PTO is why a lot of companies are moving to so-called “flexible PTO” schemes where the PTO doesn’t accrue and is essentially limitless on paper (but of course, still needs to be approved by your boss, so it’s essentially a step BACKWARDS where the boss has complete say and you get no protections at all, while being marketed as great for workers).
But no, there are still no legal protections at all for public holidays, unless you are an employee of the government itself, or certain semi-governmental agencies like public schools. If you work for a private corporation, it’s 100% up to them whether to give you holidays, or pay you extra if you work on them and are hourly/non-exempt. It’s essentially part of your “benefits package”, so make sure you find out about it when considering whether or not to accept a job.
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52 weeks in a year means you’d get just over 17 ‘PTO’ days/year, assuming you get one exactly every 3 weeks (although I imagine the work-week bullshit would apply where you have to factor in holidays that fall on Mondays and whatnot). the national ‘average’ is what, like 10-14 days?
It’s definitely a scam to make you take less but think you’re getting more exactly how you’re imagining it. For reference, my full-time job upon hiring paid out 4.3 HOURS of PTO every pay-period - so every 2 weeks I’d get 4.3 hours, meaning I’d earn a ‘day’ of PTO once a month. Seems pretty equivalent, if not slightly worse, right? Since 26*4.3 = 118.8/8 = 13.975 days of PTO earned in a year. Except that there’s no issue with me taking a half-day or taking an entire week off, provided I have the PTO accrued to cover 4 or 40 hours.
I’d literally see red hearing “sorry no you can’t take off that day, your next day off is Wednesday, July 3rd based on the schedule” or some bullshit. That isn’t PTO exactly - that’s just a day I’m not on the schedule.
That isn’t PTO exactly - that’s just a day I’m not on the schedule.
but I do get paid for it, and the position is hourly. it’s weird because it quite literally is paid time off, but not Paid Time Off, ya know
Hey a day paid weekday off to do things that are normally closed on weekends doesn’t sound terrible to me, I wouldn’t read too far into it
Yeah but PTO to me is more of anything ranging from ‘hey I don’t feel like working today I’m not coming in’ (although tbh if you have sick days you should use them for that kind of stuff imo) to ‘hey I’m going on a week long trip in August, I will be out between X-Y dates’.
It sounds like your PTO is more ‘you get X weekday off every 3 weeks’ with zero flexibility.
Without that flexibility, at least to me, it is less PTO and more of a ‘scheduled paid day off’.
I’m acting like I haven’t recently had a PTO request denied at work that wound up pissing me off (my supervisor constantly says I am like the sole person on the team who rarely takes sick days/PTO) because my supervisor, when I asked why it was denied, told me ‘sorry we have too many people out that week’ - which to me isn’t how PTO should work. I should be able to take it whenever I want, I already earned the time off and I requested it off like a month in advance so it shouldn’t be on me to ensure there’s an adequate amount of people working - that’s a ‘earns $10.00/hour more than me but does like 60% less work’ supervisor’s job!!!But who knows, it may actually be one of those ideal situations! I just wouldn’t vibe with it personally and would probably not accept the position based on that unless they ensured me that I could at the very least, schedule when I’d be off.
It honestly sounds like a way to keep you from accruing PTO (that they will eventually have to pay you for when you leave)
Like others have said, if the vibe is off maybe say “yeah, nah” (unless your current work situation is worse)
My current work situation is nothing soooo
Maybe go for it, but remember:
Cannot emphasize how right LaGG is for this one. I wouldn’t want to surprise my coworkers with it because I like them, but otherwise yeah. Make some money, realize it’s not your tempo, and leave. You don’t even need to feel guilty knowing that it’s self serving; my therapist said so.
Take it then. If it’s unbearable you can always quit
This is not massively different from PTO that expires regularly. It’s not great but it’s not a red flag any more than any other tyrant-run business.
Of course, you deserve better, but I’d say unless there are other issues, if you’d otherwise take the job, then take the job and then start looking for a better one, you know?
good interview question
“do i get paid time off? can i take it now?”
Asking for PTO before even being employed is such powerful move
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@tiny fishing Your decision should balance the immediate positives, like the vibe and potential for regular time off, against the potential negatives, such as inflexible work arrangements and any cultural mismatches. Trust your instincts—if something feels off now, it may become a bigger issue later on.
If you decide to proceed with this opportunity, keep an open mind but also be ready to advocate for yourself regarding flexibility and any other concerns. If you choose to look elsewhere, this experience has given you a clearer idea of what to look for in a workplace.
My job does something kind of similar, but it’s every quarter you get 8 hours of PTO to use on top of normal PTO, and the normal PTO is pretty standard from my understanding. They also use it as a way to not acknowledge controversial federal holidays (like Columbus Day), but still give everyone the time off they would have gotten.
Is the “extra” PTO conditional on some administrative task? Last place I worked at had conditional “bonus” PTO that was just a legal way to make sure a portion of your PTO can’t accrue and get paid out.
Not that the accounting trick part is a huge deal, time off is time off.
The “extra” just has to be requested with a separate button. It’s probably used to curb PTO payouts, so I make sure to use it first.
If the total days off is reasonable, I wouldn’t hold the atypical PTO arrangement against them. Tbh, having regularly scheduled days off that you don’t need approval for feels nice.
but it’s got weird things like that, plus not being open to hybrid because it doesn’t align with their “values” and some Russel Brand quotes hung up on the walls
Not a fan of that stuff. The values thing is 100% bullshit, it’s either management wants to keep an eye on you or they get a tax credit.
I kind of heard something like this from a lady who did janitorial work for a local government. But, she was describing that as a part of benefit packages that were way more generous when she started working 30 years ago.
Where I work, they don’t give you PTO until you’ve worked for them for a full year.
