I Need MORE Time Off Work!!

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You expect me to work 40 hours a week for 52 weeks?? That’s 2080 hours per year. There’s no way anyone could ever do that.

I need more time off work

How Much Time Is Too Much Time?

Recently President Obama signed an Executive Order requiring any firm who receives a government contract to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked up to seven paid sick days per year.

So that’s a full week off. So now we are down to 2024 working hours a year. (2080 – 7x40)

Most companies provide at least two weeks paid vacation for most workers who have been with the firm for a period of time. So ten days times 8 hours per day brings it down to 1944 hours of actual work.

Some companies also offer personal days off. There are times that the only time you can see doctors or other professionals is during work day hours.

For the sake of easy math five personal days a year would be another 40 hours off so we are at 1904 hours.

The employer has now paid the employee for 176 hours (4.4 weeks) for which the employee produced nothing at all. Over one full month off — with pay.

What If You Have Multiple Employees?

Multiply those 176 off time paid hours times ten employees and an employer is paying out almost a full yearly salary of an imaginary worker who is producing nothing.

Perhaps this drives home the fact that hiring someone requires risk vs. reward for the business owner.

Will that employee produce enough income to pay for their time off or is the employer losing money by having too many non-productive employees on hand to cover sick, vacation and personal days?

This is the principle reason that layoffs are usually the first action by employers during down times. Paying employees when there is not enough work to justify having them is reducing the profit of the entire organization and hurts everyone.

Add too much employee time off with pay and your bookkeeper will want to have a chat with you.

Some Final Thoughts

The employee makes a large contribution to the company. But their production has to justify their employment. The employee, not the employer, should produce enough to pay their own way.

Including their time off.

The employer has to take all expenses into account before it will pencil out that hiring someone makes economic sense.

If you need more time off — earn it. Make yourself worth your time off. It will feel much better knowing that it wasn’t a handout.

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