Paid Time Off

Use Your Paid Time Off (PTO) to Refresh and Reset

Stepping away from the demands of work to spend time with loved ones, travel, complete simple projects, pursue personal hobbies, or relax at home promotes well-being—and impacts your productivity and job satisfaction.

Productivity decreases when you work long hours or weeks without vacation or time away from work. You may have trouble focusing, suffer burnout from overwork, or become less motivated. Your ability to think “outside the box” can also diminish and impact creativity and innovation.

Balance the demands of your professional and personal lives
It is possible to strike a healthy balance between life, work, family, relationships—and play. In addition to paid time off, Yale offers resources and services to maintain your well-being and support you through difficult situations.

Review your available bank of paid-time-off days
Yale provides generous paid time off for you to step away from work and return refreshed and recharged. To review your available PTO balance, go to Workday, select the absence worklet, and view your available PTO balance. You can submit your request for PTO (absence) from the same menu. In addition to official Yale holidays, Yale provides paid time off to attend to personal responsibilities such as:

Maximizing M&P PTO Max Extension
Managerial and Professional (M&P) staff members accrue PTO up to a maximum based on years of service. When you have a PTO Max Extension balance as of July 1, review any time off you may have already scheduled as PTO from July 1 through September 30. Then change your prescheduled paid time off to use your PTO Max Extension accrued balance first. You can take full advantage of your paid time-off benefit by making this adjustment.

Note: Unused M&P PTO Max Extension time off expires and is not compensable upon termination or retirement.

Yale encourages all staff members to provide advance notice and coordinate schedules for planned days off with their managers. Provisions for staff PTO follows:

Yale Staff Category	PTO Provision
Clerical and Technical, Security	Paid time off (PTO) for those hired before July 1, 2009, and for those hired after July 1, 2009
Faculty	Leave of Absence Faculty Handbook
Managerial and Professional	PTO and Flex Days Sick pay and short-term disability
Postdoctoral Associates	Leave of Absence PTO Sick time
Service and Maintenance	Sick time Vacation time
Yale Police Benevolent Association (pre-Oct. 1, 2011, hire)	PTO

For Managers

Supporting staff well-being and PTO requests
Here’s how managers can create a supportive environment to encourage self-care and accommodate employee’s requests for PTO throughout the year:

First, practice self-care. To best support others, start with yourself.
Lead by example. When managers don’t take time off, some employees may hesitate to request time away.
Discuss PTO scheduling in team meetings. This enables the coordination of responsibilities and overlapping time off and builds a supportive work atmosphere within your team.
Encourage work-life balance. Discuss the impact of unhealthy work habits and how the benefits of taking time off can enhance overall well-being and creativity. This is especially important for staff who frequently tend to work beyond reasonable expectations.
Be flexible in supporting your staff’s personal issues.
Keep your staff informed about resources, programs, and services that support well-being at home or work.
Emphasize that “unplugging” really means “no working” while on PTO.
Promote the use of the “delay send” email message feature to contain messaging during working hours.