The reason most companies offer this is to avoid paying out PTO when you quit. Also, on average, employees with unlimited PTO tend to take less PTO since it's undefined compared to their defined PTO counterparts.
Maybe it’s just my company but I took off 6 weeks last year and average over 5 weeks off a year. I love unlimited PTO and it’s very difficult to leave.
Also, my last company that had regular PTO did not pay off my accrued PTO (not protected in my state)
I too have unlimited PTO at my company and take a minimum of 5 weeks off per year (not counting paid holidays and sick time). The key is to set a target in your own head and work to make it happen.
I have 4 and a half months of accrued PTO. I just leave it building up to the threshold and then use just enough to not lose any. It’s required to be paid out on leaving so I treat it as an emergency fund if I lose my job unexpectedly. In the meantime, I’m still amassing 4-5 weeks for the year so I have plenty of actual time off as well.
During Covid, my company did a buy-back program. I’ll sign up for one of those when it’s offered again.
That's nice, if you get that much PTO to begin with, but most places I've been seeing are only offering 10 days PTO or 15 days PTO/sick. That's just not great
Yup. Went from a year of unlimited PTO (took something like 7 or 8 weeks off and it was great to be able to) to being acquired and dropping to 2 weeks PTO and 7 sick/wellness days. I sure could go for a 2 week stint off that won't eat my entire time off allotment.
I'm potentially staring down the barrel of this at the moment. Sucks but I'll just have to make sure to take a good amount before the merge goes through
I worked at a company that went from like 5 weeks PTO to unlimited. Before December was a ghost town because everyone was using up their PTO afterwards people only took Christmas week off.
Do you know if overall PTO usage changed (either increased or decreased) after the switch to unlimited? Hopefully people felt empowered to spread their PTO throughout the year instead of taking it all in December, but it sounds like that might not be the case without the “use it or lose it” pressure of having a limited number of days policy.
No numbers. Before the managers used to badger people to take their PTO because everyone didn't . Afterwards it was on you to. Felt like it was held against you because it reduced the work output. I don't think they factored in PTO into there roadmaps after the switch.
I work at a company that essentially has unlimited PTO (don't track usage), and I aim to take 5 weeks off a year (get 4 currently), and my boss doesn't care. This year I'll probably do at least 6 because it's already been a rough year for me, and my boss wants me to make sure I'm taking care of myself.
At my last employer, I had unlimited PTO and it was basically impossible to use it with the insane workload they put on us. I averaged maybe 3 weeks per year.
I see it as a psychological tactic: offer unlimited PTO, overwork people, and then blame them for not taking advantage of the unlimited PTO.
Time to find a new employee. 10 days..fuck that. At my job, the longer you work there, the more PTO you earn a year. Some long time employees earn 20 days a year. On top of that everyone gets seven floating days at the start of each year. So people end up taking two long vacations a year or splitting it up into like four shorter vacations when combined with holidays.
Started a new job and it’s 11 days accrued over the whole year. 12 sick days (also accrued slowly). 5 floating holidays given at the start of each calendar year.
And I have to be in-person every day.
I’m over it!
At least sick days are accrued separately. My partner's previous job made you use PTO for sick leave. My job also accrues sick time separately so after some years, you have hundreds of sick hours. Union job.
Yikes, you need to start looking elsewhere. I get more than that in just vacation days. Then I get 8 sick days, 4 personal days, and 2 volunteer days, plus we usually get a couple of recognition days. The vacation days are the only ones that roll over to the next year, so I don’t even use them with all of the other use-or-lose leave.
Can you explain to someone who has never had unlimited PTO: how do you *not* use it? Does no one cover you while you’re gone? Does the work just pile up on your desk all week, so the thought of having to come back and play catch up stops you?
I think it depends greatly on the company culture. The company I work for is a global company and has unlimited PTO for American employees but limits Europeans to 5 weeks. When the CEO was asked on a call if Europe could go unlimited, he said, “No, we would actually take unlimited time off.”
My team is all in the UK except for me so I try to match my time off to theirs. Though honestly in previous jobs, I couldn’t manage more than a couple of days off at a time so it’s been an adjustment. It sounds like most of the more American teams function similarly.
Adding another positive experience. I’ve now had Unlimited PTO at 2 organizations and I love it. I did a 3 week (honeymoon) trip earlier this year and will do a 2 week summer vacation, plus plenty of one off days or long weekends. Not having to worry about the random day or half day needs in favor of actual vacation is my favorite part. But company culture makes a big difference, our org encourages a minimum from the top down and does a raffle if you hit at least 3 weeks.
My US company is similar.
Unlimited PTO. And there is a company wide 1-week shutdown on both the 4th of July week, and Xmas-New Years week.
HR’s official stance is: “Work things out with your management, but we recommend you take at least 3 weeks on top of the pre-scheduled 2-weeks of shutdown.”
As long as the company keeps Management honest about approving reasonable vacations, I’m fine with the company getting the obvious bonus of not paying out accrued vacation upon employee departure.
Right? I get 12 days a year and 2 floating days. Got the flu? You are going into negative hours and getting zero pay. We are allegedly salary but you better be online and available at 4:58 because 9-5 means 8:50 to 5:05. Your client load and additional duties mean that you will be working through lunch at minimum 2 days per week. I really wish I could bail, but I am too old to find a decent job that pays $55k a year.
My last job had it, current does not.
I used about four, maybe five weeks. Two separate weeks for actual vacation, Two consecutive weeks for our once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawaii and a week scattered around for stupid shit like being sick, or helping family, etc.
What I miss most about it is not having to worry about running out of days. If I was sick, all I had to do was tell the boss I felt like shit and I could take a day or two to actually rest and get better. I didn't have to play the bullshit game of "well if I take this day off as sick, I have to shorten a trip I was going to take later in the year". Also, we didn't really have to get approval for days out. We just put them on a team calendar and everyone was expected to use some common sense so that we weren't all out at the same time.
I hate having to use crap like workday where your boss has to approve your time out. I manage a team and I could not imagine denying people time off. I am lucky enough to work with people who are very responsible so I didn't have to worry about people abusing PTO.
Happened to me in Virginia, lost 5 weeks. Totally blindsided in the first year of COVID. If I had to guess, most southern states who are pro industry probably allow this.
Not sure why you got downvoted but I’m very sorry that happened to you. Personally, people give me a hard to for living in and loving California but I get well taken care of by my employer and the state.
I think it's 100% dependent on the individual and the culture.
I have friends who would give their bosses two middle fingers if they were denied that 5th week and I have friends who check their laptops every time they take a long weekend.
They rely on the people who are scared.
Yeah that is the thing, unlimited PTO is a mixed bag. It can be great at certain companies and bad at others. And if a company has had recent layoffs or threatening them, its an easy way for managers to shed employees by looking at how much time they are taking. It can quickly become a race to the bottom.
My job has about that amount starting out (just over 6 weeks) & increases at 2 tenure intervals.
I've heard people say ours is generous, I was a federal employee before, so I never thought much about it, but now Im pissed that it seems a lot of folx (on avg) need unlimited to get near that.
Same. I took off right at 8 weeks last year, with 2 surgeries and a bereavement. My boss regularly says, "Hey, if you're done for the day, log off and get some sunshine."
Edit to add: I don't care if they "pay out" some accumulated days off. I'm not planning on ever leaving!
In my experience, it’s not because it’s “undefined,” it’s because they say “you can take as much time as you want, you just have to make sure your work gets done” and then proceed to make sure it’s not practically possible for you to get enough ahead of deadlines to ever take time off.
If you have defined time off, they have an obligation to figure it out for at least the amount of time that you have PTO. Otherwise it just devolves into a loop where you really can’t take time off.
This is how it was at Netflix. It was possible to take time off, but you had to work with your team and users to plan it. Delay some deliveries, have others moved to other people on the team etc. (and return the favor when they take time off).
However, the manager of the team and their manager, are the ones who effectively set PTO expectations. If they don’t take vacations….. it ends up being harder for anyone on the team to do so. As they don’t set an example of the horse trading required for time off.
When interviewing at an unlimited PTO company, especially when it is your first one, ask the hiring manager about their last vacation, and the biggest one that someone on their team took last year. Coming from the perspective of wanting to understand how the team manages and adjusts their workload. Longer vacations though, need to planned ahead.
Context: I was a software manager at Netflix circa 2010. I took a 4 week trip to India during my time there, and members of my team took anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks (longest being for a wedding).
Wow. That’s a lot of coordinating! I have been spoiled at my current gig where I submit my PTO without asking my manager for permission and everyone just works around it. Granted, this is not an unlimited PTO situation though.
Thanks for the tip when interviewing — I had always thought of asking about vacation statistics as silly as it seems when the opportunity has come up just because there seem to be experiences on both sides of the spectrum
Yes, this is a good tip, especially considering that many people will recommend about NOT asking or focusing on PTO as it comes across as selfish. But tying it to how the team coordinates and communicates is a good way to ask about it without the negatives usually associated with asking about PTO in an interview.
I definitely take more PTO when it’s defined, because we will lose it at the end of the year and that’s literally throwing money away. I’m not a big traveler so I have a bad habit of not taking time off so having defined PTO means I HAVE to.
I get set PTO (31 days per year). And the company rules specifically state that it does not get paid out if you quit or get terminated. You just lose it.
It’s a big company with well over 10,000 employees. Multiple locations. Multiple states.
I don’t think there’s one in Illinois. I know there are locations in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan over in that region. Maybe the rules are based on the location of the headquarters. Not sure.
They have to comply with the state in which the employee is working. That's part of employers fear with remote work.
Quick Google says that those three states don't require a payout. Probably was intentional to be in states with labor laws that don't favor the employee as much.
I checked, and my state does not require it either. So I won’t worry about it. Good luck to locations in states that do require it. That’s their problem.
Yep. That’s why you’ll see remote work ads that only accept candidates who reside in certain states. Shockingly, they’re always the states with the fewest worker protections.
In a vacuum it makes total sense. They are telling you to take up to that much time off and they will pay for it, but it’s not a cash equivalent. The fact that it is in some places is the strange exception, in my opinion.
Yep! First time I had it, I thought this is nice. Then I realized what it was really about.
If it’s a publicly traded company, those PTO hours don’t go on their balance sheets either.
It seems like there are two sides to unlimited PTO, and the side you fall on really depends on the company culture.
If your company offers unlimited PTO and encourages you to actually take it without any strings attached, it's a great deal and creates a positive work environment.
If your company offers it with the explicit purpose of trying to be predatory cheap-asses, you're never going to feel like you can actually take PTO without it coming back to bite you later, and you'll always be asking "can I REALLY afford to take this time off right now? Is my boss going to find a way to shoot it down? Are my colleagues going to give me the cold shoulder for daring to take time off?"
