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“You see, in this world there’s two kinds of businesses, my friend: Those that offer PTO and those who don’t.”

The allocation of paid sick and vacation days for employees has long been a dilemma for employers and HR managers, especially when it comes to small businesses.

Many questions spring to mind when considering PTO such as, How many days do we give? Do they carry over from year to year? Should we replace sick and vacation time with a combined paid-time-off (PTO) bank? How much vacation time do we need to offer to attract new employees? And, how do we determine when employees abuse PTO?

The answers to these questions, of course, depends on a number of factors ranging from the size of your organization and the type of work being done, to the flexibility of a given department and the possibility of employees to work from home.

To begin breaking this down, let’s look at data provided by small business owners across the U.S., showing how they handle sick and vacation days.

• 30% offer less than five days.
• 16% offer exactly five days.
• 14% offer six-10 days.
• 32% offer no sick days, only paid time off.
• 9% offer unlimited sick days.

Many small business owners stated that having just one person out for more than a day can place a large strain on the entire company because they simply don’t have the numbers to accommodate an individual being out for an extended period of time. That would explain why 46% offer only five days or less of paid sick time.

Some workplaces however have acknowledged the many downsides of limiting paid sick time to their employees.  Between an increased cost of living, large student loan debts, and longer-than-usual recovery periods thank to our increased tolerance to antibiotics, employees have found themselves unable to afford taking “all the time they need” to fully recover when PTO is not offered, choosing instead to “tough it out,” which leads to more employees getting sick, missing work, and a decrease in overall productivity. To avoid this, one in 10 small business owners are now telling their employees, “Take as many paid sick days as needed.”

Increasingly popular, is the elimination of sick days in favor of a paid-time-off bank. No explanation necessary—if you can’t make it in, you can’t make it in; just mark it down as PTO. Some employers feel this limits confusion and avoids unnecessary excuses or made-up illnesses not to mention that employees enjoy the privacy this allows them to handle certain personal matters so they can come back to work focused and energized.

When it comes to vacation days, small business owners report the following:

• 46% offer less than 10 paid vacation days.
• 30% offer exactly 10 days.
• 17% offer 15 days.
• 8% offer more than 15 days.

The trend among smaller employers is clearly towards the lower end of the spectrum as an astounding 76% offer only 10 days or less of paid vacation time, sighting the difficulty in maintaining productivity in a small business environment when people are not working. This however may be the reason so many small businesses report high-turnover rates, difficulty attracting top talent, and other hiring challenges.

Small businesses can try and counter these challenges by offering employees more flexibility including options to work from home or the option to leave early for personal and family obligations. Productivity may also pose an issue though as employees do still need an opportunity to get away, recharge and unwind.

So, to PTO or not to PTO, that is the question. ‘Tis nobler to give employees paid time off to recover and recharge? Or, to continue down the course of strict sick and vacation day policies, while trying desperately to over-compensate with other benefits.

Keep in mind that employers who are able to provide more generous paid leave benefits have found that doing so yields better talent, productivity, and dividends in the long run.

Unlike New York, San Francisco, or Vancouver, these three cities are perfectly affordable when it comes to launching your business.

1. Oklahoma City, OK

Oklahoma City pairs small-business lending opportunities with affordable living, making it a wonderful startup nest. 

If you’re looking for great talent too then you’re in luck! This fast-growing city is perfect as it also plays home to several bright-eyed new grads. But the perks don’t stop there.

To top it all off, the necessary paperwork to launch your business can be completed in just one day. With so many great reasons to live in OKC, the only question we have is, why would anyone leave?  We’ll have to ask Kevin Durant . . .

2. Boulder, CO

Silicon Valley is “So 2001.”

Boulder is the new hub for tech startups which isn’t too shocking given that the University of Colorado and other reputable institutions are located in the area.

What was shocking was the report published by The American Electronics Association. In it, the report states that Boulder has the highest concentration of software engineers per capita in the nation.

So if you’re an IT wiz looking to launch your business in an affordable area with oodles of tech talent at your disposal – then Boulder is the place to be. The best part is the year-round sunshine is included for free!

3. Minneapolis, MN

If you don’t mind cold weather then Minneapolis is the spot for your startup.

Why? Aside from the low cost of living it has the fourth highest concentration of successful small-businesses in the nation and offers a variety of financing programs specifically designed to help Minneapolis-based businesses.

Minnesota also boasts the 15th lowest business-tax rate in the U.S. With a highly-educated work force of 1.6 million people it truly is a sound choice for any entrepreneur. Well, an entrepreneur that doesn’t mind shoveling snow anyways.

Is HR Management Technology on your check list?

Lets see, Innovative Idea? Check. Investors? Check. Modern Office Space, Furniture, and Computers? Check. HR Management Technology? . . . .

So wait, you really mean to say that you have everything in place to get your company off the ground running, except the technology needed to simplify and streamline the way you staff for and manage it? Oh boy. You see, you can’t sell yourself as innovative much less expect to grow unless you surround yourself with the right talent and best technologies.

With that said, here is how your business can benefit from HR Management Technology:

Compliance

When it comes to all the wonderful, exciting aspects of starting or running a business, lets face it, compliance is not one of them. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that if compliance were really into us, we would only want to be “friends” at best.

But all businesses, even very small businesses (those with 1-14 employees) must ensure they remain compliant, whether it be with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Immigration Reform and Control Act, the Equal Pay Act or others. (As if you didn’t already have enough to deal with) So while you may know your business inside and out, if you’re not as well-versed when it comes to compliance or you simply don’t want to add it to your plate, then HR management technologies like ours are here to help.

Hire, Track, and Manage Employees With Ease

Start-ups and small businesses can be real war-zones, long hours, chaotic atmospheres, and constant change. While this can be exciting and rewarding for some, it takes a certain kind of individual to fit within such a culture, one who can keep pace and truly contribute to it’s success. Unfortunately one of the last things anyone thinks about when it comes to starting or running a small business is how they’ll find, track, hire and manage future employees (interesting since so many hope to grow and expand!)

Due to this lack of planning, many employers find themselves struggling to establish a system for tracking and hiring the individuals they need and potential talent winds up falling though the cracks as you try and sort out a million other tasks to keep your business running.

Having an online HR Management System like ours however, can help eliminate this stress, and it allows you to keep track of and hire talent that fits perfectly with your company culture.

Easily Manage Benefits 

While your start-up or small business may not offer benefits of the same depth as larger companies, there is still a good deal of (you guessed it) work involved in managing them. For today’s employees however, the importance is placed not so much on the benefits offered, but the simplicity in which they may access and view them.

Online HR management technology makes it possible for you to accomplish all this, from selecting and managing the benefits you provide (which typically requires a great deal of work and attention to detail) to allowing employees access to view and edit their plans online and on the go.

Successfully On-board, Train, and Develop Employees

Proper on-boarding, training and development is vital to the success and growth of any company, but for start-ups and small businesses it’s crucial, especially when it comes to cross-training as most employees will undoubtedly need to cover multiple job functions or tasks to start. Online HR management technology however and provides employers with a stress-free, low-cost solution for the on-boarding, training, and development of their employees.

Seamlessly Integrate Existing Technology

One of the biggest perks of HR Management technologies like ours is that it can be easily integrated into existing business processes. For example, if you already have a system to process payroll, you can simply integrate it into your HR Management System, allowing you to easily manage all of your HR tasks (benefits, compliance, job postings, etc) along with your payroll from just one easy-to-use platform.