PTO Guarantee

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Good Afternoon Party People! 🎉

PARTY PLAN 🎉

🏛️ The PTO guarantee?

🤮 Office “icks”

📅 How a shorter work week turned out…

And, of course, MEMES!

MEME OF THE DAY

PTO

PTO Guarantee

A new white paper published Thursday by The Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project proposes amending the Fair Labor Standards Act to allow U.S. workers to earn paid time off to be used for any purpose, including vacation, caregiving, and health and medical needs.

Under the proposal, written by Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, FLSA PTO would accrue at a rate of one hour per 50 hours worked in the first two years after the policy’s enactment, capped at 40 hours per year. After this two-year period, the rate of accrual would increase to one hour per 25 hours worked and the cap would increase to 80 hours per year.

Nontipped workers would be paid their full wages, while tipped workers would be paid either their normal wage or the full applicable minimum wage including the tip credit, whichever is higher. According to the proposal, employees could use leave in increments of two-hour blocks or less, allowing earned paid time off to be used for teacher’s meetings and doctor’s appointments in addition to more extended leave.

WORKPLACE

Office “Icks”

If you’re a civilized person like most of us, you probably haven’t heard the term “office icks.” Let us fill you in on the Gen Z lingo.

According to Click Offices and HR expert David Rice, here are the top 9 “office icks.”

The internet is debating which of these should be considered fireable offenses. Let us know what you think at the bottom.

1. Taking supplies home

2. Cooking stong-smelling food in the office

3. Eating other people’s lunch

4. Leaving expired food in the fridge

5. Gossiping about co-workers

6. Taking loud personal calls in working spaces

7. Taking smoke/vape breaks

8. Being asked to promote the company on social media

9. People choosing to work when they’re sick

WORKWEEK

How a Shorter Workweek Turned Out…

Every worker looks forward to the rare three-day weekend. But what if that was the reality every week?

For workers in Iceland, it has been.

Between 2020 and 2022, 51% of workers in the country had accepted the offer of shorter working hours, including a four-day week, as part of a nationwide economic study (CNN).

Today, the number is estimated to be much higher.

In two other large trials between 2015 and 2019, public sector employees in Iceland worked 35-36 hours per week, with no reduction in pay. Many participants had previously worked 40 hours a week. These trials involved roughly 2,500 people (more than 1% of Iceland’s working population at the time) and were aimed at maintaining or increasing productivity while improving work-life balance.

Researchers found that productivity stayed the same or improved in most workplaces, while workers’ well-being increased “dramatically” on a range of measures, from perceived stress and burnout to health and work-life balance. 

In 2023, Iceland’s economy expanded by 5%, the second highest growth rate among wealthy European countries, according to the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook, published last week.

That is much higher than the country’s average growth rate of almost 2% in the decade between 2006 and 2015.

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