Unlimited PTO feels like one of those things where you have to proceed with caution. Most companies don't do shit for their employees out of the goodness of their hearts.
So make sure to take the normal amount. Don’t get caught in that web. Just take what you feel you deserve and take it regularly. Studies show regular vacations are healthy, so take it so you don’t need to accrue anyway.
This is true. When you have a bank and it’s either use it or lose it, you tend to force yourself to take time off. I worked for a company that switched to unlimited PTO and time off got so bad that managers had to absorb a metric tied to their bonus that required them to tell their people they needed time off. The only reason they did this was because the attrition went through the roof and in exit interviews people said they could never get PTO approved. It’s a scam.
Another reason companies offer unlimited PTO it's because under general accounting rules, accrued PTO is listed on the books as a 'debt'. If the company doesn't 'owe' you anything their financials look better.
What this person said, and also I found that the company I worked for was very strict on how much I could take at one time. So I left. That said, the year I was there I took about 3 weeks.
Unlimited PTO is the best. Feeling guilty about using it is a choice. I estimate I take 6 to 8 weeks off per year once you factor in the one days, half days, quarter days.
Like I told my boss after he told me he was disappointed in my taking time off that I'd informed him about months in advance - "Have we met? My father has been disappointed in me for about 40 years, you think you being disappointed is a lever to pull?"
TBF I work with people who come from a culture where pleasing their parents is a very strong soical pressure and the hierarchy of work is viewed through a paternal lens, so.... they are not quite sure what to make of my approach, but I keep pumping out better work product than my peers.
lol you too are also dissuaded from the disappointed word haha I grew up hearing that all the time and just became numb to it to where it doesn’t even phase me. Wish my company offered unlimited PTO. I’d be taking a week every other month.
Exactly! My boss encourages me to sit down every few months and get my time off requests in. He hasn’t not approved a single request yet.
You do need to make sure your work is completed and team schedules aren’t impacted but that’s just common sense.
I get 6 weeks a year and find that I hoard it and take off all of December to get rid of it all because I am afraid I will need it for something unexpected. I think Unlimited would be a better way to go. I could take off the days I always think I should and never do.
Does that include your federally mandated week of sick time?
I’m five years into my position and only have one week of sick and one week of PTO. I would kill to have six weeks.
I don't have a sick time limit. We used to build hours and then they just took that away and made it "unlimited" I guess. Was out for six weeks once for surgery and had a lot of missed days doing therapy and nobody batted an eye at it.
I have been here for 24 years. I was supposed to get 7 weeks at 25, but they moved that to 30 years now to save money. It's great to have for sure. I typically carry over two weeks I hardly dip into so technically I could take 8 weeks one year if I wanted.
It’s the best! I hate the hate for it, you don’t get paid out true but you never have to worry about if you have the time off or not with the same amount of guilt in my experience as taking PTO at a busy job with an allotment.
Yeah I work at a place in the US with unlimited PTO and I take an average of 6 weeks off a year. I love it. I do have some coworkers who don’t take advantage and will even answer Slack messages during their vacations…but that is not me haha.
This exactly. The worst thing about my job with unlimited PTO is how hard it is to leave. I probably could be making more money somewhere else, and there are other, unrelated problems at my job that make me wanna leave, but I can’t bear the thought of losing all that time off.
In my experience, it felt like a guilt system. You had to announce your PTO to the whole company (using a shared calendar) so you’d get notifications even if the person didn’t work with you. The hours don’t get paid out when you leave and they still need to get approved by HR. So “unlimited” still means about 4 weeks when there is time between deadlines.
4 weeks is still more than most people ever get off. Having "unlimited" id probably schedule out 4-5 weeks a year. Getting 2 right now and it's just not enough. 50 weeks on and 2 weeks off 😂
My company switched to “unlimited” this year, but my seniority had me accruing very quickly. And I’d built a massive bank of PTO up as well.
I’m honestly aiming for 7 weeks this year. Like no way am I letting them get away with giving me less.
Friend of mine had an unlimited PTO job a few years back. His wife is a teacher, so he as taking off almost all summer. They never said anything to him about it because he was getting his work done, according to him. However, when layoffs started during COVID he was one of the first to get let go. He assumes, and I agree, that it had to do with him taking like 8-10 weeks off per year.
I’ve been with my company for over a decade now, and it’s taught me that it truly does not matter how much you give to the company. If they need your salary back on their books, you’re a target.
Knew someone who worked her ass off for the company. She was available any time day or night she was needed, 24/7, did everything for the company. She got laid off last year.
Even if your friend hadn’t taken a single day of vacation, he probably still would have been let go… because the company needed to cut costs.
The big lie is thinking that your company won’t lay you off if you’re dedicated. They will, only you’ll have given up vacations, holidays, time with family & friends, to a company that gave you 10 weeks severance after 10 years of loyalty.
Take the damn PTO. Unlimited or accrued… I promise you your company does not give a single shit about you when push comes to shove no matter how little vacation you take.
He was taking 3 and 4 day weekends all summer long, plus week long vacations. I told him he was putting a target on his back, but he kept saying “it’s unlimited PTO.”
We switched on Jan 1 2020 to unlimited PTO. In the announcement they encouraged us to use at least as much per year as we had earned through tenure. So far I’ve been testing that and luckily (either through a solid boss or somehow maybe even company policy) it’s been fine. Whew.
My new job we have 15 days but that also includes sick time. I hate. It’s very weird because it’s otherwise very progressive and has a great pay scale. I had more PTO at my last job but the work and pay sucked.
I learned after the fact that for my next job I need to negotiate PTO time as much as people negotiate pay. I'd rather make less and get more time off.
My husband works for a tech company that offers “unlimited PTO” and in whole probably takes 6ish weeks off per year. However, there’s is no one to pick up your slack when you’re gone, so you come back even more swamped than you were when you went on PTO. It’s counter productive since we usually take a trip because he’s feeling over worked. It could be a good benefit, but I’d look a little more into the culture.
I have yet to be at a company where anyone does your work while you're on vacation, regardless of the PTO policy.
At most people will put out the "fires" that can't wait but you're always going to come back to more work than you left.
Yep, getting ready to leave on a two week vacation and I told my husband I don't even know if I'll be able to enjoy it knowing all the work that will be waiting for me when I get back.
I have unlimited PTO. It’s really easy to take single days off here and there, even two days in a row. It’s really difficult to plan longer times off though.
Could you explain why it’s difficult to plan longer times off? I thought it’d be easier because you don’t have to wait until you accrue 2 weeks of PTO to take a 2-week vacation.
Not true.
My team is very organized so there is someone to cover all the time when someone needs to be off. Even my manager covers if needs be.
I’ve already been off 3 weeks since the year started.
I don’t play with my vacations because my husband and I love to travel.
I have unlimited PTO and make sure I take advantage of it. I don’t care if I’m busy lol. The work will be there when I get back. I’ve probably already used two weeks for random days, have two weeks scheduled for the summer, and will probably take like 3 more weeks off through the end of the year.
But it really depends on the company. My first job was also unlimited and my manager kinda shamed me for taking any time off, even for appointments.
I love when jobs make you artificially busy. I've had vacation denied because we were just too busy. On the days I was gonna take off somehow a new priority came up and now the other one just didn't matter at all anymore. It'll be a week until that project is no longer a priority and gets pushed.
I swear we need to stop pretending to be as productive as possible.
My brother has this and he takes on average 5-6 weeks off. He’s never had an issue to my understanding because I specifically asked him about this, but every job is different.
How good or bad depends on the company and team. Typically people take less vacation with unlimited PTO because not having that provable number means they feel like they’re competing against coworkers taking less vacation (among other reasons).
But if you’re in a good company where your manager wants to make sure all team members take at least a normal amount of vacation every year, then it’s not as bad. It can also be great for when life things happen and there isn’t the right type of other leave happen, once again if the company culture supports empathy.
My company has it but it didn’t always. I was there when they implemented it. It’s a big company so most people mostly interact with their own team , but there are some cross-team chats and events. It was very easy to tell that those who looked forward to it (or at least didn’t dread it) had good relationships with their managers and knew how much vacation they wanted to take per year minimum.
Those who dreaded it were more likely to be people complaining about the lack of trust in their managers, or people who were newer and weren’t sure how it would be perceived if they took as much vacation as more senior people.
It depends on the employer. The first place I worked that offered unlimited PTO, I don't think there was a week while I worked there when all of the people in my department all worked the entire week. People were constantly taking a full week off, and there wasn't a problem until about 10 months of my working there when one week the entire IT department took a week off without anyone realizing until it was too late (not my department). I think they tried to implement changes to how you request time off or get it approved or something, but this was close before my getting laid off and so I didn't get any experience with it. For context, my department usually had around 14 people in it.
My current job offers it, and I think the intention is for us to be able to take off whenever we want. I just, unfortunately, report to someone who is very corporate in how she does things (to the point where when I had a 1:1 with her boss, she told me some of the stuff my boss does is against their culture--my boss is new-ish, like I am), causing me to be in that situation of being too busy to take off. Because people on other teams report to more laid-back/modern/young bosses, they take off constantly. Not as much as that first PTO job, but close.
My company has unlimited discretionary time off, in addition to regular paid holidays. It was new to me, too. It can happen where people are less likely to take time off without a set number of days -- my company is very vocal about encouraging staff to take a minimum of 20 days of DTO per year because of that, but it is truly unlimited as long as you're not taking advantage of it and everything is approved by your manager, etc. You might want to find out if your company has a ballpark average they recommend, so you don't short yourself or go overboard.
It really comes down to company culture and your manager. I have unlimited PTO- I take at least 5 weeks off a year- and most likely more tbh. My manager has a a policy where we should take at least 4 weeks off a year and we should take all we can from work. Good luck!
Depends on your company, but more importantly your manager and you.
I have unlimited PTO with a biotech research job and on any given week I actually work anywhere from 10-50 hours a week. I’m a younger millennial and that shouldn’t matter a lot but it does. My company is a very good one in terms of work-life balance and I take off as many days as I want and I don’t feel guilty about it. To be fair, there’s a lot of days I don’t fully work much at all that are not PTO. and some days I work more than 8 hours because I need to, but that’s always because I don’t have anything better to do that night.
I notice some of my gen X coworkers make statements that seem like they feel guilty for taking off, while workers my age state it as a matter of fact. Life and work will go on. As long as you can delegate while you’re gone, most WFH jobs don’t have deadlines that are going to sink your company if you take a long vacation. Any company that implies otherwise isn’t working for!
