Paid time off is a popular benefit, but problems arise when it goes unused—typically burnout, stress, and lower productivity for employees, and accrued liabilities/higher costs for employers.
A unique platform is doing something about it, using teaching and technology to optimize the process for better efficiencies and greater savings overall.
The brainchild of two former executives in the HR Tech and global food & beverage industries, its financial wellness potential is a differentiating factor in conversations with plan sponsors, attracting attention and clients for benefits advisors.
Miami-based PTO Genius helps companies “optimize, automate, and reimagine their paid time off by encouraging employees to get out of the office,” according to Co-Founder Adam Gordon. “Doing so boosts productivity and engagement, increases profitability, and also reduces the company’s costs.”
He ticked off several statistics to illustrate its need:
- PTO consistently ranks as the second most important benefit across all generations.
- 55% percent of full-time employees in the U.S. do not use all of their PTO.
- Two out of every three employees may not be currently engaged, affecting productivity and work quality.
- Companies lose $5,000 in potential revenue per employee when PTO goes unused.
Nudging (and sometimes forcing) employees to take vacation would seem strange, but it’s increasingly a result of our hyperconnected and always-on work environments. There are many reasons why; fear of being replaced; they wish to appear dedicated; they may think they’ll fail their fellow teammates. Whatever the reason is, it can have a real and ruinous effect on employees, as well as company morale and its bottom line.
“To give it perspective, take a company that has 1,000 employees,” Gordon noted. “On average, they’re missing out on nearly $5 million in lost potential revenue, and if they have a traditional PTO policy, they’re sitting on about $2 million of PTO liability.”
More pressing priorities
Human resource departments rarely have the time or the capacity to manage and optimize PTO manually, he argued, and quite frankly, they have other priorities on their plate.
To address it all, he and Co-Founder Ulises Orozco built technology to help companies recapture lost revenue and mitigate liability related to unused PTO. It does so by surfacing “nondisruptive times” for employees to get away and proactively encourages them to take that time off.
In the form of a full software suite, they plug into a company’s HRIS and have conversations with the company to truly understand its needs and challenges around PTO, employee wellness, etc.
“We can determine the features on our platform that speak to them and can turn off everything else,” Gordon said. “For those that do, we have a powerful rules engine where they control the levers with how they want those features to work.”
Increased visibility around the organization, who’s not taking time off, which departments, those at risk of burnout, and then nudging them to get out of the office are all platform features and benefits.
To avoid a surge in PTO utilization at popular times (for instance, between Christmas and New Year’s), the platform spreads it throughout the year, provides insight into peak PTO weeks or months. It also and flags any blackout periods, Chief Revenue Officer and financial services veteran Michael Viola added.
Managers lose about 5.3 weeks per year just dealing with PTO. Recognizing this, the artificial intelligence-powered PTO Optimizer actively monitors a company’s PTO and then surfaces what they call “company-friendly” times for employees to use their time off.
Through behavioral prompts, the software might nudge a worker via their phone, noting the last time they took PTO and identifying optimal upcoming dates where department coverage is favorable to help them submit a request.
It will even help them plan a trip.
“We partnered with one of the largest travel providers in the world and then built our own travel and experiences platform that encourages employees to get away by highlighting fun and exciting things for them to do,” Gordon said. “Again, it’s personalized. It could be something small, like a long weekend at a local five-star resort and spa, or it could be their dream vacation, like going to the Oscars or the Super Bowl.”
Advisor access
Retirement plan advisors are constantly calling on HR departments and CFOs, and the PTO Genius product is another “arrow in the quiver” to set them apart and get past the gatekeepers, Gordon noted, pointing to a relationship the company has with GRP Advisor Alliance as an example.
“It’s financial wellness and fitness-focused, something GRP is heavily focused on as well,” he concluded. “They saw this as a unique differentiator as they grow that part of their business and bring value to their advisors and their network. It’s a way to talk about something new and, for employers, to show employees how much they’re valued and appreciated.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
