Whenever you work as an employee in any firm, you get certain benefits. These benefits do not include the salary or other monetary bonuses, but things like personal days. Personal days are days where you can get paid leave from work if you are sick or have an important event to attend. Let’s talk about – Personal Days: What Is It with Examples.
These personal days are beneficial to employees as they can ensure that their performance and salary do not suffer. At the same time, they can still attend an event or rest. But there is more to personal days than your regular definition of it, which we will discuss further with examples in the article.
What Do Personal Days Mean?
Personal days refer to leaves taken from work that are paid leaves. These personal days are an added benefit given to the employee by the employer in addition to other aspects. But, there are also chances that your firm might not even have the policy.
You still get paid for this day like you would get paid for any other day at work. Your wages would not be deducted from your overall salary for these days. You can take such leave for any essential event in your life.
There are no limitations on the purpose of your leave, so you do not have to worry about that. You could take the personal day if you’re sick and need rest, but you can also take it when you have to attend an essential family event.
How Did Personal Days Come Into Existence?
At first, in most firms, there were separate categories of paid leaves provided to an employee in a year. For example, paid sick leaves, paid personal leaves, and even paid vacations got accounted for separately in the past.
The system was efficient at its time, but soon lost its purpose and became bothersome to the employers. So the employers decided to mix all such reasons for taking a leave into a common group instead.
You cannot truly predict how many sick leaves one would require during the year or how many personal events may arise. So it became essential to make a common category for all such paid leave instead.
What Gets Counted In Personal Days?
Currently, most firms follow the Paid Time Off policy, which has exact requirements. Some time ago, most firms decided to merge all types of paid leaves in a larger group for easier management.
- The first part of personal days is paid sick leave for employees. While working, some people may fall sick some days or have other medical issues to tend to, so these days are paid leaves for the employees.
- The second part of personal days is paid vacations for employees. Going on vacation with family or attending an important event far from home can come under such days. These are also paid leaves given to employees by the employer, but they are not the same as paid holidays.
- The third part of personal days is miscellaneous personal leaves for events for employees. Some employees might need to attend their brother’s wedding or take their child for a medical check-up. In such a case, they can take a paid personal leave from work.
What Doesn’t Get Counted In Personal Days?
Now that you have seen all the components that fall in the personal days’ category, you would be able to grasp when you can take a personal day. However, there is an exception from personal days and that is paid holidays.
In the Paid Time Off Policy, paid holidays do not come under personal days for the employees. There is a separate slot for it and they do not have to get included in an employee’s personal days.
It is another benefit to the employees as they can save their personal days for other important events in life. And still, they would be able to enjoy paid holidays when they need them, apart from their personal days.
Is There A Law Regarding Personal Days?
Currently, there are no federal laws that let the employers give their employees personal days. So while personal days are ideal for the employees and sometimes even necessary, they are not mandatory for the employer.
If you enter a small business as a beginner, you would probably not receive such employee benefits. So it isn’t really necessary that you would receive such personal days at your firm each year.
But, some states have laws for personal days and similar employee benefits. You can check the state laws of the state you work in to see if your employer needs to give you personal days.
Why Do Firms Provide Such Personal Days?
Personal days or paid time off is a benefit that firms give to the employees. They are undoubtedly beneficial to the employees, but you would wonder why employers give these benefits?
They would be costly for the firm and would add extra costs, but still, firms do this for their employees. And the reason for it is rather simple, the firms can attract potential employees and increase their brand reputation.
If an employee gets offers from two firms, they would choose the better option with more benefits. So, it would ultimately benefit the firm to gain a hard-working employee in their workforce.
So though the benefit might seem directly in the employees’ favor, it is also helpful to the firm. It is why firms should also opt for it for their employees to get a mutual gain from one simple benefit.
What Are The Merits Of Personal Days?
The benefits of personal days to an employee are endless since it is made for the favor of the employees. But there are also merits of personal days for the employers, which might be a little less known.
- Let us start by discussing the merits of personal days for employees. Employees can get their regular wages even when they do not attend work for some reason. So they would not have to suffer financially due to an illness or event.
- The personal days being separate from paid holidays is also beneficial to employees. Having additional paid holidays apart from the personal days can give employees time to relax and rejuvenate.
- But, the employers can benefit from the same reasons as they would get higher employee satisfaction. If an employee isn’t satisfied with their job, they would try to leave.
- Potential employee candidates would also choose other firms that do provide such benefits to their employees. So it can help attract skilled workers and make them stay in a firm for longer.
- It would also help with the overall reputation and public image of the firm itself. By having a neat and ideal public image, the firm would do better in business and secure more employees and customers.
What Are The Demerits Of Personal Days?
We all know about how personal days could be beneficial to the employees and the employer. But are there only positive aspects to the personal days? The answer to this question would be, no, personal days also have some disadvantages.
- The most significant demerit of personal days for the employee is that sometimes employees need proof to avail such days. If you are sick you would need to show a doctor’s report, which is bothersome and inefficient.
- Another demerit of personal days is that sometimes, employees might abuse such personal days and take them just to stay out of work. Of course, these are rare cases, but such employees still exist and cause loss to their firms.