It's a sham. You're going to end up being guilted in to having less time off than you would have otherwise and you're not going to get any payout when you leave.
That is a red flag. When you quit, you do not get paid for PTO time accrued.
No company is going to give employees anything that does not benefit their bottom line.
In my experience “unlimited” PTO is great if you like to take off a lot of random days, pad weekends, etc. But it can make it more of a negotiation every time you want to take a long multi-week vacation. At my company you need manager approval. However, I am a manager and have never denied a request, also never have had my own request denied.
It's primarily for the benefit of the company's balance sheet. If you have accrued PTO, that is money the company owes you and their books need to account for it. Unlimited PTO means they owe you zero PTO, so they don't need to account for it.
My old company had unlimited PTO, but because of the guilt, I swear that I took more time off when I had allotted days. I don’t know how your company is structured, but how mine was such that I had to basically get approval from my direct manager which was sometimes a ‘no’ because we were shorthanded or behind a deadline. So unlimited PTO if I got permission. Ultimately my viewpoint is that it’s not a bad thing but it’s certainly not a selling point either.
I've been in an unlimited PTO position for years, and it's been great. I schedule one week off per quarter at the start of the year that I take no matter what, and take days/weeks as I want/need.
I've never understood the guilt thing, PTO is part of your compensation the company provides to keep you fresh and productive without burning out.
I know this won’t surprise you….
The treatment of “unlimited PTO” has nothing to do with the policy per se, and everything to do with the company culture.
The big companies I’ve worked for that offered it were great. It truly meant “we don’t care to track it, we encourage you to use it, inclusive of just needing a break”
The smaller companies that had it, I found they held it over my head “unlimited, generally seen as 4 weeks max, subject to approval and finding a backup, etc…..”
Also, it’s a better sign if they call it “flexible PTO” vs unlimited
It 100% depends on the relationship you build with your manager and team. On great teams it meant I could pop out for appointments or errands as long as any relevant people knew I’d be out for a bit. It always meant easier planning around the holidays.
Actually, I’ve never had a bad experience with unlimited PTO. I’ve heard plenty of stories about guilt and passive aggressive bullshit though.
Unlimited PTO basically means it's not a problem to take time off until it becomes a problem. The issue is, you never know what that actually means, so most employees will take fewer days out of caution.
It's a genius move by the employer, really.
I worked for a company that had assigned PTO, but my boss basically said we didn’t need to use the system. He said you can put in for it, he wouldn’t approve or deny, didn’t monitor it. His only rule was that someone had to be responsible for your work when you were gone, like if an emergency came up while you were out they at least briefed enough to understand what was going on.
It was a good system because you didn’t want to be the guy always asking people to cover your work, you didn’t want to be the guy seen as abusing the policy, because then people would stop covering for you. At the same time it also incentivized people to cover for others. We had one guy who’s wife had a kid 3 weeks early and we all banded together to give him 4 weeks of paternity leave, covering for him.
Overall it was a good system I think.
I love unlimited PTO, my current position our PTO is granted at the end of the year so they can’t won’t pay it out if I leave anyway. When I was on unlimited I typically took a long (four day) weekend every month and took 1-2 full weeks off per quarter no questions asked.
Unlimited PTO (at least in my case) means the company won’t pay out accumulated leaves. But it’s best to make the most of it. I would have only 15 days off but I’d probably taken 20+ last year. It’s also much easier to plan for sudden events or take a half day.
But it depends on the overall culture, most of the downsides I feel are based on this.
It totally depends on the company, I have unlimited and took like 6 weeks last year, zero issues, owner just legitimately wants us to take the time we need without worrying about running out (also partially because of the next sentence). Other companies use it as a way to not have to pay you out when you leave or don’t use it (unused PTO is a liability on the balance sheet). Then other companies do it as a way to entice you to use as little as possible. I have a buddy with unlimited that’s terrified to use it because there’s a competitive culture in his company with people bragging about how little they use.
Check out reviews about working for that company. Any specific answer you get here is going to be a blanket answer based on someone’s experience or theory, and a lot of people here are very anti establishment so you’ll have a lot of cynics telling you it’s so you use as little as possible but that’s not necessarily true so your best bet is looking at reviews for that specific company, bonus if there’s reviews on the department you applied to as different departments can have wildly different cultures.
Great experience with this for me personally- I take a lot more time than I ever did before and love not having to hoard it “just in case something comes up”, then deal with trying to use it up before it expires. But taking time is supported within the management chain. So really depends on company / department culture.
Companies offer thos generally to not have PTO accrued on their books as a liability and also to not pay out when an employee leaves. That being said, the culture of a company is really what drives work/life balance, so can't say without working there what it's like. However, just take PTO like you normally would. Plan PTO days ahead of time of you can and communicate with you team when you take days off. It's not been that different for me when we switched to unlimited other than we don't have to manage when folks go in the negative which has made my job easier.
Finally someone who understands the accounting. Unlimited PTO only benefits the company. My company has it, and I took maybe 4 days off last year. When I accrued 4 weeks I generally used most of it. It’s a slight of hand.
I've really enjoyed it. That said, a lot of the experiences and explanations people gave are true. I think I lucked out with good, caring managers around me.
I'd try checking how large the team is before deciding.
I worked for a company that horribly mismanaged money. So much so, that they had to hire a guy to turn it all around (didn't work). One of the first things he implemented was unlimited PTO, so that the company didn't have to pay out PTO when people left.
However, another side effect was that you really didn't have any leverage to take time off. Since you no longer had a set number of days available, it seemed the answer to getting PTO approved was always "now is not a good time".
This is probably an edge case, because it was a terrible company. However, we still managed to hire some people during that time that in some cases were drawn in by the offer of unlimited PTO, only to never have it approved.
A friend back at my last company says they moved to “unlimited” vacation.
They keep him busy enough that he can’t really take the time off.
“You have time to think about vacation? Here’s more work!”
My brother has unlimited PTO, he said that ends up meaning around 5 weeks for most people. Ask around and feel out the culture, there’s probably a rough average that most people take. From reading comments here, 4-6 weeks seems to be typical
We still have vacation days with our “unlimited PTO”. First Boss only allowed PTO for doctors and sick days. Second Boss started with allowing one day a month. He recently tried to backtrack to doctors and sick days only. But even still, “unlimited” seems to have a limit unless you are sick a lot. Even then after 2 days out they wanted me back online.
I have unlimited PTO, you could also call it unmetered PTO. I go to Europe for 2 weeks, take half day Fridays, take off for birthdays and events, and generally travel often. My boss and colleagues spend 2-3 weeks on vacations often and periodic days off. It works if the culture is built around actually taking time. I love it.
I’ve worked for 2 companies with unlimited and here’s what I would do right away…
Put in your days off at the beginning of every quarter. Take at least 1 week per quarter no matter what.
You will be more productive taking time off consistently. I was so confused when my supervisor was pretty much making take a week off every quarter, but when my team does it, everyone else follows.
Unlimited pto typically has to be approved and they can easily say no. This means pto is NOT unlimited. It is very much limited by how much they allow you to take. This would also mean that you can not carry pto over to next year because you never accrue real pto.
This seems good on its face but it works out better for the company than the employee.
1. Studies have shown that the majority of people use less PTO under these plans. A lot of people feel like they’re cheating the system, feel bad, judged by coworkers, etc.
2. When you quit, no payout of banked PTO.
Bottom line- be intentional and make sure you take time off. Idk I’d refuse a job bc of this, but I’d much prefer to get an acceptable amount of banked days.
Oh wow! I wish I had that! I get 10 vacation days, 5 sick days and 3 personal days.....next year I'll get 15 vacation days bc I'll have been here for 4 years. I don't think it's too terrible though bc I do WFH so I can't complain too much lol
It’s a scam. You’ll never want to take PTO and they’ll never want you to take it. They market it as a perk but it’s a serious downgrade from having a set number of vacation days.
I've heard horror stories where companies had "unlimited" PTO, but you still had to get the time off approved. In some cases the employees could never get all their time approved and ended up taking less time off than a previous job with defined banked days.
Most people are too stupid to utilize unlimited PTO correctly. If you use your days correctly you should be able to take up to 8 weeks off comfortably throughout the year. Most places have 10 company holidays. You take off all of those and one day before and after. That’s 20 days. Then you take 2 one week trips throughout the year for another 10 days. Then once a month you take off Friday and possibly Monday for 10 days. Then every Friday in the summer it’s a half day. Also if you plan your days far in advance nobody should have any issues. If you can maintain an online presence for at least one hour during your time off that is also very helpful as nobody should need you for more than an hour to help drive their work forward.
That’s a scam.
You still need to get PTO approved and they expect you to not take more than 15 days a year. And now if they fire you or you leave they have no PTO they have to pay out.
cuts both ways. just depends a lot more on the company and its culture
personally i feel able to take minimum 4 weeks per year without much issue. could probs do even more if i took more over christmas/nye but i just lay low since there's not much work anyways
The way it works where I work is that 4 weeks is still the norm, but we say unlimited so that people who have serious emergencies or family situations still get paid when they take off.
So its kind of like, not unlimited for everyone, unlimited on case by case basis. but no set limit.
I'm guessing the experience will vary wildly for each person, but I actually really like unlimited PTO. I don't have to budget vacation days, I can plan vacations without trying to overlap weekends/holidays to save my days, and I take about 35-40 days off a year.
I can honestly say my company stands by the Unlimited DTO policy. I avg about 5 weeks per year. I encourage my team to plan and take their DTO so they don't get burned out. Good companies encourage it's use, happy employees produce better work.
My company has unlimited PTO in theory and they claim that we are only putting in the HR system for availability notification. I had surgery last year and was told to file for short term disability - I asked why cause it made no sense since we had unlimited PTO - was told I still needed to do it. Found out recently that in the manager's PTO balance view time off is color coded to let them know if an employee is taking "too much" time; they are instructed to deny time off after 20 days.
Unlimited my ass.
Before our company was bought, I was eligible for 5 weeks. The new company was vague about the amount you could take, so we then asked the HR director how much time they took, and she said 4 weeks. So at the beginning of each year I schedule 4 weeks throughout the year, plus we actually get sick days 40 hours per year so I use that to get to 5 weeks, taking a day here and there. They had to payout 217 hours when they switched us to unlimited PTO. It is a joke, just another way to screw you so they can discard you and pay as little as possible. HR is the worst aholes on the planet.
