Pizza Today_February 23 - 28

hours happens all the time in the restaurant
industry, with employers left with little they
can do other than be on top of managers
not to approve requests, assuming they are
checking requests off at all. It becomes a lot
harder when the person you trust to be in
charge, i.e., a GM, is the one you have to
control.
Below is my PTO policy; yours
might be much different, but this is significantly
better than the average policy. This
policy leaves us in control to make decisions
based on the situation.
PTO is for salaried managers only, and
it's accrued monthly.
PTO can be taken early in the year
with permission submitted via an official
document to a company owner or an area
director.
PTO cannot be rolled over into the new
year.
If a person is terminated or quits, only
accrued unused PTO up till that point will
be paid.
GMs are allowed an extra 40 hours above
the standard, regular calculation.
PTO hours are based on the following
metrics:
1-2 years = 40 hours PTO
3-10 years = 80 hours PTO
10+ years = 120 hours of PTO
Feel free to do what works for you; this is
only a guide. It's advisable to use the term
hours instead of days. Instead of one week
of PTO, it's 40 hours because each day will
count as eight hours of PTO. Going about it
otherwise gets very murky, regardless of how
many hours your managers typically work.
No federal or state laws require any
employer to give paid vacation, but most
28 / PIZZATODAY.COM / FEBRUARY 2023
salary jobs in America have that assumption.
Here are the nuances of that. The
honest debate is; sick days vs. vacation days
vs. holidays and what should be official
PTO. Our restaurant Andolini's is only
closed on Christmas and Thanksgiving, so
yes, if someone wants to take off Valentine's
Day, then that would mean they would
need to request PTO because that is a
non-applicable PTO day, which we have
very few, but that is one of them. Everyone
works that day.
Now, if someone's sick and
another manager covers for them,
do I, as the owner, really want to put that
against their PTO? I don't because I want
my managers to go on vacation because it
refreshes them and makes them appreciate
the job. I don't want it all used up on legit
sick days where they are doing the right
thing by staying home and trying not to get
others sick. However, take that with a grain
of salt because it all needs to be regulated
and evaluated.
If someone was playing fast and loose
with requests off, I would call that out
before changing our whole PTO approach.
We typically don't go after sick days or dock
bereavement. We don't seek to dock anything
that is not a vacation day. We reserve
the right to, though.
The process to get approval is to fill out
an online form and submit it. I've seen this
done with an officially e-mailed PDF or
specific payroll software and some scheduling
programs have this capacity. Whatever
you choose, make sure you have one singular
portal and a clearly delineated path to
filling out the PTO request. Otherwise, a
text message could be inferred as an official
request for PTO.
I've had employees that, only weeks after
being hired, said to their direct supervisor
they were going out of town and had
mentioned it in their interview. That new
hire expected everyone to know that that
was their PTO. Or worse, no one noticed
that this should've counted toward PTO,
and then they kept doing it multiple times a
year and, when asked about it, said, " well, I
never got a notification that they had gone
past my allowed PTO. " As a result, they
went way over their PTO, and we have little
legal recourse. These things happen when
there's ambiguity.
Regarding regular non-salary
employees getting paid time off,
we will take care of them if they have to
leave for something we forced upon them,
like a temporary store closing or a cataclysmic
life event. But no, if a server who's not
on salary wants to leave for three weeks and
still be paid, it's not fiscally possible.
A strong PTO policy is designed to
enhance the employee's work-life balance
and for you to have a more refreshed
employee and limit attrition. That is the
goal. It's there is to be a competitive incentive.
Whatever you choose, you must have
it reviewed by an HR professional, even a
lawyer, to ensure that you abide by all
applicable labor laws relative to your state.
This article is simply a guide; it is not
legally applicable to every state. This is a
good framework for where to start when
deciding your path to a strong PTO policy
and procedure.
MIKE BAUSCH is the owner of Andolini's
Pizzeria in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Instagram: @
mikeybausch
http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today_February 23

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