It pays to be healthy

Our company changed the way it handled time off last year, separating sick time from vacation time. The current plan gives you a certain amount of sick days at the start of the year. If you use all the sick days during the year, then you use your vacation days to cover for being out ill. The drawback: the sick days do not carry over to the new year. The upside: the sick hour balance (over a certain low threshold) is paid out at the start of the next year. And that day for the 2005 balance is today.

I was greatly surprised to see an additional sizeable deposit in my account today. This was our first ever unused sick day payout. What a great surprise! I know there was grumbling last year when the plan was changed, but there are a lot of happy people today. I know several personal finance bloggers have posted on different ways being healthy pays: life insurance rates, for example. I’m fortunate to be able to add another monetary benefit to that list!