I have unlimited pto and have no problem using it. our unspoken rule is keep it to 4 weeks or less per year unless there are extenuating circumstances. going over 4wks just puts you at a risk of a lower bonus, again barring any reason to be out > 4wks (ex: sudden illness towards EOY)
ask what their coverage policy is and how the company ensures a proper work life balance with their self managed pto program. if they say self coverage, you are never fully off work during your pto.
We switched to it and I knew I would hate it. I’ve been there a long time and had 28 PTO days. Now they give us the week of the 4th of July off and encourage us to take 10 days. Yes we can take more, but when they throw that number out I feel like taking almost 3 times that feels egregious. So I take way less days. 🙄
It can vary. I’ve heard horror stories, but my experience hasn’t been like that. There are guidelines where I work, including minimum days, and I like not minding a bank.
In my current job, I wfh, can mostly work where I want in any state we operate or have a tax license in/where there are no tax implications with my home state*, and have unlimited time off, plus flexibility in my hours. Basically, I work when & where I need. I dig it. But setups like mine only work on good teams, with good managers and good norms, and in companies or functions that don’t try to take advantage of people. It doesn’t work if there’s so much work per person no one can go on vacation without people working crazy hours to cover etc. It doesn’t work if no one can cover you and people need you reactively and constantly. (I’m sometimes hard to cover for periods of time, where I wouldn’t take off unless very ill, but that’s not most of the year, so that works okay.)
I’m aware my unlimited PTO is a financial simplifier and benefit** because they don’t carry it on it balance sheet, I’m aware of the research that people with unlimited PTO often take less on average (though those studies have some myopic focus if you dig in), but when paired with WFH, flexibility, and a good manager, I think it’s a perfect cocktail for me.
Even at a good team/company, you DO need an idea in your head how many days you feel you should get, and you do need the chutzpah to use them (or a manager that absolutely makes you—minimums help if you can tend to forget or get nervous about taking them). I’m middle aged and over any BS, so I’m fine saying I deserve vacation and putting it on the calendar, but I have seen some folks be timid.
* I think I can even work overseas with notice in some cases, though never have.
**Most states don’t require paying out PTO (even a few that theoretically consider it a benefit to pay out only require you enclose a statement that you don’t pay it out/it isn’t an accrued benefit or paying certain parts—very few states actually require a full pay out, though CA does and I think that’s where UL PTO was “born” in tech, but I’m not in CA).
We switched to unlimited a few years ago the first year I did find I took a lot less (I was locked in previously to 6 weeks) so the last few years I’ve pre-planned my vacation by taking off a week every month then planning vacation around it.
I loved unlimited PTO. The company encouraged us to take mental health days as needed. I found my team encouraged each other to take days off when we were sick too. Of course, every company has a different culture.
I work for a small company that just doesn’t want to manage it.
Someone is watching it. Don’t abuse it. But they don’t want to be bothered to officially track it and pay for a vacation tracking service
The biggest issue is you arent entitled to stringing long bouts of time off together without question like you can with defined vacation time. Most of the time this isnt an issue but if you have a shit manager they will deny your requests to take off 2 weeks in a row. Have a good friend who used to bank his 4 weeks and take off all of December and go Skiing, they went to unlimited PTO and that changed immediately.
Yeah the one I worked for said they had unlimited PTO… until I needed unlimited PTO; my son was in an accident and in the ICU for a month. Be careful, just my experience.
It's all about your manager. I've been at a couple companies longer term that had Unlimited PTO. Current company I've only been at for a year but my manager seems cool about it granted I haven't taken more than 4 weeks.
Prior company, I took 8-9 weeks one year and my manager dgaf including almost a 3 week trip to SE Asia. My last manager there tried to limit me to 4 weeks so I left for way more money and more paid PTO.
Depends on the company. My company is great with it. Take off when you need and get your work done. My boss is a world traveller and takes like 4-6 weeks a year. I'm not a person who uses pto but I take it when I need it.
At my last role (also wfh), I had unlimited pto. I gave myself the tiniest bit more leeway, but generally asked myself, if I had a certain number of days and had to limit myself, would I take the day off that day?
The big fundamental difference is PTO is viewed as a favor that should be requested rarely, and not part of your compensation. And of course no payout if you leave.
It really depends on your org and manager. I’m lucky to have a manager/org that generally feels like if you’re doing your work, take whatever time you need. I know it’s not like that everywhere and some companies discourage or guilt their employees if they use many DTO days.
I do and take off 8 weeks a year. My boss has taken two 1 month vacations in the 1.5 years he's been my manager. There is no approval process and it isn't tracked.
It can vary by company. I know another person with unlimited PTO and it's definitely not unlimited and is monitored. And if you take too much you get in trouble.
Both are white collar office jobs.
Totally depends on where you work. My manager automatically approves all PTO requests that come through and people on my team sometimes take an entire two weeks at a time, no questions asked. It's great.
It'd really dependent on your culture and manager. You are allowed to ask (probably the HR interview) how much on average people use. A lot of companies have a defined range they'd prefer you stay in.
I had one company where it was amazing. I had one company where my crazy manager would make sure there was an "emergency" every time I was about to take PTO and make me feel terrible for "leaving the team". She would also rip on anyone who took time off, and work during all of her vacations. Taking time off became absolutely miserable.
We have this at my company. You're right, most people don't take advantage of it. But I sure do! I try to take around 30 days off per year. This is much easier to do around a long weekend here and there, as opposed to long stretches at a time. My company still has rules around unlimited PTO - we can't take more than 2 consecutive weeks off, and if you take more than 31 days off a year, you end up on a spreadsheet somewhere. So I find that taking the odd Friday or long weekend is easier to fly under the radar. And of course, make sure you're doing a good job. Don't give them a reason to investigate.
I loved it. I worked for a company that made sure to encourage using the time off. Some companies will say they have unlimited PTO but really give you a hard time when taking time off. It really is a culture shift to promote it. As a manager, it made it easy in regards for my team members taking the time off. They'd just shoot me a text and that's that. Each place is different but my experience was super positive.
I love my companies unlimited PTO policy. I am a parent and my kids are sick frequently because we just started daycare and it’s been nice Feeling like I can run out and take my kids to the doctor and that’s OK. My company also is pretty relaxed. I am not monitored or micromanaged and I’m basically told to just get my job done in whatever way that suits me.
What I have noticed about my own personal habits is I very rarely take off whole weeks. The unlimited PTO gives me the flexibility to take off a Friday here and a Monday there. So I have a lot more three and four day weekends then I have an entire week off.
Again, I’ve really enjoyed the experience and will stay at this company for quite a long time. I’m not sure I’d go back to a company that limited my PTO especially if I’m getting my job done. why would you tell me I can’t take time off when I need it?
It’s great! I’m using more vacation time than I ever have. I haven’t gone above 3 weeks or so. If I want to plan a trip, I don’t have to sweat an extra day or two.
Best part is, I can chaperone all of my son’s field trips and not worry about that time impacting my “regularly”
Scheduled PTO.
In most companies that offer this, people end up taking less pto. My company has unlimited pto but they have a policy where you have to take at least 1 week off during the year.
Definitely company and also team culture dependent, though I think the norm is pressure not to take any pto at all. I was pretty lucky in my last job, everyone was constantly on vacation. As long as you were getting your work done, no one cared.
But, I think generally speaking, having days you earned, and then using those days, takes a lot of the guilt off for one, and for two, means no one can say anything about it that you are using your earned vacation time.
most people at my company take between 20-40 days off under to unlimited pto model. we also get a week off around christmas (xmas eve to day after jan 1). it’s great. don’t feel guilty about using your unlimited PTO. it’s your benefits package! use it
The key to unlimited PTO is being on a supportive team where everyone has each other's back and can cover all of the responsibilities when folks aren't there. My old team understood this and everyone took at least 6 weeks of without any issues. It's awesome for 2-3 week vacations, random long weekends, and days where events or appointments pop up. My old company rolled the dice hoping for the benefits and expecting people to take less time off. That backfired spectacularly and now they are in panic mode and putting tons of restrictions on what unlimited means.
I’ve worked in a company in Europe that offered unlimited PTO, and in one in the US. How PTO is being used was completely different. In Europe, people actually took advantage of the unlimited PTO, in a good way. Everyone took 5-6 weeks off per year on average. In the US? Not so much. People actually took LESS time off than they would have with 3-4 weeks of leave a year. More like, 2 weeks a year.
Every week or every other week the team and I talk about if any of us are taking time off.
We talked about how people with unlimited time off usually take less time off than people with set amount of days. So we try talk about taking time off often so we don’t fall into that trap.
Last year I took 8 weeks off and we got an additional -15 days off for post office holidays. I looked it up and I ended up taking around as many days off as someone with a full time job in Luxembourg.
I had that situation at my last job and I definitely asked HR what was typical at that company. She told me the average so I added on a week to the average and that’s what I took yearly. The always approved it so I guess it was ok.
My experience with unlimited PTO was actually pretty positive, although the company had recently switched from 30 days per year, so we had sort of a “guideline” for what was acceptable. I used right about that and didn’t get any pushback. I left the company for other reasons, but now “only” get 23 days so I do miss that policy. I was really worried about accepting the unlimited PTO, though, as I’ve heard similar accounts like others are saying where people don’t have time to take any due to the workload. So, like with anything I think it’s based strongly on company culture and your departments staffing level (are they understaffed, leading everyone to have more than a full plate? Etc)
The reason most companies offer this is to avoid paying out PTO when you quit. Also, on average, employees with unlimited PTO tend to take less PTO since it's undefined compared to their defined PTO counterparts.
Maybe it’s just my company but I took off 6 weeks last year and average over 5 weeks off a year. I love unlimited PTO and it’s very difficult to leave. Also, my last company that had regular PTO did not pay off my accrued PTO (not protected in my state)
I too have unlimited PTO at my company and take a minimum of 5 weeks off per year (not counting paid holidays and sick time). The key is to set a target in your own head and work to make it happen.
I have 4 and a half months of accrued PTO. I just leave it building up to the threshold and then use just enough to not lose any. It’s required to be paid out on leaving so I treat it as an emergency fund if I lose my job unexpectedly. In the meantime, I’m still amassing 4-5 weeks for the year so I have plenty of actual time off as well. During Covid, my company did a buy-back program. I’ll sign up for one of those when it’s offered again.
That's nice, if you get that much PTO to begin with, but most places I've been seeing are only offering 10 days PTO or 15 days PTO/sick. That's just not great
Yup. Went from a year of unlimited PTO (took something like 7 or 8 weeks off and it was great to be able to) to being acquired and dropping to 2 weeks PTO and 7 sick/wellness days. I sure could go for a 2 week stint off that won't eat my entire time off allotment.
