
Written by
Drew Gieseke
Drew Gieseke is an aPHR®-certified member of the Marketing team at Bernard Health, where he writes about HR, compliance, and healthcare solutions.
Template: Updated PTO Policy Employee Communication

A PTO audit is an essential part of ongoing HR compliance. Clearly communicating updates to time-off policies is an important part of that process. Use the following template to deliver vacation policy updates to your employees.
How to Communicate a PTO Policy Change to Employees
PTO policies require regular review for companies to remain competitive, compliant, and financially solvent. How you communicate an update to an existing time-off policy is especially important to maintain employee morale and engagement. Transparency can go a long way in this messaging.
Include the following information in your communication:
- Explain the Reason for the Audit: Employees may be frustrated with the change (i.e. “losing” their accrued PTO), but they’ll appreciate the transparency when updates are made.
- Detail the Updates: Between capping rollover amounts and switching completely to an unlimited model, HR should include exactly what’s changed and why.
- How the Policy Impacts Hourly vs. Salaried Workers: Depending on the policy, changes may affect one group of workers and not the other. Any communication from HR should be specific to limit confusion.
- Display the Policy: PTO is there for employees to use, so they should be able to access the policy at any time. This provides even more transparency between HR and employees.
- Start Date: Whether immediate or down-the-road, employees need to know when to expect changes to take place.
- Anticipated FAQs: HR should stay ahead of the curve with pre-generated responses to expected questions that employees may ask when the policy is announced.
Template: Employee PTO Policy Update Communication
Use the following template when communicating an update to your company’s PTO policy:
Team,
I’m reaching out today regarding an update to [Company]’s PTO policy. HR audited the team’s time-off benefits and updated the plan with a new policy that will help keep our organization financially healthy—now and in the future.
With this in mind, beginning [date], we’ll implement the following changes to our PTO policy:
- PTO will be available to exempt and non-exempt employees
- Employees receive their allotted PTO at the beginning of the calendar year
- All PTO requests and approvals will be tracked using [system]
- PTO allotments are as follows:
- 0-5 years of service – [days] PTO days each year for exempt employees; [days] PTO days each year for nonexempt employees
- 6-10 years of service – [days] PTO days each year for exempt employees; [days] PTO days each year for nonexempt employees
- 10+ years of service – [days] PTO days each year for exempt employees; [days] PTO days each year for nonexempt employees
- PTO requests may not be approved during [quarter], which is our busiest time of the year; we encourage employees to work with their managers to identify appropriate periods for time-off during this time
- Employees may roll over up to five days of unused PTO from one year to another; any unused PTO exceeding five days is forfeited at the beginning of the new calendar year
[Company] expects some employees may have questions about the new policy. HR produced a set of anticipated FAQs—available here [link]—that should address any concerns you may have.
If you have any additional questions about the PTO policy, please contact [contact information].
Thank you as always for your commitment to our team.
[Name]

Written by
Drew Gieseke
Drew Gieseke is an aPHR®-certified member of the Marketing team at Bernard Health, where he writes about HR, compliance, and healthcare solutions.
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