Durham Regional Hospital and Raleigh Community Hospital both implemented paid time off and time and attendance programs over 10 years ago. Similar programs are already used in the majority of large health care organizations in the United States. Time accrued each pay period goes into a short term bank and an employee can use that time for holidays, illness, vacation, funeral leave or any other reason. If an employee saves more than 55 days in the short term bank, the excess is moved to a long term bank, which can be used only for personal or family illness. Officials said PTO will give employees increased flexibility in planning personal time off.
Employees also have the option of selling accumulated time each year from their long-term bank.
In transferring to the new system, Duke Hospital employees will retain any vacation, sick leave, and holidays accrued to date. If you have something in the bank, you can withdraw it when you need to. With all the demands of work and family, I really enjoy having that kind of flexibility. And the best part is that if you are not sick, you are able to roll the days over on an annual basis. I have worked in environments with very specific vacation, holidays, and sick days and much prefer Raleigh Community Hospital's PTO plan.