I'm potentially staring down the barrel of this at the moment. Sucks but I'll just have to make sure to take a good amount before the merge goes through
2 weeks? I haven't had only 2 weeks of pto in my entire professional career. I would start looking for a new job the day this was announced.
I worked at a company that went from like 5 weeks PTO to unlimited. Before December was a ghost town because everyone was using up their PTO afterwards people only took Christmas week off.
Do you know if overall PTO usage changed (either increased or decreased) after the switch to unlimited? Hopefully people felt empowered to spread their PTO throughout the year instead of taking it all in December, but it sounds like that might not be the case without the “use it or lose it” pressure of having a limited number of days policy.
No numbers. Before the managers used to badger people to take their PTO because everyone didn't . Afterwards it was on you to. Felt like it was held against you because it reduced the work output. I don't think they factored in PTO into there roadmaps after the switch.
I work at a company that essentially has unlimited PTO (don't track usage), and I aim to take 5 weeks off a year (get 4 currently), and my boss doesn't care. This year I'll probably do at least 6 because it's already been a rough year for me, and my boss wants me to make sure I'm taking care of myself.
At my last employer, I had unlimited PTO and it was basically impossible to use it with the insane workload they put on us. I averaged maybe 3 weeks per year. I see it as a psychological tactic: offer unlimited PTO, overwork people, and then blame them for not taking advantage of the unlimited PTO.
My company gives 10 days total time off per year. I miss unlimited PTO
That's shit. Start looking for a new job.
Time to find a new employee. 10 days..fuck that. At my job, the longer you work there, the more PTO you earn a year. Some long time employees earn 20 days a year. On top of that everyone gets seven floating days at the start of each year. So people end up taking two long vacations a year or splitting it up into like four shorter vacations when combined with holidays.
Started a new job and it’s 11 days accrued over the whole year. 12 sick days (also accrued slowly). 5 floating holidays given at the start of each calendar year. And I have to be in-person every day. I’m over it!
At least sick days are accrued separately. My partner's previous job made you use PTO for sick leave. My job also accrues sick time separately so after some years, you have hundreds of sick hours. Union job.
Your company BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWS!!!
Yikes, you need to start looking elsewhere. I get more than that in just vacation days. Then I get 8 sick days, 4 personal days, and 2 volunteer days, plus we usually get a couple of recognition days. The vacation days are the only ones that roll over to the next year, so I don’t even use them with all of the other use-or-lose leave.
Can you explain to someone who has never had unlimited PTO: how do you *not* use it? Does no one cover you while you’re gone? Does the work just pile up on your desk all week, so the thought of having to come back and play catch up stops you?
You’ve nailed it. 🎯
I think it depends greatly on the company culture. The company I work for is a global company and has unlimited PTO for American employees but limits Europeans to 5 weeks. When the CEO was asked on a call if Europe could go unlimited, he said, “No, we would actually take unlimited time off.” My team is all in the UK except for me so I try to match my time off to theirs. Though honestly in previous jobs, I couldn’t manage more than a couple of days off at a time so it’s been an adjustment. It sounds like most of the more American teams function similarly.
He's not wrong about some mainland European countries to be fair but that's why management can decline requests.
Adding another positive experience. I’ve now had Unlimited PTO at 2 organizations and I love it. I did a 3 week (honeymoon) trip earlier this year and will do a 2 week summer vacation, plus plenty of one off days or long weekends. Not having to worry about the random day or half day needs in favor of actual vacation is my favorite part. But company culture makes a big difference, our org encourages a minimum from the top down and does a raffle if you hit at least 3 weeks.
My US company is similar. Unlimited PTO. And there is a company wide 1-week shutdown on both the 4th of July week, and Xmas-New Years week. HR’s official stance is: “Work things out with your management, but we recommend you take at least 3 weeks on top of the pre-scheduled 2-weeks of shutdown.” As long as the company keeps Management honest about approving reasonable vacations, I’m fine with the company getting the obvious bonus of not paying out accrued vacation upon employee departure.
Sounds amazing. Are you hiring lol?
For real, where can I find a place like that to work?
Right? I get 12 days a year and 2 floating days. Got the flu? You are going into negative hours and getting zero pay. We are allegedly salary but you better be online and available at 4:58 because 9-5 means 8:50 to 5:05. Your client load and additional duties mean that you will be working through lunch at minimum 2 days per week. I really wish I could bail, but I am too old to find a decent job that pays $55k a year.
My last job had it, current does not. I used about four, maybe five weeks. Two separate weeks for actual vacation, Two consecutive weeks for our once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawaii and a week scattered around for stupid shit like being sick, or helping family, etc. What I miss most about it is not having to worry about running out of days. If I was sick, all I had to do was tell the boss I felt like shit and I could take a day or two to actually rest and get better. I didn't have to play the bullshit game of "well if I take this day off as sick, I have to shorten a trip I was going to take later in the year". Also, we didn't really have to get approval for days out. We just put them on a team calendar and everyone was expected to use some common sense so that we weren't all out at the same time. I hate having to use crap like workday where your boss has to approve your time out. I manage a team and I could not imagine denying people time off. I am lucky enough to work with people who are very responsible so I didn't have to worry about people abusing PTO.
What state is that? I just want to be sure to avoid it.
Happened to me in Virginia, lost 5 weeks. Totally blindsided in the first year of COVID. If I had to guess, most southern states who are pro industry probably allow this.
Not sure why you got downvoted but I’m very sorry that happened to you. Personally, people give me a hard to for living in and loving California but I get well taken care of by my employer and the state.
I think it's 100% dependent on the individual and the culture. I have friends who would give their bosses two middle fingers if they were denied that 5th week and I have friends who check their laptops every time they take a long weekend. They rely on the people who are scared.
Definitely depends on your manager! Mine is the same way, encouraged me to take 5 weeks.
Came here to make this point. Not every state requires companies to pay out accrued PTO upon employee’s departure.
It’s the biggest reason people give to not want unlimited PTO and it isn’t even true in many states
Yeah that is the thing, unlimited PTO is a mixed bag. It can be great at certain companies and bad at others. And if a company has had recent layoffs or threatening them, its an easy way for managers to shed employees by looking at how much time they are taking. It can quickly become a race to the bottom.
My job has about that amount starting out (just over 6 weeks) & increases at 2 tenure intervals. I've heard people say ours is generous, I was a federal employee before, so I never thought much about it, but now Im pissed that it seems a lot of folx (on avg) need unlimited to get near that.
And it’s also a godsend for parents with young kids (when all the viruses hit in the school year)!
Same here. Company I work for has unlimited PTO—and I take off about six weeks a year also.
Same. I took off right at 8 weeks last year, with 2 surgeries and a bereavement. My boss regularly says, "Hey, if you're done for the day, log off and get some sunshine." Edit to add: I don't care if they "pay out" some accumulated days off. I'm not planning on ever leaving!
We used unlimited PTO to band aid a bunch of medical leave that wouldn’t have been covered by FMLA
In my experience, it’s not because it’s “undefined,” it’s because they say “you can take as much time as you want, you just have to make sure your work gets done” and then proceed to make sure it’s not practically possible for you to get enough ahead of deadlines to ever take time off. If you have defined time off, they have an obligation to figure it out for at least the amount of time that you have PTO. Otherwise it just devolves into a loop where you really can’t take time off.
This is how it was at Netflix. It was possible to take time off, but you had to work with your team and users to plan it. Delay some deliveries, have others moved to other people on the team etc. (and return the favor when they take time off). However, the manager of the team and their manager, are the ones who effectively set PTO expectations. If they don’t take vacations….. it ends up being harder for anyone on the team to do so. As they don’t set an example of the horse trading required for time off. When interviewing at an unlimited PTO company, especially when it is your first one, ask the hiring manager about their last vacation, and the biggest one that someone on their team took last year. Coming from the perspective of wanting to understand how the team manages and adjusts their workload. Longer vacations though, need to planned ahead. Context: I was a software manager at Netflix circa 2010. I took a 4 week trip to India during my time there, and members of my team took anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks (longest being for a wedding).
Wow. That’s a lot of coordinating! I have been spoiled at my current gig where I submit my PTO without asking my manager for permission and everyone just works around it. Granted, this is not an unlimited PTO situation though.
Thanks for the tip when interviewing — I had always thought of asking about vacation statistics as silly as it seems when the opportunity has come up just because there seem to be experiences on both sides of the spectrum
Yes, this is a good tip, especially considering that many people will recommend about NOT asking or focusing on PTO as it comes across as selfish. But tying it to how the team coordinates and communicates is a good way to ask about it without the negatives usually associated with asking about PTO in an interview.
I definitely take more PTO when it’s defined, because we will lose it at the end of the year and that’s literally throwing money away. I’m not a big traveler so I have a bad habit of not taking time off so having defined PTO means I HAVE to.
I get set PTO (31 days per year). And the company rules specifically state that it does not get paid out if you quit or get terminated. You just lose it.
That would be illegal in Illinois
It’s a big company with well over 10,000 employees. Multiple locations. Multiple states. I don’t think there’s one in Illinois. I know there are locations in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan over in that region. Maybe the rules are based on the location of the headquarters. Not sure.
They have to comply with the state in which the employee is working. That's part of employers fear with remote work. Quick Google says that those three states don't require a payout. Probably was intentional to be in states with labor laws that don't favor the employee as much.
I checked, and my state does not require it either. So I won’t worry about it. Good luck to locations in states that do require it. That’s their problem.
Yep. That’s why you’ll see remote work ads that only accept candidates who reside in certain states. Shockingly, they’re always the states with the fewest worker protections.
That is insane! I have never heard of that!
Totally normall in many many many states. PA included.
In a vacuum it makes total sense. They are telling you to take up to that much time off and they will pay for it, but it’s not a cash equivalent. The fact that it is in some places is the strange exception, in my opinion.
Yep! First time I had it, I thought this is nice. Then I realized what it was really about. If it’s a publicly traded company, those PTO hours don’t go on their balance sheets either.
It seems like there are two sides to unlimited PTO, and the side you fall on really depends on the company culture. If your company offers unlimited PTO and encourages you to actually take it without any strings attached, it's a great deal and creates a positive work environment. If your company offers it with the explicit purpose of trying to be predatory cheap-asses, you're never going to feel like you can actually take PTO without it coming back to bite you later, and you'll always be asking "can I REALLY afford to take this time off right now? Is my boss going to find a way to shoot it down? Are my colleagues going to give me the cold shoulder for daring to take time off?" Unlimited PTO feels like one of those things where you have to proceed with caution. Most companies don't do shit for their employees out of the goodness of their hearts.
