Starting early last year we were told any time taken off will be charged PTO if you have it to spare. It use to be if you were offered a CC day, you would be asked if you would like to take PTO hours, to put some change in your pocket. FMLA and sick days were the same. The writing was on the wall when the corporate office slid their salami down the throats of the Greys, and told them, "you are selling all your PTO hours fifty cents on the dollar". Now we can not bank hours like we use to and save them up for a rainy day. With not enough drivers to spare, getting any PTO is a challenge if you did not bid it before the new year. We were told that it was due to a "change in laws". Funny thing is, the FEDEx barn down the street has vacation separate from PTO. Plus the more hours they work, the more PTO they earn. Did they just lower the starting PTO accrual from 2.3 hours a week to 2.0? We were also told we could no longer go into the negative on PTO.
We have drivers that have been in the hole for years, due to personal reasons (life does not stop for the freight). We lost our guaranteed vacation because we were told to many people were abusing PTO. So yes, if it comes down to it, you are just gonna have to tell the kids "sorry, I have no vacation time to go on that trip to DisneyLand, maybe next year, if I do not get sick or burn hours on CC days". It is not like you get to spend any time with them since you are working fourteen hours a day overnight, so they won't really miss you.
This issue alone is one of the greatest obstacles to overcome as a "newbie" to this company, and one of the main reasons why new drivers are not retained. When drivers ask me if XPO is a good place to work, I always tell them about this practice and it quickly dissuades them. I always tell them try FEDEx for the money, Old Dominion for the peace of mind.
We have drivers that have been in the hole for years, due to personal reasons (life does not stop for the freight). We lost our guaranteed vacation because we were told to many people were abusing PTO. So yes, if it comes down to it, you are just gonna have to tell the kids "sorry, I have no vacation time to go on that trip to DisneyLand, maybe next year, if I do not get sick or burn hours on CC days". It is not like you get to spend any time with them since you are working fourteen hours a day overnight, so they won't really miss you.
This issue alone is one of the greatest obstacles to overcome as a "newbie" to this company, and one of the main reasons why new drivers are not retained. When drivers ask me if XPO is a good place to work, I always tell them about this practice and it quickly dissuades them. I always tell them try FEDEx for the money, Old Dominion for the peace of mind.
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