6.9 | Paid Time Off & Black Outs

Say what? You’re taking some time to yourself for a little R&R? That’s awesome. We believe that taking time to reset will only allow you to come back to CTC refocused and refreshed. We believe in it so much, we’re giving all regular, full-time entrepreneur’s 20 days, or 160 hours of paid time off (PTO) a year (accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period) which is basically a month! 

Throughout the year, we’re pretty flexible when it comes to PTO requests and CTC will do it’s best to accommodate your plans to be out of the office, but ask that everyone is respectful of business demands and as such, all time off requests are subject to supervisor approval.

To help guide peak season performance in the months of November and December, CTC has blacked out a few weeks from time off requests except where required by law. You can find the exact dates on the Payroll Calendar. The Black Out dates are in preparation for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas sales, where e-Commerce is hyper dependent on CTC doing its thing to sell, sell, sell online.  The other time of the year is the first week of January for a CTC Quest (retreat) where everyone is required to attend a company-wide team-building event. More here:

• Black Out Period | November 18th to November 30th, 2022 is considered peak season for us at CTC. When we offer so much flexibility throughout the year, this is the one time we are asking that travel be limited, regardless of role, unless extenuating circumstances. [*you can also view all current dates in the CTC Team Calendar in Google*]

• First Week of January | These dates will vary depending on the calendar year but CTC hosts a MANDATORY company-wide retreat. Travel and additional reasonable expenses will be covered by CTC, we just ask that you plan accordingly and make it a priority to attend the retreat.

Except as required by law, you need time off during this time period, the request must be submitted for approval at least two weeks in advance, knowing that there are no guarantees that the request will be approved.

Making a request is only a few clicks away in your ADP Workforce Now account. Check it out to see your balance, refer to past requests, or plan for future time off. If there comes a time where you’ve worked through your PTO, you can make a request for more time off as personal non-paid time away to be approved by your supervisor. Likewise, another option is borrowing against future accrued time off though authorizing vacation time before it is accrued is considered on a case-by-case basis and CTC caps all negative PTO hours at a maximum of 10. On the other end of the spectrum, if you haven’t used an PTO and reach the accrual cap, you’ll stop accruing more PTO until you drop below the accrual threshold cap of 160 hours.

As a full-time Entrepreneur, you’re paid for the vacation time you’ve accrued but not used if a separation occurs with CTC. Although Entrepreneurs generally may not take vacation leave until it is accrued, if an Entrepreneur has used vacation time not yet accrued, and employment terminates, the Common Thread Collective may seek reimbursement from the Entrepreneur.