Latest / Barely Legal HR / Why Unlimited PTO IS A TRAP!!! Plus, PIPs, Recording your Employer, and How AI is Changing the Job Hunt
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: Alright, folks.
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: So today I'm gonna talk to you about unlimited PTO.
- 0:05SPEAKER_00: So I've worked in multiple companies where it's unlimited PTO, or Flex Time is another one that's kind of unlimited PTO, but kind of not.
- 0:13SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you the differences and I'll tell you why it's bullshit, why it's a total trap.
- 0:17SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 0:18SPEAKER_00: Unlimited PTO is a trap.
- 0:21SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, but mostly always.
- 0:23SPEAKER_00: So basically, how to spot the catch, right?
- 0:26SPEAKER_00: Like, is the company tracking that unlimited PTO?
- 0:30SPEAKER_00: And you bet your ass they are.
- 0:32SPEAKER_00: And you know, what is the culture?
- 0:34SPEAKER_00: I've worked at companies where the hard work ethic and just grinding and bleeding and dying the company and not ever taking vacation and never seeing your no work life balance.
- 0:52SPEAKER_00: You're a martyr for the company.
- 0:54SPEAKER_00: That was what got you in the, you know, it's what got you to the next step.
- 0:58SPEAKER_00: Most of the time, we'll put unlimited PTO in for several reasons.
- 1:03SPEAKER_00: First off, they want you to, first of all, it's about recruiting.
- 1:07SPEAKER_00: They want you and they they want your talent and they want you to see that and go, oh my gosh, I can take off any time, whenever I want, for as long as I want.
- 1:17SPEAKER_00: Hell yes, I'm gonna moot, I'm gonna milk that.
- 1:20SPEAKER_00: No, we'll absolutely not let you do that.
- 1:23SPEAKER_00: They are tracking it, okay.
- 1:25SPEAKER_00: Second, within the culture, if it's one where you have no work-life balance and that's where it gets you ahead.
- 1:31SPEAKER_00: Yeah, good luck.
- 1:32SPEAKER_00: And I've worked at companies where they essentially, when you take your PTO, let's say for a week or maybe two, even if you take that and you're totally within your rights and you never take it, and you take it this one time per year or whatever.
- 1:48SPEAKER_00: When you come back, I've seen folks be like, Oh, I thought you quit.
- 1:52SPEAKER_00: You've heard that, right?
- 1:53SPEAKER_00: Oh, uh, I thought you were looking for another job.
- 1:55SPEAKER_00: We posted missing posters all over the building.
- 1:57SPEAKER_00: And I've I've seen that and it was funny as hell.
- 2:00SPEAKER_00: But then I realized that's the culture.
- 2:02SPEAKER_00: They're shaming you hardy har har, we thought you quit.
- 2:06SPEAKER_00: They're shaming you for taking PTO, okay?
- 2:10SPEAKER_00: And I've seen folks do that, I've seen companies do that, whether they had unlimited PTO or not.
- 2:15SPEAKER_00: Think about the culture, okay?
- 2:17SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna let you just on a whim take eight weeks, 12 weeks of unlimited PTO.
- 2:23SPEAKER_00: And think about this.
- 2:24SPEAKER_00: If you're taking medical leave or absence, let's say you live in a state, most states, unfortunately, most jurisdictions do not let you have paid leave unless it's like written into the tax code and you voted on it and you have paid leave or sick leave is a thing or whatever, they they don't do it.
- 2:42SPEAKER_00: And so it is always funny when folks go to take whatever kind of leave of absence that is medical or otherwise.
- 2:51SPEAKER_00: And oh, you can't use your unlimited PTO for that, right?
- 2:54SPEAKER_00: So think about those things.
- 2:56SPEAKER_00: Also, what you should ask in the interviews?
- 2:59SPEAKER_00: That's a great question.
- 3:00SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, honestly, there's nothing wrong with, and I always go right to the juggler, that's just who I am.
- 3:05SPEAKER_00: But I will ask about, tell me about your unlimited PTO.