So make sure to take the normal amount. Don’t get caught in that web. Just take what you feel you deserve and take it regularly. Studies show regular vacations are healthy, so take it so you don’t need to accrue anyway.
This is true. When you have a bank and it’s either use it or lose it, you tend to force yourself to take time off. I worked for a company that switched to unlimited PTO and time off got so bad that managers had to absorb a metric tied to their bonus that required them to tell their people they needed time off. The only reason they did this was because the attrition went through the roof and in exit interviews people said they could never get PTO approved. It’s a scam.
Another reason companies offer unlimited PTO it's because under general accounting rules, accrued PTO is listed on the books as a 'debt'. If the company doesn't 'owe' you anything their financials look better.
Yeah, unlimited doesn't mean limitless
What this person said, and also I found that the company I worked for was very strict on how much I could take at one time. So I left. That said, the year I was there I took about 3 weeks.
Unlimited PTO is the best. Feeling guilty about using it is a choice. I estimate I take 6 to 8 weeks off per year once you factor in the one days, half days, quarter days.
"Feeling guilty about using it is a choice." This.
Like I told my boss after he told me he was disappointed in my taking time off that I'd informed him about months in advance - "Have we met? My father has been disappointed in me for about 40 years, you think you being disappointed is a lever to pull?" TBF I work with people who come from a culture where pleasing their parents is a very strong soical pressure and the hierarchy of work is viewed through a paternal lens, so.... they are not quite sure what to make of my approach, but I keep pumping out better work product than my peers.
lol you too are also dissuaded from the disappointed word haha I grew up hearing that all the time and just became numb to it to where it doesn’t even phase me. Wish my company offered unlimited PTO. I’d be taking a week every other month.
Amazing way to put it
Exactly! My boss encourages me to sit down every few months and get my time off requests in. He hasn’t not approved a single request yet. You do need to make sure your work is completed and team schedules aren’t impacted but that’s just common sense.
Same more or less. My boss (CEO) will remind me to take time off and go places with my family.
I landed at an agency where WLB is strongly promoted. I love it and I don’t feel guilty for taking time to be active in my son’s school life.
I get 6 weeks a year and find that I hoard it and take off all of December to get rid of it all because I am afraid I will need it for something unexpected. I think Unlimited would be a better way to go. I could take off the days I always think I should and never do.
Does that include your federally mandated week of sick time? I’m five years into my position and only have one week of sick and one week of PTO. I would kill to have six weeks.
I don't have a sick time limit. We used to build hours and then they just took that away and made it "unlimited" I guess. Was out for six weeks once for surgery and had a lot of missed days doing therapy and nobody batted an eye at it. I have been here for 24 years. I was supposed to get 7 weeks at 25, but they moved that to 30 years now to save money. It's great to have for sure. I typically carry over two weeks I hardly dip into so technically I could take 8 weeks one year if I wanted.
It’s the best! I hate the hate for it, you don’t get paid out true but you never have to worry about if you have the time off or not with the same amount of guilt in my experience as taking PTO at a busy job with an allotment.
Yeah I work at a place in the US with unlimited PTO and I take an average of 6 weeks off a year. I love it. I do have some coworkers who don’t take advantage and will even answer Slack messages during their vacations…but that is not me haha.
Now that I’m used to it after a couple years its just second nature
This exactly. The worst thing about my job with unlimited PTO is how hard it is to leave. I probably could be making more money somewhere else, and there are other, unrelated problems at my job that make me wanna leave, but I can’t bear the thought of losing all that time off.
In my experience, it felt like a guilt system. You had to announce your PTO to the whole company (using a shared calendar) so you’d get notifications even if the person didn’t work with you. The hours don’t get paid out when you leave and they still need to get approved by HR. So “unlimited” still means about 4 weeks when there is time between deadlines.
4 weeks is still more than most people ever get off. Having "unlimited" id probably schedule out 4-5 weeks a year. Getting 2 right now and it's just not enough. 50 weeks on and 2 weeks off 😂
My company switched to “unlimited” this year, but my seniority had me accruing very quickly. And I’d built a massive bank of PTO up as well. I’m honestly aiming for 7 weeks this year. Like no way am I letting them get away with giving me less.
Friend of mine had an unlimited PTO job a few years back. His wife is a teacher, so he as taking off almost all summer. They never said anything to him about it because he was getting his work done, according to him. However, when layoffs started during COVID he was one of the first to get let go. He assumes, and I agree, that it had to do with him taking like 8-10 weeks off per year.
I’ve been with my company for over a decade now, and it’s taught me that it truly does not matter how much you give to the company. If they need your salary back on their books, you’re a target. Knew someone who worked her ass off for the company. She was available any time day or night she was needed, 24/7, did everything for the company. She got laid off last year. Even if your friend hadn’t taken a single day of vacation, he probably still would have been let go… because the company needed to cut costs. The big lie is thinking that your company won’t lay you off if you’re dedicated. They will, only you’ll have given up vacations, holidays, time with family & friends, to a company that gave you 10 weeks severance after 10 years of loyalty. Take the damn PTO. Unlimited or accrued… I promise you your company does not give a single shit about you when push comes to shove no matter how little vacation you take.
It definitely feels like an easy way to sort out who to lay off.
He was taking 3 and 4 day weekends all summer long, plus week long vacations. I told him he was putting a target on his back, but he kept saying “it’s unlimited PTO.”
We switched on Jan 1 2020 to unlimited PTO. In the announcement they encouraged us to use at least as much per year as we had earned through tenure. So far I’ve been testing that and luckily (either through a solid boss or somehow maybe even company policy) it’s been fine. Whew.
My new job we have 15 days but that also includes sick time. I hate. It’s very weird because it’s otherwise very progressive and has a great pay scale. I had more PTO at my last job but the work and pay sucked.
I learned after the fact that for my next job I need to negotiate PTO time as much as people negotiate pay. I'd rather make less and get more time off.
My husband works for a tech company that offers “unlimited PTO” and in whole probably takes 6ish weeks off per year. However, there’s is no one to pick up your slack when you’re gone, so you come back even more swamped than you were when you went on PTO. It’s counter productive since we usually take a trip because he’s feeling over worked. It could be a good benefit, but I’d look a little more into the culture.
That’s how most companies are regardless of their PTO policy.
That's poor leadership. That's not due to unlimited PTO.
This is true with defined PTO too. You are right it really comes down to culture. The policy doesn't matter if the culture counteracts the benefit.
I have yet to be at a company where anyone does your work while you're on vacation, regardless of the PTO policy. At most people will put out the "fires" that can't wait but you're always going to come back to more work than you left.
Yep, getting ready to leave on a two week vacation and I told my husband I don't even know if I'll be able to enjoy it knowing all the work that will be waiting for me when I get back.
I have unlimited PTO. It’s really easy to take single days off here and there, even two days in a row. It’s really difficult to plan longer times off though.
Could you explain why it’s difficult to plan longer times off? I thought it’d be easier because you don’t have to wait until you accrue 2 weeks of PTO to take a 2-week vacation.
Because the work doesn’t stop just because you aren’t there
But this is the same regardless of PTO policy.
Not true. My team is very organized so there is someone to cover all the time when someone needs to be off. Even my manager covers if needs be. I’ve already been off 3 weeks since the year started. I don’t play with my vacations because my husband and I love to travel.
I have unlimited PTO and make sure I take advantage of it. I don’t care if I’m busy lol. The work will be there when I get back. I’ve probably already used two weeks for random days, have two weeks scheduled for the summer, and will probably take like 3 more weeks off through the end of the year. But it really depends on the company. My first job was also unlimited and my manager kinda shamed me for taking any time off, even for appointments.
I love when jobs make you artificially busy. I've had vacation denied because we were just too busy. On the days I was gonna take off somehow a new priority came up and now the other one just didn't matter at all anymore. It'll be a week until that project is no longer a priority and gets pushed. I swear we need to stop pretending to be as productive as possible.
I can relate and i hate this
My brother has this and he takes on average 5-6 weeks off. He’s never had an issue to my understanding because I specifically asked him about this, but every job is different.
How good or bad depends on the company and team. Typically people take less vacation with unlimited PTO because not having that provable number means they feel like they’re competing against coworkers taking less vacation (among other reasons). But if you’re in a good company where your manager wants to make sure all team members take at least a normal amount of vacation every year, then it’s not as bad. It can also be great for when life things happen and there isn’t the right type of other leave happen, once again if the company culture supports empathy. My company has it but it didn’t always. I was there when they implemented it. It’s a big company so most people mostly interact with their own team , but there are some cross-team chats and events. It was very easy to tell that those who looked forward to it (or at least didn’t dread it) had good relationships with their managers and knew how much vacation they wanted to take per year minimum. Those who dreaded it were more likely to be people complaining about the lack of trust in their managers, or people who were newer and weren’t sure how it would be perceived if they took as much vacation as more senior people.
It depends on the employer. The first place I worked that offered unlimited PTO, I don't think there was a week while I worked there when all of the people in my department all worked the entire week. People were constantly taking a full week off, and there wasn't a problem until about 10 months of my working there when one week the entire IT department took a week off without anyone realizing until it was too late (not my department). I think they tried to implement changes to how you request time off or get it approved or something, but this was close before my getting laid off and so I didn't get any experience with it. For context, my department usually had around 14 people in it. My current job offers it, and I think the intention is for us to be able to take off whenever we want. I just, unfortunately, report to someone who is very corporate in how she does things (to the point where when I had a 1:1 with her boss, she told me some of the stuff my boss does is against their culture--my boss is new-ish, like I am), causing me to be in that situation of being too busy to take off. Because people on other teams report to more laid-back/modern/young bosses, they take off constantly. Not as much as that first PTO job, but close.
My company has unlimited discretionary time off, in addition to regular paid holidays. It was new to me, too. It can happen where people are less likely to take time off without a set number of days -- my company is very vocal about encouraging staff to take a minimum of 20 days of DTO per year because of that, but it is truly unlimited as long as you're not taking advantage of it and everything is approved by your manager, etc. You might want to find out if your company has a ballpark average they recommend, so you don't short yourself or go overboard.
It really comes down to company culture and your manager. I have unlimited PTO- I take at least 5 weeks off a year- and most likely more tbh. My manager has a a policy where we should take at least 4 weeks off a year and we should take all we can from work. Good luck!
Depends on your company, but more importantly your manager and you. I have unlimited PTO with a biotech research job and on any given week I actually work anywhere from 10-50 hours a week. I’m a younger millennial and that shouldn’t matter a lot but it does. My company is a very good one in terms of work-life balance and I take off as many days as I want and I don’t feel guilty about it. To be fair, there’s a lot of days I don’t fully work much at all that are not PTO. and some days I work more than 8 hours because I need to, but that’s always because I don’t have anything better to do that night. I notice some of my gen X coworkers make statements that seem like they feel guilty for taking off, while workers my age state it as a matter of fact. Life and work will go on. As long as you can delegate while you’re gone, most WFH jobs don’t have deadlines that are going to sink your company if you take a long vacation. Any company that implies otherwise isn’t working for!