- And then you would also know that it costs the firms a lot of money to have such personal days. Imagine 100 employees who have 10 personal days in the year. The firm would have to pay for 1000 days of work even when the work is done
Examples of Personal Days
Personal Days are days that can get used on practically any occasion in a person’s life. They could choose to use the personal day on various occasions that may occur in their life. But there is no list of these events and there are endless possibilities.
Depending on each employee, they might need a different amount of personal days. Some employees do not even require personal days throughout the year. The essence is that each person would probably have different requirements of personal days throughout the year.
But, we have compiled some examples of frequently occurring situations where an employee might need a personal day. Here are some examples of when an employee could take a personal day:
Medical Check-up
Leave taking for medical check-up is one of the examples of personal leave.
If you need to receive a medical check-up on your body, you could take a personal day. It might be a scheduled yearly check-up or even a newly found discomfort that may lead you to get the check-up.
And it is not only limited to you but can also include family members. Say that your daughter has to visit the hospital for a yearly check-up, then you can use your day to take her there.
You need not be ill but can still get a paid personal day off for such tasks. Since it would take you more than an hour or so to go to the hospital and get all the procedures done, it is essential.
Parent-Teacher Meet
Here comes another one among the examples of personal leave…!
The parent-teacher meet or the year-end meetings with parents are essential. They let you know about your child’s progress and mental state and behavior in the school. They are a way to help you know what your child is good at and what they lack in.
So, you would need to attend such a meeting with the teacher of your children and you would certainly need some time for it. Then, you could ask for a personal day and utilize it to attend the parent-teacher meet.
It is again not limited only to a parent-teacher meet, but could also refer to other activities you might need to attend at your child’s school. You could get a personal paid day off for it and attend such an event with relief.
Funeral
This on eis one of the most crucial examples of personal leave that one can’t avoid…
The death of a family member is an awful event, but an inevitable one nevertheless. At times like these, you must stick close to your family and be able to help them with all the proceedings at the funeral.
You would also need to take care of your family members while they mourn for the one who has passed away. In such times, you can get a personal day from work and attend the funeral or similar events.
The most beneficial aspect of it is that leaving work for a day or two won’t put pressure on you financially as you might be in a tight spot already. So you can get a personal day without worrying about it.
Family Vacation
If you want to take a short trip to the mountains just outside the city, you can do so. And the best part is that you can take such a trip without losing your daily wages for the days you are gone.
You can get personal days to take a short vacation wherever you want. It might not be necessary since companies already give paid holidays apart from the pre-existing personal days to employees.
However, you could still utilize the personal days on a mini-vacation with your family or friends. It would not harm your pocket and give you a short breath of relief from your hectic lifestyle.
Illness
Undoubtedly, one of the known examples and most frequent reasons people take personal days is because of an illness. While many people can avoid taking personal days almost throughout the year, sickness is not something one can avoid.
We are all humans and may fall sick on some days, and it is okay to opt for rest on such a day. If you feel that you are coming down with a fever or have stomach cramps, you could take a personal day.
Of course, if it is not a major inconvenience, you could visit work like normal. But if your illness may come in the way of work, then it is best to stay at home and rest it off.
Religious Event
Many companies are also liberal and kind toward employees following various religions. Religion is a personal belief of a person and every religion has many important days and events on various dates.
These may not necessarily overlap with one another, so the presence of personal days is essential. While most of the workers may be enjoying themselves at home at Christmas, an employee might need to stay home and celebrate Hanukkah.
To respect their religion and beliefs, the firm would let them take a personal day and enjoy the festivities. It would help the employees and firms alike and make the workplace a harmonic place for all.
These are all the examples of personal leave that one can take.
What Happens When You Don’t Use Your Personal Days?
Many people wonder if they can carry on their remaining personal days to the next year to use them. Or if their personal days can get converted into a bonus of some sort? Well, both the assumptions are correct.
If you do not use your personal days in a year, or only use a few of them, they might get added onto the next year. Otherwise, the employer might also give you a bonus in turn of the unused personal days.
The one you would get depends on the policies of your firm and your contract. You could read your company policy about what happens after you do not use all your personal days in a year.
Conclusion
Personal days are added benefits that firms usually provide to their employees. The number of personal days may depend on your seniority level and work experience in the firm. But usually, all employees get at least a few personal days.
Since these leaves are paid leaves, the employees can safely attend the event or take care of their health before returning to work. While the concept of personal days remains simple, there are many details still unknown, which we have brought to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What do personal days mean for any employee?
Personal days are days when you cannot attend work and still receive your salary or wages on that day. It is a kind of paid leave provided by the employer to the employee. Such personal days are beneficial to the employees for emergencies or even events.
- Can you take a personal day off for the holidays?
No, you do not need to do so, but you certainly can take a personal day on a holiday. You usually get separate paid holidays at most firms, exclusive of the personal days. So in that case, the employees do not need to take a personal day.
- Is it necessary for personal days to only be available for medical emergencies?
No, the personal day doesn’t need to be only for sick leaves or medical emergencies. If you or your family has an important event or something similar, you can still take a personal day off work.
