While lots of organizations provide excellent holiday perks, there are many people who are experiencing a number of issues outside of their working life that may require them to take unpaid leave. It’s something that very few organizations offer, but it is something that we can all benefit from. However, many companies don’t see the benefits of it, as an employee stepping away from the business and therefore it doesn’t contribute to the bottom line. However, it’s worth remembering that actually unpaid leave can benefit employers as well. Here’s a number of ways businesses stand to benefit from offering unpaid leave:

The Financial Side of Things

Personal time off or PTO is something that we can all offer, and although many employers can wonder is PTO the same as vacation, because there is a distinct difference between offering personal time off and vacation leave, the business always stands to benefit because they don’t need to pay the employee. This will have a positive impact on your finances because you are paying one less employee. The circumstances in which an employee can take unpaid leave can vary. But you can certainly benefit if there’s a large roster of staff because you can then shift the finances that would have gone to this employee to other areas of the company.

Is Beneficial If There Is Not Enough Work

If you are running a smaller company, you can offer unpaid leave to an employee. This could be a very precarious path to walk because if you start offering employees unpaid leave because there’s not enough work, you may not be able to entice them back if they find a better offer. The best approach here is to be upfront and state to potential employees that there could be fluctuations in work. If you offer unpaid leave in any capacity, whether it’s a few weeks or just a day, it can benefit you if there is not enough work. When an employee is off for a day, this could actually benefit you because they can come back to work rejuvenated, but it purely depends on the type of work you are providing. If it’s low-skilled and low-paid, this could cause a lot more anxiety in the short term, for them and you.

Can Promote a Better Employer-Employee Relationship

One circumstance in which offering unpaid leave can be beneficial to both employers and employees is when an employee has very little paid leave left. If an employee wanted to go on a two-week vacation but they only have five days of paid leave left, you could offer them the opportunity to take it as unpaid time off. It gives employees a greater level of autonomy, and as a business should take better care of its employees, this approach could work at stimulating a far better relationship between the employee and employer.

If you are looking at offering paid time off this very little thing could work wonders in the long run, not just for your employees, but for your business as well.