Written By: Lauren Howard
I deny every request I get for PTO.
At first.
Usually, it’s an email or a Slack message asking if they can take this time period off for *explanation.*
And I invariably respond with “Nope. Denied.”
I am also kidding every single time.
Why?
Well, I don’t have that many jokes so I reuse the ones I do have when I can.
But more than that, my staff knows they don’t have to ASK to use their PTO. They tell me when they’re taking it. It’s not my time to dole out. It’s theirs. It always was. My job is to run a team with the resources to function without one person for a reasonable amount of time.
Give me a heads up. We’ll make it work.
I don’t need to know why you need the time. I don’t need to approve of your reasons for using PTO. I don’t need to verify that you’re sick enough to need sick time. Not my business.
Go frolic through fields in the Alps or rage at a music festival. Go to your family reunion or your best friend's wedding. Whatever, man. It's your time.
Trusting employees to use their time as they see fit means they almost never leave you in a lurch. Treating people like adults has this amazing way of confirming that they will.
No, you can’t have my permission to take your PTO.
Mostly because you don’t need it. Also because I got jokes.
It’s your time. Take it.
Founder & CEO at elletwo
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