- 3:08SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had somebody?
- 3:10SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's an incredible benefit.
- 3:12SPEAKER_00: Wow, you know, and very positive, right?
- 3:15SPEAKER_00: That, oh, this is an eye catcher.
- 3:17SPEAKER_00: Of course it is.
- 3:18SPEAKER_00: But have you ever had somebody abuse that policy?
- 3:20SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
- 3:21SPEAKER_00: Like what does it really look like in the day-to-day?
- 3:24SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I mean, I'll tell you this in interviews, don't ask about PTO.
- 3:29SPEAKER_00: I I hate saying this, but don't ask about how much time off do you get?
- 3:33SPEAKER_00: What can you tell me about life balance?
- 3:35SPEAKER_00: Because they'll tell you, oh, you get plenty of work life balance.
- 3:37SPEAKER_00: We have unlimited PTO, you can take off anytime you want, as long as you want, blah, blah, blah.
- 3:42SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you, I've worked at unlimited PTO places where because of the culture, it's always both.
- 3:48SPEAKER_00: Where you have the unlimited PTO policy and you have this culture of you need to have your nose to the grindstone, I think that's how they say it.
- 3:57SPEAKER_00: And you better never take it.
- 4:00SPEAKER_00: And another huge piece of that unlimited PTO, let me tell you why so many companies are offering that, is because then if you leave your position, you are separated from employment.
- 4:13SPEAKER_00: Don't you love those euphemisms, folks?
- 4:15SPEAKER_00: Like gotta love those euphemisms.
- 4:18SPEAKER_00: If you are separated from the company for any reason, oh guess what?
- 4:22SPEAKER_00: You don't have a PTO payout.
- 4:24SPEAKER_00: You didn't earn any PTO.
- 4:26SPEAKER_00: You understand?
- 4:27SPEAKER_00: So again, it sucks if you're taking like a medical leave of absence, you are leaving the company, maybe you're separated, you don't have jack, you don't have shit when you leave.
- 4:37SPEAKER_00: Um, whether it's on leave or leave leave, right?
- 4:40SPEAKER_00: So things to think about that you're on your own after that.
- 4:44SPEAKER_00: So flex time is very similar.
- 4:47SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, I mean, you can take off anytime you want, and you're always just gonna be paid, but like make sure you make it up.
- 4:52SPEAKER_00: Again, I've always seen that, and it's like, oh, that's nice, flexible.
- 4:56SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, so I can just kind of work when I want, get some work done at night, you know, maybe I take off for 340 a weekend, and you know, nice.
- 5:05SPEAKER_00: No, they are going to have a culture, same with unlimited PTO places, they're gonna have a culture of you don't actually fucking take that time off because you love us.
- 5:14SPEAKER_00: We love you, we're a family.
- 5:17SPEAKER_00: I fucking hate when companies say we're a family.
- 5:21SPEAKER_00: I think we're getting further and further away from that recently, at least I hope so.
- 5:26SPEAKER_00: If you see a company that says we're like a family, we're just so tight net, we're we're a family.
- 5:32SPEAKER_00: Fucking run for the hills.
- 5:34SPEAKER_00: Okay?
- 5:34SPEAKER_00: Do you hear me?
- 5:36SPEAKER_00: If you see a company at any point you hear them say, we're like a family, fucking run for the hills.
- 5:45SPEAKER_00: What's ironic is every place that I've worked for that really was like a family, the bosses will be like, don't ever fucking say it's like a family.
- 5:52SPEAKER_00: It's not like a family.
- 5:54SPEAKER_00: At any point, if there's a business need, there's a buy-up, there's a merger acquisition, whatever.
- 5:58SPEAKER_00: Like we, yes, we I have worked in tight knit.
- 6:01SPEAKER_00: God, I am still in touch with so many people from mergers or acquisitions where things happen and we're not coworkers anymore, and we still talk all the time.
- 6:09SPEAKER_00: There's one of them we still have Discord from gosh, we were all laid off like three years ago.
