"I view my position as one where I have to balance the needs of the employees with the needs of the company. I am always looking out for both sides. But I recognize that keeping employees happy benefits the company itself too, so sometimes situations arise when I allow a special exception to a rule for an employee, if I feel it is warranted. This happened at my last job which was at a small fintech startup. As the HR manager, I was in charge of tracking paid time off for the employees. I had set up an automated online PTO system that worked well; however, one day a data analyst visited my office about his PTO status. Due to earnings season, when things were extremely busy for the analysts, he had been unable to take any time off because the only other person who could cover for him had been out getting shoulder surgery. He came to me and asked if I could make an exception and carry over some of his PTO days, despite his annual PTO date having come and gone. He would have lost those days because they were unused. After checking with his supervisor and corroborating his story, I made the decision to carry over some of those days into his new PTO year since there had been extenuating circumstances that had prevented him from using them previously. He was relieved and happy, and I felt this was a fair resolution given the circumstances."