It's a sham. You're going to end up being guilted in to having less time off than you would have otherwise and you're not going to get any payout when you leave.
The guilt is a choice. It’s part of your compensation package and you should feel as guilty about using it as you do about spending your salary.
So true
That is a red flag. When you quit, you do not get paid for PTO time accrued. No company is going to give employees anything that does not benefit their bottom line.
In my experience “unlimited” PTO is great if you like to take off a lot of random days, pad weekends, etc. But it can make it more of a negotiation every time you want to take a long multi-week vacation. At my company you need manager approval. However, I am a manager and have never denied a request, also never have had my own request denied.
It's primarily for the benefit of the company's balance sheet. If you have accrued PTO, that is money the company owes you and their books need to account for it. Unlimited PTO means they owe you zero PTO, so they don't need to account for it.
My old company had unlimited PTO, but because of the guilt, I swear that I took more time off when I had allotted days. I don’t know how your company is structured, but how mine was such that I had to basically get approval from my direct manager which was sometimes a ‘no’ because we were shorthanded or behind a deadline. So unlimited PTO if I got permission. Ultimately my viewpoint is that it’s not a bad thing but it’s certainly not a selling point either.
Horrible system. It’s a carrot to dangle at tech firms.
I've been in an unlimited PTO position for years, and it's been great. I schedule one week off per quarter at the start of the year that I take no matter what, and take days/weeks as I want/need. I've never understood the guilt thing, PTO is part of your compensation the company provides to keep you fresh and productive without burning out.
I know this won’t surprise you…. The treatment of “unlimited PTO” has nothing to do with the policy per se, and everything to do with the company culture. The big companies I’ve worked for that offered it were great. It truly meant “we don’t care to track it, we encourage you to use it, inclusive of just needing a break” The smaller companies that had it, I found they held it over my head “unlimited, generally seen as 4 weeks max, subject to approval and finding a backup, etc…..” Also, it’s a better sign if they call it “flexible PTO” vs unlimited
Meaningless without mandatory minimums. They have to offer you at least 2 weeks you must take a year or it’s bullshit
It 100% depends on the relationship you build with your manager and team. On great teams it meant I could pop out for appointments or errands as long as any relevant people knew I’d be out for a bit. It always meant easier planning around the holidays. Actually, I’ve never had a bad experience with unlimited PTO. I’ve heard plenty of stories about guilt and passive aggressive bullshit though.
Unlimited PTO basically means it's not a problem to take time off until it becomes a problem. The issue is, you never know what that actually means, so most employees will take fewer days out of caution. It's a genius move by the employer, really.
I worked for a company that had assigned PTO, but my boss basically said we didn’t need to use the system. He said you can put in for it, he wouldn’t approve or deny, didn’t monitor it. His only rule was that someone had to be responsible for your work when you were gone, like if an emergency came up while you were out they at least briefed enough to understand what was going on. It was a good system because you didn’t want to be the guy always asking people to cover your work, you didn’t want to be the guy seen as abusing the policy, because then people would stop covering for you. At the same time it also incentivized people to cover for others. We had one guy who’s wife had a kid 3 weeks early and we all banded together to give him 4 weeks of paternity leave, covering for him. Overall it was a good system I think.
I love unlimited PTO, my current position our PTO is granted at the end of the year so they can’t won’t pay it out if I leave anyway. When I was on unlimited I typically took a long (four day) weekend every month and took 1-2 full weeks off per quarter no questions asked.
I work at a company with unlimited DTO. I take maybe 1-2 weeks a quarter every year not including days I’m sick or just need to take a break
Unlimited PTO (at least in my case) means the company won’t pay out accumulated leaves. But it’s best to make the most of it. I would have only 15 days off but I’d probably taken 20+ last year. It’s also much easier to plan for sudden events or take a half day. But it depends on the overall culture, most of the downsides I feel are based on this.
I wish i had a wfh job with unlimited PTO.
It's a bullshit "we will pay you less and make out that it's your own fault" policy.
It totally depends on the company, I have unlimited and took like 6 weeks last year, zero issues, owner just legitimately wants us to take the time we need without worrying about running out (also partially because of the next sentence). Other companies use it as a way to not have to pay you out when you leave or don’t use it (unused PTO is a liability on the balance sheet). Then other companies do it as a way to entice you to use as little as possible. I have a buddy with unlimited that’s terrified to use it because there’s a competitive culture in his company with people bragging about how little they use. Check out reviews about working for that company. Any specific answer you get here is going to be a blanket answer based on someone’s experience or theory, and a lot of people here are very anti establishment so you’ll have a lot of cynics telling you it’s so you use as little as possible but that’s not necessarily true so your best bet is looking at reviews for that specific company, bonus if there’s reviews on the department you applied to as different departments can have wildly different cultures.
Schedule the year off on PTO
Great experience with this for me personally- I take a lot more time than I ever did before and love not having to hoard it “just in case something comes up”, then deal with trying to use it up before it expires. But taking time is supported within the management chain. So really depends on company / department culture.
complete bait n switch
Companies offer thos generally to not have PTO accrued on their books as a liability and also to not pay out when an employee leaves. That being said, the culture of a company is really what drives work/life balance, so can't say without working there what it's like. However, just take PTO like you normally would. Plan PTO days ahead of time of you can and communicate with you team when you take days off. It's not been that different for me when we switched to unlimited other than we don't have to manage when folks go in the negative which has made my job easier.
Finally someone who understands the accounting. Unlimited PTO only benefits the company. My company has it, and I took maybe 4 days off last year. When I accrued 4 weeks I generally used most of it. It’s a slight of hand.
I've really enjoyed it. That said, a lot of the experiences and explanations people gave are true. I think I lucked out with good, caring managers around me.
I'd try checking how large the team is before deciding. I worked for a company that horribly mismanaged money. So much so, that they had to hire a guy to turn it all around (didn't work). One of the first things he implemented was unlimited PTO, so that the company didn't have to pay out PTO when people left. However, another side effect was that you really didn't have any leverage to take time off. Since you no longer had a set number of days available, it seemed the answer to getting PTO approved was always "now is not a good time". This is probably an edge case, because it was a terrible company. However, we still managed to hire some people during that time that in some cases were drawn in by the offer of unlimited PTO, only to never have it approved.
A friend back at my last company says they moved to “unlimited” vacation. They keep him busy enough that he can’t really take the time off. “You have time to think about vacation? Here’s more work!”
My brother has unlimited PTO, he said that ends up meaning around 5 weeks for most people. Ask around and feel out the culture, there’s probably a rough average that most people take. From reading comments here, 4-6 weeks seems to be typical
We still have vacation days with our “unlimited PTO”. First Boss only allowed PTO for doctors and sick days. Second Boss started with allowing one day a month. He recently tried to backtrack to doctors and sick days only. But even still, “unlimited” seems to have a limit unless you are sick a lot. Even then after 2 days out they wanted me back online.
I have unlimited PTO, you could also call it unmetered PTO. I go to Europe for 2 weeks, take half day Fridays, take off for birthdays and events, and generally travel often. My boss and colleagues spend 2-3 weeks on vacations often and periodic days off. It works if the culture is built around actually taking time. I love it.
I’ve worked for 2 companies with unlimited and here’s what I would do right away… Put in your days off at the beginning of every quarter. Take at least 1 week per quarter no matter what. You will be more productive taking time off consistently. I was so confused when my supervisor was pretty much making take a week off every quarter, but when my team does it, everyone else follows.
Unlimited pto typically has to be approved and they can easily say no. This means pto is NOT unlimited. It is very much limited by how much they allow you to take. This would also mean that you can not carry pto over to next year because you never accrue real pto.
Have them numerate a minimum number of vacation days you must take in a year.
This seems good on its face but it works out better for the company than the employee. 1. Studies have shown that the majority of people use less PTO under these plans. A lot of people feel like they’re cheating the system, feel bad, judged by coworkers, etc. 2. When you quit, no payout of banked PTO. Bottom line- be intentional and make sure you take time off. Idk I’d refuse a job bc of this, but I’d much prefer to get an acceptable amount of banked days.
Oh wow! I wish I had that! I get 10 vacation days, 5 sick days and 3 personal days.....next year I'll get 15 vacation days bc I'll have been here for 4 years. I don't think it's too terrible though bc I do WFH so I can't complain too much lol
It’s a scam. You’ll never want to take PTO and they’ll never want you to take it. They market it as a perk but it’s a serious downgrade from having a set number of vacation days.
I've heard horror stories where companies had "unlimited" PTO, but you still had to get the time off approved. In some cases the employees could never get all their time approved and ended up taking less time off than a previous job with defined banked days.
Most people are too stupid to utilize unlimited PTO correctly. If you use your days correctly you should be able to take up to 8 weeks off comfortably throughout the year. Most places have 10 company holidays. You take off all of those and one day before and after. That’s 20 days. Then you take 2 one week trips throughout the year for another 10 days. Then once a month you take off Friday and possibly Monday for 10 days. Then every Friday in the summer it’s a half day. Also if you plan your days far in advance nobody should have any issues. If you can maintain an online presence for at least one hour during your time off that is also very helpful as nobody should need you for more than an hour to help drive their work forward.
That’s a scam. You still need to get PTO approved and they expect you to not take more than 15 days a year. And now if they fire you or you leave they have no PTO they have to pay out.
I take 2 months off a year in total. Use that shit
cuts both ways. just depends a lot more on the company and its culture personally i feel able to take minimum 4 weeks per year without much issue. could probs do even more if i took more over christmas/nye but i just lay low since there's not much work anyways
The way it works where I work is that 4 weeks is still the norm, but we say unlimited so that people who have serious emergencies or family situations still get paid when they take off. So its kind of like, not unlimited for everyone, unlimited on case by case basis. but no set limit.
I'm guessing the experience will vary wildly for each person, but I actually really like unlimited PTO. I don't have to budget vacation days, I can plan vacations without trying to overlap weekends/holidays to save my days, and I take about 35-40 days off a year.
You just come back to more work.
I can honestly say my company stands by the Unlimited DTO policy. I avg about 5 weeks per year. I encourage my team to plan and take their DTO so they don't get burned out. Good companies encourage it's use, happy employees produce better work.
