She’s rationing PTO for non-emergencies.
A Gen Z manager from Virginia is being applauded online after revealing that she rejects time-off requests for medical emergencies and other extenuating circumstances — claiming that employees shouldn’t have to waste valuable vacation time on life-changing events.
A video detailing her unorthodox PTO policy has amassed over 4.4 million views on TikTok.
“My team is very motivated and only takes time when they need to, I also do not consider anything crazy because if it is important to my team, it is important to me,” Elizabeth Beggs, 28, from Richmond told Newsweek.
The Virginian works for a package distribution company, where she manages a team of five people ranging in age from 22 to 36. Due to their differing personality requirements and personalities, Beggs has adopted what she describes as “servant leadership,” in which she takes pains to accommodate their diverse needs.
“Let me know what you need from me and how I can support you,” said the boss, who, in line with her worker-first outlook, strictly believes that paid time off should be reserved for vacation and nothing else.
In the clip, Beggs recounted one instance of how she denied PTO requests from a rep who was reportedly having a miscarriage.
“I had a rep text me and she said ‘Hey I think I’m miscarrying, I need to cancel…how do I submit time off?’” recalled the Zoomer, to which she responded, “Girl, go to the doctor, we’re not submitting time off for that!”
“You use your time off for vacation, this is a medical emergency, let’s take care of this” added Beggs, who is herself a mother of four. “Even though the employee was out for quite some time, the boss didn’t “charge them” a single day of time off because their malady was quite “serious.”
Another instance involved a rep whose child was in the hospital with an unknown breathing problem.
“They were shocked when I told them not to worry about work and that I would have their job for them for a few days,” she told Newsweek. “They would have lost their old job, even though it was also a performance-based career.”
Beggs even allowed an employee to take a half-day sans submitting PTO to celebrate their wedding anniversary with their wife because they hadn’t “really connected for a while after having kids.”
“Dude you are doing great at your job, why are you getting HR involved in this,” she declared in the video.
“If any of these triggered anyone you probably need to reevaluate how you run your team as a manager,” concluded Beggs, who said she respects the “work-life balance” and prioritizes the completion of tasks over the time it takes to complete them.
Just don’t mistake her niceness for weakness. “Do not abuse my trust, or it will be gone,” said Beggs, per Newsweek. “There is a strong difference between a leader and a manager.”
TikTok commenters picked up what Beggs was putting down with one writing, “When you care about your employees, they take care of you!”
Another wrote: “I guarantee your employees would go to war for you…the best boss ever!”
“My take as a Gen Z HR rep, if your work is done — you’re an adult,” said a third. “Idc if you’re at the nail salon at 2pm. Salary means you’re paid for your work, not sitting at a computer for 8 hours daily.”
Other commenters said her style provided a nice respite from most companies’ policies with one griping, “The fact I had to use an entire week of PTO for my miscarriage still pisses me off.”
Beggs said one of her goals is to help dispel the stigma of Gen Z employees as “lazy and unprofessional,” claiming that they’re “changing the workforce” just as prior generations did.
“Gen Z is also viewed as unloyal, but many employers no longer offer loyalty to their employees (no pensions, no time off, no family support), yet they expect an insane amount of loyalty in return,” she said.
Beggs’ philosophy runs counter to that of many employers, who have ragged on 20-somethings for being entitled, easily offended and generally unprepared for the workplace.
A recent poll of business leaders found that 75% of execs felt most of the recent college grads they hired were unsuccessful — while 60% said at least some of them had to be sacked.