I work at a Mid-size company and I have enough PTO to take every Friday off during busy season. Would it be bad if I did that or is it my right to since I have PTO?

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Sure you can take it off, but if you aren’t also getting the work done that is expected of you, don’t expect a big raise / bonus (assuming you aren’t an intern anymore…haven’t heard of interns with PTO)

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Yea I’m not an intern anymore

@VicePresident 1 - have the firms considered fractional staff for the busy season? There are former Big Firm auditors and tax professionals who do not want FTE and would be excellent as staff for busy season.

PwC has this but it runs into the same problem as viewing staff as plug-and-play. If this guy takes every Friday off, it’s not as easy as just subbing in a random person to fill the 8hrs. It’s not efficient.

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It would be bad because you are shifting your work to others. If you don't care about the impact to your teams or reputation it's your every right to ask for it.

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would you rather work 40 hours a week but every other person gets terminated without cause after busy season?

how would you design a system that can handle a surge in demand. genuinely curious what your proposed solution is

I’m sure you can but your billable hour requirement won’t go down

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Hmm ur right

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Be careful with the advise above. It will leave a bad taste on someone somewhere. And people talk as well: “did you hear x requested all Fridays off for pto? Wtf”? Word gets around the office quick, and that’s what some people may unfortunately remember you by.

It will then impact whether they’ll want to book you on their teams etc. I wish I was being dramatic- but that’s the reality of it. Politics in public accounting/accounting in general is very cutthroat.

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Also if you don't wanna work busy season hours PA is not for you

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Don’t have a problem with it I just wanted to know if it was possible

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PTO needs to be approved so try it. People barely get holidays off during busy season, but still shoot your shot.

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It won’t be approved. But you can still ask for it.

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Miss 100% of the shots you don’t take

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Nobody wants to work anymore. Why don’t you leave this profession and get a 40 hour workweek job

likefunny

Taking a day off during busy season isn’t “relaxing” it’s a simply avoiding the job we signed up for. Again, lazy.

likefunny

Some firms have pto blackout dates so you may have the time but it won't get approved. Unless its an absolute necessity

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I'm a champion for flexibility and work-life balance, but that's probably not going to fly. Assuming you're in public accounting, I cannot imagine it being approved, but even if it was, you'd be shooting yourself in the foot so far as reputation - i.e. you'd be the easiest to cut when layoffs come around. Same as in a private company, they'd expect you not to take days off during certain close or budget periods, we expect PTO to be limited during busy season. Now, if you want to take Fridays off all summer, go for it.

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I would also like to follow up with my current company (private) has accounting pto blocked out for the first week and a half of the month for close out. Also we had to work through holidays and stuff for deadlines. Someones out it has to be for good reason.

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I’ve seen PTO approved during busy season for:
1) death, ie family/friend
2) health, ie surgery or freak accidents

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It's sad that you would even seek/need approval under either of those scenarios.

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Yes, you are an intern. You deserve Fridays off. Also, you should have a designated safe place and raises every month. The company won't survive without your copy machine and filing skills.

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I’m not an intern anymore lol I just haven’t changed my name

Busy season is a blackout period for PTO where I work. Seems like the main issues have all been covered by previous comments. To answer your question, yes it would bad. A couple years ago we had a staff member who took a couple CPA exams during busy season. He got the whole day off to take the exams and didn’t come close to passing. We later found out he didn’t study at all for one of the exams. Needless to say we were all pissed that he got the majority of the day off paid and didn’t even try to pass the exam.

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You can’t take PTO during busy season except for exceptional circumstances

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While you're free to put in the request, I wouldn't hold my hopes high. I would consider what the long terms effects may be to your upward progression and compensation.

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I mean couldn’t an alternative be to take a pto day every 2 weeks during busy season? I feel like that isn’t too bad. Def don’t wanna shoot myself in the foot

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I appreciate your honest feedback. Time to thug it out for 3 months

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As long as your work is caught up, I don't see an issue.

likefunny

This sounds like one of those questions you should know the answer to.

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Even though I wouldn't recommend it as you would be putting an extra burden on your colleagues you could try & submit your PTO request to see if management would approve it. Good luck!!

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Take every Friday off during the busy season if you want to demonstrate your lack of work ethic. It’s just not a good idea if you care about your reputation.

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