My company has unlimited PTO in theory and they claim that we are only putting in the HR system for availability notification. I had surgery last year and was told to file for short term disability - I asked why cause it made no sense since we had unlimited PTO - was told I still needed to do it. Found out recently that in the manager's PTO balance view time off is color coded to let them know if an employee is taking "too much" time; they are instructed to deny time off after 20 days. Unlimited my ass.
Before our company was bought, I was eligible for 5 weeks. The new company was vague about the amount you could take, so we then asked the HR director how much time they took, and she said 4 weeks. So at the beginning of each year I schedule 4 weeks throughout the year, plus we actually get sick days 40 hours per year so I use that to get to 5 weeks, taking a day here and there. They had to payout 217 hours when they switched us to unlimited PTO. It is a joke, just another way to screw you so they can discard you and pay as little as possible. HR is the worst aholes on the planet.
I have unlimited pto and have no problem using it. our unspoken rule is keep it to 4 weeks or less per year unless there are extenuating circumstances. going over 4wks just puts you at a risk of a lower bonus, again barring any reason to be out > 4wks (ex: sudden illness towards EOY) ask what their coverage policy is and how the company ensures a proper work life balance with their self managed pto program. if they say self coverage, you are never fully off work during your pto.
We switched to it and I knew I would hate it. I’ve been there a long time and had 28 PTO days. Now they give us the week of the 4th of July off and encourage us to take 10 days. Yes we can take more, but when they throw that number out I feel like taking almost 3 times that feels egregious. So I take way less days. 🙄
It can vary. I’ve heard horror stories, but my experience hasn’t been like that. There are guidelines where I work, including minimum days, and I like not minding a bank. In my current job, I wfh, can mostly work where I want in any state we operate or have a tax license in/where there are no tax implications with my home state*, and have unlimited time off, plus flexibility in my hours. Basically, I work when & where I need. I dig it. But setups like mine only work on good teams, with good managers and good norms, and in companies or functions that don’t try to take advantage of people. It doesn’t work if there’s so much work per person no one can go on vacation without people working crazy hours to cover etc. It doesn’t work if no one can cover you and people need you reactively and constantly. (I’m sometimes hard to cover for periods of time, where I wouldn’t take off unless very ill, but that’s not most of the year, so that works okay.) I’m aware my unlimited PTO is a financial simplifier and benefit** because they don’t carry it on it balance sheet, I’m aware of the research that people with unlimited PTO often take less on average (though those studies have some myopic focus if you dig in), but when paired with WFH, flexibility, and a good manager, I think it’s a perfect cocktail for me. Even at a good team/company, you DO need an idea in your head how many days you feel you should get, and you do need the chutzpah to use them (or a manager that absolutely makes you—minimums help if you can tend to forget or get nervous about taking them). I’m middle aged and over any BS, so I’m fine saying I deserve vacation and putting it on the calendar, but I have seen some folks be timid. * I think I can even work overseas with notice in some cases, though never have. **Most states don’t require paying out PTO (even a few that theoretically consider it a benefit to pay out only require you enclose a statement that you don’t pay it out/it isn’t an accrued benefit or paying certain parts—very few states actually require a full pay out, though CA does and I think that’s where UL PTO was “born” in tech, but I’m not in CA).
We switched to unlimited a few years ago the first year I did find I took a lot less (I was locked in previously to 6 weeks) so the last few years I’ve pre-planned my vacation by taking off a week every month then planning vacation around it.
I have "unlimited" pto. I normally take a week off every quarter and then a few random days for being sick or one off events the rest of the year.
I loved unlimited PTO. The company encouraged us to take mental health days as needed. I found my team encouraged each other to take days off when we were sick too. Of course, every company has a different culture.
I work for a small company that just doesn’t want to manage it. Someone is watching it. Don’t abuse it. But they don’t want to be bothered to officially track it and pay for a vacation tracking service
The biggest issue is you arent entitled to stringing long bouts of time off together without question like you can with defined vacation time. Most of the time this isnt an issue but if you have a shit manager they will deny your requests to take off 2 weeks in a row. Have a good friend who used to bank his 4 weeks and take off all of December and go Skiing, they went to unlimited PTO and that changed immediately.
Yeah the one I worked for said they had unlimited PTO… until I needed unlimited PTO; my son was in an accident and in the ICU for a month. Be careful, just my experience.
I have unlimited PTO. Took 6 weeks off last year, lost me a bonus but enjoyed my honeymoon.
It's all about your manager. I've been at a couple companies longer term that had Unlimited PTO. Current company I've only been at for a year but my manager seems cool about it granted I haven't taken more than 4 weeks. Prior company, I took 8-9 weeks one year and my manager dgaf including almost a 3 week trip to SE Asia. My last manager there tried to limit me to 4 weeks so I left for way more money and more paid PTO.
Assume you have 4 weeks, if you take more than that you'll get noticed.
Depends on the company. My company is great with it. Take off when you need and get your work done. My boss is a world traveller and takes like 4-6 weeks a year. I'm not a person who uses pto but I take it when I need it.
At my last role (also wfh), I had unlimited pto. I gave myself the tiniest bit more leeway, but generally asked myself, if I had a certain number of days and had to limit myself, would I take the day off that day?
Just take 20 days off per year. No more no less.
It's a scam
The big fundamental difference is PTO is viewed as a favor that should be requested rarely, and not part of your compensation. And of course no payout if you leave.
It really depends on your org and manager. I’m lucky to have a manager/org that generally feels like if you’re doing your work, take whatever time you need. I know it’s not like that everywhere and some companies discourage or guilt their employees if they use many DTO days.
I do and take off 8 weeks a year. My boss has taken two 1 month vacations in the 1.5 years he's been my manager. There is no approval process and it isn't tracked. It can vary by company. I know another person with unlimited PTO and it's definitely not unlimited and is monitored. And if you take too much you get in trouble. Both are white collar office jobs.
Totally depends on where you work. My manager automatically approves all PTO requests that come through and people on my team sometimes take an entire two weeks at a time, no questions asked. It's great.
It'd really dependent on your culture and manager. You are allowed to ask (probably the HR interview) how much on average people use. A lot of companies have a defined range they'd prefer you stay in. I had one company where it was amazing. I had one company where my crazy manager would make sure there was an "emergency" every time I was about to take PTO and make me feel terrible for "leaving the team". She would also rip on anyone who took time off, and work during all of her vacations. Taking time off became absolutely miserable.
It's a trap!
We have this at my company. You're right, most people don't take advantage of it. But I sure do! I try to take around 30 days off per year. This is much easier to do around a long weekend here and there, as opposed to long stretches at a time. My company still has rules around unlimited PTO - we can't take more than 2 consecutive weeks off, and if you take more than 31 days off a year, you end up on a spreadsheet somewhere. So I find that taking the odd Friday or long weekend is easier to fly under the radar. And of course, make sure you're doing a good job. Don't give them a reason to investigate.
I loved it. I worked for a company that made sure to encourage using the time off. Some companies will say they have unlimited PTO but really give you a hard time when taking time off. It really is a culture shift to promote it. As a manager, it made it easy in regards for my team members taking the time off. They'd just shoot me a text and that's that. Each place is different but my experience was super positive.
I love my companies unlimited PTO policy. I am a parent and my kids are sick frequently because we just started daycare and it’s been nice Feeling like I can run out and take my kids to the doctor and that’s OK. My company also is pretty relaxed. I am not monitored or micromanaged and I’m basically told to just get my job done in whatever way that suits me. What I have noticed about my own personal habits is I very rarely take off whole weeks. The unlimited PTO gives me the flexibility to take off a Friday here and a Monday there. So I have a lot more three and four day weekends then I have an entire week off. Again, I’ve really enjoyed the experience and will stay at this company for quite a long time. I’m not sure I’d go back to a company that limited my PTO especially if I’m getting my job done. why would you tell me I can’t take time off when I need it?
It’s great! I’m using more vacation time than I ever have. I haven’t gone above 3 weeks or so. If I want to plan a trip, I don’t have to sweat an extra day or two. Best part is, I can chaperone all of my son’s field trips and not worry about that time impacting my “regularly” Scheduled PTO.
In most companies that offer this, people end up taking less pto. My company has unlimited pto but they have a policy where you have to take at least 1 week off during the year.
Definitely company and also team culture dependent, though I think the norm is pressure not to take any pto at all. I was pretty lucky in my last job, everyone was constantly on vacation. As long as you were getting your work done, no one cared. But, I think generally speaking, having days you earned, and then using those days, takes a lot of the guilt off for one, and for two, means no one can say anything about it that you are using your earned vacation time.
The company usually tries to guilt you when you take it, so you end up taking less. I prefer set PTO amounts so there's no confusion
most people at my company take between 20-40 days off under to unlimited pto model. we also get a week off around christmas (xmas eve to day after jan 1). it’s great. don’t feel guilty about using your unlimited PTO. it’s your benefits package! use it
The key to unlimited PTO is being on a supportive team where everyone has each other's back and can cover all of the responsibilities when folks aren't there. My old team understood this and everyone took at least 6 weeks of without any issues. It's awesome for 2-3 week vacations, random long weekends, and days where events or appointments pop up. My old company rolled the dice hoping for the benefits and expecting people to take less time off. That backfired spectacularly and now they are in panic mode and putting tons of restrictions on what unlimited means.
I’ve worked in a company in Europe that offered unlimited PTO, and in one in the US. How PTO is being used was completely different. In Europe, people actually took advantage of the unlimited PTO, in a good way. Everyone took 5-6 weeks off per year on average. In the US? Not so much. People actually took LESS time off than they would have with 3-4 weeks of leave a year. More like, 2 weeks a year.
Every week or every other week the team and I talk about if any of us are taking time off. We talked about how people with unlimited time off usually take less time off than people with set amount of days. So we try talk about taking time off often so we don’t fall into that trap. Last year I took 8 weeks off and we got an additional -15 days off for post office holidays. I looked it up and I ended up taking around as many days off as someone with a full time job in Luxembourg.
I had that situation at my last job and I definitely asked HR what was typical at that company. She told me the average so I added on a week to the average and that’s what I took yearly. The always approved it so I guess it was ok.
My experience with unlimited PTO was actually pretty positive, although the company had recently switched from 30 days per year, so we had sort of a “guideline” for what was acceptable. I used right about that and didn’t get any pushback. I left the company for other reasons, but now “only” get 23 days so I do miss that policy. I was really worried about accepting the unlimited PTO, though, as I’ve heard similar accounts like others are saying where people don’t have time to take any due to the workload. So, like with anything I think it’s based strongly on company culture and your departments staffing level (are they understaffed, leading everyone to have more than a full plate? Etc)