How much paid time off should a new hire be able to use in the first ninety days?

Accrual and usage are two different clocks

The first decision is whether a waiting period delays accrual, delays usage, or both. Delaying accrual means the new hire earns nothing for the first stretch, which lowers your liability if they leave early but also means they start behind for the whole year. Delaying only usage means time accrues from day one but cannot be taken until the waiting period ends, so the employee arrives at the end of the period with a small bank ready to use. Most small businesses find the second option is the better balance of protection and goodwill. Related: Why does tracking employee PTO in a spreadsheet eventually break down for teams?

Whatever you pick, state the exact rule: accrual starts on the hire date, usage begins after a set number of days, and here is the balance the employee can expect at that point. Ambiguity here creates the first argument of the employment relationship, usually when a new hire asks for a day in week three and the manager is not sure what to say. Put the rule in the offer letter or onboarding packet so it is settled before the question comes up.

Keep reading: Why does tracking employee PTO in a spreadsheet eventually break down for teams?, How do PTO accruals actually work and how should a small business set them up?, How can managers approve time-off requests fairly without leaving the team short?. See how LeaveLedgr helps you employee pto and leave balance tracking.

Sick leave may have its own legal clock

Vacation waiting periods are entirely up to the employer in the United States, but paid sick leave is different in the growing list of states and cities that mandate it. Many of those laws let an employer require a waiting period before a new hire can use accrued sick time, but they cap how long it can be, commonly somewhere around ninety days, and they generally require accrual to begin on the first day of employment. A few also set rules for when a front-loaded amount must be available.

This is why a single PTO waiting period can quietly put you out of compliance. If your combined bank says no usage for 120 days and the state where the employee works caps the sick leave waiting period at 90, the sick portion has to be available earlier. Track sick and vacation as separate buckets for new hires in those jurisdictions, or set the combined waiting period to the shortest legal maximum that applies to anyone on your team. Related: What are the real benefits of giving your whole team a shared leave calendar?

Plan for the time off that was booked before the offer

Almost every new hire has something on the calendar: a trip paid for months ago, a family event, a medical appointment scheduled before they started looking for a job. The right time to surface it is during the offer stage, not after the start date. Ask directly, put any agreed dates in the offer letter, and decide then whether those days are unpaid, advanced against future accrual, or granted outright as a signing gesture.

Handling this well costs little and buys a lot of goodwill. Handling it badly, by discovering the trip in week two and making the new hire choose between the job and a nonrefundable flight, is how people start updating their resume before their first review. Record the agreed exception in the leave system as a dated note so the manager who approves the request months later knows it was pre-approved and not a policy violation.

What a balanced new hire policy looks like

A common and defensible structure: accrual starts on day one at the standard rate, vacation can be requested after a waiting period in the range of thirty to ninety days, sick time is usable as soon as the strictest applicable law requires, and pre-disclosed commitments are honored regardless. Some companies grant a small starting balance, such as a day or two, to cover the unexpected in the first weeks, which reduces unpaid absences and signals trust without much cost. Related: How can managers approve time-off requests fairly without leaving the team short?

Make the balance visible from the first paycheck. A new hire who can see time accruing, along with the date it becomes available, understands the policy without asking and is less likely to feel it is being withheld. Set the waiting period as a rule in the leave system so requests inside the window are flagged automatically with the eligibility date shown, and so the rule is applied identically to every hire rather than depending on which manager onboarded them. Related: How do PTO accruals actually work and how should a small business set them up?