Time-off at Superior Software Services case study

  As she hangs up the telephone, joan Jackson realizes that she needs to consider changin" rel="nofollow">ing her company's time-off policies- She just received a call from an employee reportin" rel="nofollow">ing off work because he is sick- This is the second employee on the same project team to call off this week and the unscheduled absence will likely cause a delay in" rel="nofollow">in meetin" rel="nofollow">ing the project deadlin" rel="nofollow">ine- Joan, the president of Superior Software Services, is proud that her company has earned a reputation for providin" rel="nofollow">ing high-quality software solutions- Superior recruits and retain" rel="nofollow">ins to software engin" rel="nofollow">ineers and also an impressive admin" rel="nofollow">inistrative staff. However, even with a talented staff, Joan is concerned about the company's ongoin" rel="nofollow">ing ability to meet project deadlin" rel="nofollow">ines- Over the past few months, unscheduled absences have caused Superior to delay the delivery of software products to a few clients, when a staff member calls in" rel="nofollow">in to take a sick day without prior notice, shiftin" rel="nofollow">ing employees to cover the work in" rel="nofollow">in order to meet a deadlin" rel="nofollow">ine is difficult- Joan believes Superior‘s time off policies may be causin" rel="nofollow">ing some of their problem- Superior offers employee 7 vacation days and 5 sick days each year. The company has a policy that employees may use sick days only for illness or emergencies- Employees may not schedule sick days in" rel="nofollow">in advance- Vacation days are scheduled at the begin" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing of the year. Employees receive approval of their requested vacation days on a seniority basis, so most employees designate the days they will take their vacation within" rel="nofollow">in the first few weeks of a new year so they are able to effectively plan vacation travel- Joan believes Superior‘s current time off policy creates an in" rel="nofollow">incentive for employees to call off at the last min" rel="nofollow">inute- She has learned from supervisors that many employees use their sick days to take care of personal busin" rel="nofollow">iness such as attendin" rel="nofollow">ing parent-teach conference or runnin" rel="nofollow">ing personal errands- These are often events that could be pre-scheduled time off, but employees do not feel that have a time off option to address such needs- Sick days can not be prescheduled and vacation days are often already committed at the begin" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing of the year. Joan believes that changin" rel="nofollow">ing the time off policies could reduce the number of unscheduled absences but she is not sure if her idea will address her concerns- She is considerin" rel="nofollow">ing replacin" rel="nofollow">ing the current vacation/sick days allowance with a paid time off (PTO) bank- They would be permitted to schedule preferred days off at the begin" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing at the begin" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing of the year so that they can make vacation travel plans- But, the remain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing days, could be scheduled ahead of time to take care of personal busin" rel="nofollow">iness- Joan believes this change will encourage employees to schedule their time off in" rel="nofollow">in advance when possible- With advance notice of absences, supervisor will be better able to plan projects and meet deadlin" rel="nofollow">ine- 1- Do you thin" rel="nofollow">ink changin" rel="nofollow">ing Superior’s time-off policies will decrease unscheduled time-off? 2- Beyond reducin" rel="nofollow">ing occurrences of unscheduled time off, are there any other benefrts to offerin" rel="nofollow">ing PTO? 3- Are there any disadvantages to offerin" rel="nofollow">ing PTI?