- 6:14SPEAKER_00: Culture that I don't know that I'll see many other places if ever again.
- 6:20SPEAKER_00: But again, that being said, you don't want to, you don't want to fall for these tricks, right?
- 6:27SPEAKER_00: These days, competition is fierce.
- 6:30SPEAKER_00: And they want to attract, and I say they, these companies, these recruiters, they're salespeople, right?
- 6:37SPEAKER_00: They're not just the hostess of the restaurant and the face of the company at first, but they're the cheerleaders.
- 6:42SPEAKER_00: They're the this is why it is so fucking great to work at this place.
- 6:45SPEAKER_00: Here's all the great things that you'll get.
- 6:48SPEAKER_00: They want to attract top talent.
- 6:50SPEAKER_00: How do they do that?
- 6:50SPEAKER_00: They throw all this stuff out there.
- 6:52SPEAKER_00: When at the end of the day, it really just benefits the company.
- 6:55SPEAKER_00: It doesn't benefit you.
- 6:57SPEAKER_00: So I love that this unlimited PTO thing comes out and it's like, oh, that's great.
- 7:01SPEAKER_00: Oh, wait.
- 7:02SPEAKER_00: If I actually want to take time off, if I actually want to go on leave, if I actually want to take like four time four weeks off for sabbatical, oh, oh hell no, you're not gonna do that.
- 7:12SPEAKER_00: And typically they will put something, some clause in their handbook that says, you know, they may not use the term of phrase abusive policy would necessitate internal review, management review, but they will typically say something along the lines of PTO to be taken with management's approval and with discretion kind of deal.
- 7:40SPEAKER_00: So that they can have that autonomy, that gray area to go, no, you did just take that week vacation or that three-day weekend eight months ago.
- 7:49SPEAKER_00: And I mean, do you really dedicate or do you really want to work on this thing?
- 7:54SPEAKER_00: So just things to consider.
- 7:56SPEAKER_00: It looks shiny and bright.
- 7:58SPEAKER_00: There's very few places that it's truly unlimited PTO.
- 8:03SPEAKER_00: I thought that was interesting working at a place with Fox time too, because you take a medical leave of absence, and oh I I can't, let's say it was for a week or a couple weeks later.
- 8:12SPEAKER_00: Oh, I can't like make that up somehow.
- 8:14SPEAKER_00: Like, no, yeah.
- 8:15SPEAKER_00: Why why is that not okay?
- 8:16SPEAKER_00: Yeah, interesting.
- 8:18SPEAKER_00: So, all right, let's move on.
- 8:21SPEAKER_00: So the performance improvement plan myth, that is such a great one.
- 8:25SPEAKER_00: So, what does a pit actually mean and how to survive it?
- 8:30SPEAKER_00: Well, let me tell you a few things.
- 8:32SPEAKER_00: I would say 99% of the places that I've worked in, and I've had clients as well.
- 8:37SPEAKER_00: I have clients from small, medium, large companies, okay, and then I've worked for these billion-dollar companies, okay, as well throughout my career.
- 8:46SPEAKER_00: Also through my nonprofit work, working with all those employers and seeing what they do and how they and their inner workings, which was just an invaluable experience.
- 8:55SPEAKER_00: A pip.
- 8:56SPEAKER_00: Those are great.
- 8:57SPEAKER_00: We don't want to lose you, we want you to be successful.
- 9:00SPEAKER_00: So we're offering to goodness of our hearts, we're such benevolent gods.
- 9:05SPEAKER_00: We're offering to give you a pip.
- 9:08SPEAKER_00: Performance improvement plan.
- 9:10SPEAKER_00: That means you're on the chopping block, okay, honey.
- 9:13SPEAKER_00: That means you're you're on your way out.
- 9:15SPEAKER_00: I have never I've worked at one, I've seen one company, okay, out of all the clients and employers I've known, place I've worked, I've seen one company where the pick was actually designed to hopefully keep this person, that that is the idea in mind.
