Paid Time Off

Paid Time Off [PTO] in Ochre has everything that you need to manage your organization’s PTO policy.  Here’s how it works.

PTO Overview

​In Ochre Paid Time Off is just a specific Project-Phase - “Internal-PTO”. This Project-Phase is built into Ochre so that reports can display the results without any special considerations. Individuals can check their balance on their My Records > More…forms, etc. page. An Admin can also check the balance from the Admin page. And there is even a calendar that displays all planned PTO by the individuals making the entry as soon as they know.

How to Set PTO Allowances

​The starting point for PTO Allowances is the traditional vacation, holidays, and personal (or sick) days. Once you have decided on the days, simply convert them to hours by multiplying by eight. The allowance is entered in the Staff table on the Admin page. It displays on the individual’s ‘More…forms, etc.’ page. 
If you can’t let go of the ’why’, ask for a determination in the description of the time record.

How to “Take” Paid Time Off

​To take PTO, the individual simply makes a time entry using the built-in PTO Project-Phase - “Internal-PTO”. That is all there is to it.

A Suggested PTO Policy

​In Ochre Paid Time Off is taken, and tracked, by the hour. There is a benefit to this approach.

Tracking Paid Time Off by the hour gives staff as much flexibility as possible. 

Paid Time Off is usually thought of as having three components - vacation time, holidays, and personal (or sick) days. I think the only value in this distinction it to arrive at the total number of days, which I would immediately convert to hours. 

So in the system we used, the most common PTO allowance was 160 hours - two weeks vacation, seven holidays, three personal days. 

The ‘Rule of 3’ is suggested for scheduling Time Off. “Give notice of your intention to take Time Off three times the amount of Time Off beforehand“. 

Leaving an hour early? Let us know by 1:00 PM. Taking off for a month? Let us know three months ahead of time. 

You might think this is too short of a notice. Change it. My experience is that we could always work around someone’s absence. 

The final policy consideration is how any balance in PTO is treated at year-end. “Use it or lose it” or “Rollover”. Whichever you choose, simply adjust the allowance for the new year if needed.