- 9:33SPEAKER_00: I still haven't figured out if that company really was just saying we were gonna say that that's what the intent is.
- 9:43SPEAKER_00: But it did seem that most of the time it was actually that they wanted to keep that person.
- 9:48SPEAKER_00: But pips are like, we're not gonna write you up, but it's actually worse than that.
- 9:53SPEAKER_00: A pip is, you know, if you don't meet these parameters, these stipulations by X amount of days, you're you're done.
- 10:03SPEAKER_00: And they'll say it in some flowery, it could lead to up to an inkler, including termination, blah blah blah.
- 10:08SPEAKER_00: These that and fucking every policy because they want to have that autonomy, they want to have that gray area so that managers have that discretion.
- 10:15SPEAKER_00: Notice that more and more.
- 10:17SPEAKER_00: I have written and seen and developed and all the things it used to be that handbooks with policies would have very finite rules down to the comma.
- 10:33SPEAKER_00: You had to make sure that you were conveying the message very explicitly about every single little fucking policy.
- 10:39SPEAKER_00: And if there wasn't a policy about it, then kind of tough luck, right?
- 10:44SPEAKER_00: That um oh, you didn't have a policy about sleeping on the job.
- 10:49SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know, you really want to fire this person, then they file for unemployment.
- 10:52SPEAKER_00: And yes, unemployment will ask you ridiculous fucking questions like that.
- 10:58SPEAKER_00: Not just, did you have a policy on sleeping on the job?
- 11:02SPEAKER_00: Did they know that that was not okay?
- 11:05SPEAKER_00: Did they sign a document that said that wasn't okay?
- 11:09SPEAKER_00: When did they sign that document?
- 11:11SPEAKER_00: Was that two years ago when they started?
- 11:12SPEAKER_00: Is there a training on it or a refresher course?
- 11:15SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
- 11:16SPEAKER_00: And I believe in social programs and all the things we all get down on our luck, and sometimes it's our own fault.
- 11:22SPEAKER_00: I get that.
- 11:23SPEAKER_00: We pay taxes, and it goes into things like that.
- 11:27SPEAKER_00: But that being said, it's interesting the egregious situations that people get away with.
- 11:32SPEAKER_00: I digress.
- 11:33SPEAKER_00: Performance improvement plans, you need to be looking for another job.
- 11:37SPEAKER_00: Even if, let's say it's 30, 60, 90 days, maybe it's longer, they're gonna be looking for reasons that determinate you.
- 11:45SPEAKER_00: Some things you want to think about and consider and hold them accountable to if you if you're ballsy like me.
- 11:54SPEAKER_00: How often are we having one-on-ones to track my progress on this performance improvement plan?
- 12:01SPEAKER_00: And each time you need to be documenting it.
- 12:03SPEAKER_00: Guys, document every thing.
- 12:07SPEAKER_00: In fact, let me do a little segue here.
- 12:09SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about recording conversations, video, whatever.
- 12:19SPEAKER_00: I don't.
- 12:20SPEAKER_00: Never, that's against competitive.
- 12:22SPEAKER_00: But I do.
- 12:23SPEAKER_00: Let me put it this way.
- 12:25SPEAKER_00: Many, if not most, states are typically one party consent states, as in, if one party consents, as in the person taking the video or audio recording, that's okay, even if the other party doesn't consent or acknowledge.
- 12:41SPEAKER_00: Also, consenting and acknowledging are different.
- 12:45SPEAKER_00: In the eyes of the law, so just something to consider.
- 12:48SPEAKER_00: Then there's a lot of states that the person has to acknowledge that they know that they're being recorded and consent to it.
- 12:56SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, all that that means is whether or not it's admissible in court if it got to that point.
- 13:05SPEAKER_00: The company can say you can't do that.
- 13:07SPEAKER_00: That's against our policy, even if the law says that you can, quote unquote, our policy says that you can't do that on our grounds and blah blah blah.
- 13:16SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you this, just being honest, because I worked at I mean, probably every place I've worked had that policy.
- 13:22SPEAKER_00: Pretty strict rule, let's say.
- 13:25SPEAKER_00: They say.
- 13:26SPEAKER_00: But let me put it this way: if I'm HR and you tell me that, well, oh, and I recorded the whole thing, and I would go, oh, no, laptop, don't do that.
- 13:35SPEAKER_00: You know that's against our policy.
- 13:37SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, you know, and they'll I'm I'm gonna write you an email about what happened.
- 13:41SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you a statement, blah, blah, blah.
- 13:42SPEAKER_00: If you send me that, if you send me that recording, you send me that video, I'm gonna look at it, I'm gonna watch it, I'm gonna listen to it, and I'm gonna say that, oh, that is against our policy, and we shouldn't do that.
- 13:54SPEAKER_00: I might say, oh, I I didn't even, I didn't see that, or I that was not a determining factor in my decision because we have a policy against that.
- 14:02SPEAKER_00: That, you know, blah blah blah.
- 14:04SPEAKER_00: Oh, you bet I'm watching that.
- 14:05SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm oh yeah, I have seen all kinds of crazy.
- 14:08SPEAKER_00: You know, we have these policies on not utilizing the person.
- 14:11SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
- 14:11SPEAKER_00: Oh, I saw that shit.
- 14:13SPEAKER_00: I saved it.
- 14:14SPEAKER_00: Now that's why you need to be careful when you're telling unemployment why you were terminated.
- 14:19SPEAKER_00: You need to be very careful about what you say.
- 14:22SPEAKER_00: Because off the bat, they might go, oh, you you did what or you broke policy or whatever, and every state is different.
- 14:29SPEAKER_00: So make sure you look at your state's laws about what is considered unemployment benefit eligible as far as terms of your separation and what is not.
- 14:42SPEAKER_00: For example, the state I'm in, not I mean, it was pretty recently they passed a law that essentially, if there's egregious wrongdoing, if you were fired for misconduct, you are not eligible for unemployment benefits.
- 14:54SPEAKER_00: However, even if you say that, you should file anyway.
- 14:57SPEAKER_00: File anyway.
- 14:58SPEAKER_00: What's it gonna hurt?
- 14:59SPEAKER_00: You paid into that system.
- 15:01SPEAKER_00: Take the help when you need it.
- 15:03SPEAKER_00: Even if you don't think you do, you might need it later.
- 15:05SPEAKER_00: Put it away.
- 15:06SPEAKER_00: You never know.
- 15:07SPEAKER_00: This job market is it's pretty brutal right now.
- 15:10SPEAKER_00: And I say that as somebody, I used to always say there's no reason you shouldn't have a job.
- 15:15SPEAKER_00: I have gotten violent sex offenders that had HIV and just, I mean, homeless, no transportation, in prison, work release.
- 15:29SPEAKER_00: I've gotten those people jobs.
- 15:31SPEAKER_00: There is a job out there for you, I promise.
- 15:33SPEAKER_00: This day and age, it is totally different.
- 15:36SPEAKER_00: And I want to touch back on this when we do our recruiting piece, getting the job.
- 15:43SPEAKER_00: Because man, AI has changed everything.
- 15:45SPEAKER_00: And I I always used to say it's nothing to be afraid of, and it's not.
- 15:49SPEAKER_00: It is a tool that should supplement the research that you do.
- 15:55SPEAKER_00: And now, of course, I'm so glad we're already coming out with the terms like AI slop, because it's often wrong when you type it into whatever AI platform or search engine, and you have to comb through stuff, and you need to scrutinize sources, as we should have been doing anyway.
- 16:12SPEAKER_00: But you really need to actually do your research and not rely on that.
- 16:15SPEAKER_00: However, AI is a helpful tool for creating presentations, making things look pretty, putting things in certain formats and things of that nature, and it can do some really good research for you, but just check your shit.
- 16:28SPEAKER_00: You need to check over it.
- 16:29SPEAKER_00: We're not in the age where it's infallible.
- 16:32SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it will ever be.
- 16:33SPEAKER_00: That's a debate for anything.
- 16:35SPEAKER_00: But that being said, AI has changed the landscape as far as recruiting and how easy it is to get a job.
- 16:41SPEAKER_00: And we will touch on that when we go over our getting the job series that is, I think, going to be a great foundation.
- 16:51SPEAKER_00: And that will be ever evolving.
- 16:53SPEAKER_00: As we have innovations, especially with technological advancements, we have exponential advancements as a result.
- 17:00SPEAKER_00: So it's changing so rapidly.
- 17:03SPEAKER_00: It's fascinating but and terrifying at the same time.
- 17:06SPEAKER_00: But make sure you're ready.
- 17:08SPEAKER_00: I would recommend, for example, if you put in your resume and it says powered by bamboo, powered by workday.
- 17:16SPEAKER_00: Look up.
- 17:17SPEAKER_00: Maybe even look at demos on YouTube.
- 17:20SPEAKER_00: Look up what that ATS applicant tracking system through workday or through bamboo.
- 17:25SPEAKER_00: Let's say an example.
- 17:27SPEAKER_00: Look those up and see how it works.
- 17:31SPEAKER_00: And see how the demonstrator, for example, how do they search for a name?
- 17:37SPEAKER_00: Have you applied before?
- 17:39SPEAKER_00: And if they're searching for the name, does it bring up all the people with that name?
- 17:44SPEAKER_00: Do they have to search by email to find somebody?
- 17:47SPEAKER_00: Do they search by employee ID or applicant ID?
- 17:49SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
- 17:51SPEAKER_00: Does it keep all of those?
- 17:54SPEAKER_00: Oh, they all say they keep all those records.
- 17:56SPEAKER_00: That's total horseshit.
- 17:57SPEAKER_00: I mean they kind of do, but they don't they're put, they're always put in a folder so they're not clogging up servers and god knows what else.
- 18:05SPEAKER_00: They will keep applications in the file 13, basically in the you know, digital trash trash.
- 18:12SPEAKER_00: They're not going back and going, oh, we just opened up this position.
- 18:16SPEAKER_00: Let's go look at unless they like remember you as an individual and these huge companies, they don't.
- 18:20SPEAKER_00: A lot of places don't, even if they're small.
- 18:22SPEAKER_00: But how are they looking for applications?
- 18:26SPEAKER_00: So a lot of times, honestly, when I have been applying for jobs, I might use a different email address.
- 18:32SPEAKER_00: Same shit.
- 18:32SPEAKER_00: And oh, I got an interview.
- 18:34SPEAKER_00: Oh, I talked to this one.
- 18:36SPEAKER_00: How interesting.
- 18:37SPEAKER_00: Because the system will see you as somebody that has already applied before.
- 18:41SPEAKER_00: Oh, I want to look at that and what happened, and oh, why didn't we hire this person?
- 18:46SPEAKER_00: A lot of times I hate to say this.
- 18:47SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm this is why I'm making amends, paying my penance and telling everybody the bullshit because this is what I was taught at first, until I learned to actually be a human again.
- 18:59unknown: Right.
- 19:00SPEAKER_00: We all do what we need to make our bag, make our bread, you know.
- 19:03SPEAKER_00: We all evolve, hopefully, over time.
- 19:06SPEAKER_00: But that being said, you would look at an application.
- 19:08SPEAKER_00: Oh, they applied before.
- 19:10SPEAKER_00: Well, there's probably a reason.
- 19:11SPEAKER_00: I may not even look at any of the reasons.
- 19:13SPEAKER_00: I'm probably not clicking through your shit, your old shit.
- 19:15SPEAKER_00: Oh, I see they applied before.
- 19:17SPEAKER_00: There's probably a reason that we didn't hire them that time, so meh.
- 19:21SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't work well for people.
- 19:23SPEAKER_00: So I actually kind of disagree with the idea of keeping that information.