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Unlimited Vacation Time

ImTheCaptain

ImTheCaptain

I disagree with you
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Does anyone work (or run) a place that offers unlimited time off and if so, how's that working out?
 
The wife has worked at a place that offered unlimited time off. She found it most helpful in the beginning of the year when she would need to take a day here or there (doc appt, long weekend, etc) rather than trying to bank PTO for end-of-year holidays or a longer vacation. I don't think they had any instances of misuse. Smallish (50 or so FTE) tech company.
 
My wife does and she doesn't like it. It is great for people going on honeymoons/long vacations because they are good about granting that. Not so good when she needs to take three or four three day weekends over the course of two months and they PTO-shame her at work. She wishes she just had a set amount of time that was hers to take when she pleases. She also said people at the office can't help but count who takes what days and then get pissy that they feel like they have been strongly pressured into taking less (in some cases a lot less).

I'm sure someone more shameless wouldn't be as bothered by it as she is but yeah.
 
it's great as long as you don't work with a bunch of toolbags like timdunkandthefunk's wife apparently works with
 
We have a discretionary time off policy -- just a way for companies to avoid having to pay out vacation on termination where that is required. It is nice to not have to deal with the administrative BS around it, and it depends on your boss how happy you will be with it. We typically just assume four weeks, and the nice thing is no one keeps track of whether you end up taking more than that.
 
timdunkandthefunk said:
My wife does and she doesn't like it. It is great for people going on honeymoons/long vacations because they are good about granting that. Not so good when she needs to take three or four three day weekends over the course of two months and they PTO-shame her at work. She wishes she just had a set amount of time that was hers to take when she pleases. She also said people at the office can't help but count who takes what days and then get pissy that they feel like they have been strongly pressured into taking less (in some cases a lot less).

I'm sure someone more shameless wouldn't be as bothered by it as she is but yeah.
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I can't complain about it because I haven't had any issues but my gut reaction is still that it kind of sucks. It is a sneaky way for a company to have something they can tout as a benefit (unlimited vacation!) when they have really just made so you are not entitled to ANY vacation - it is all at your manager's discretion. In the old days you knew you had x weeks of vacation and, except in extreme circumstances, you were going to get that time off. Now, who knows?
It is great for the company because they don't have to carry those days on the books (avoiding the tax implications of that), don't have to worry about people accruing days (for the companies that still let you do that) and don't have the administrative hassle of tracking days.
There are always people that will keep track of days that other people are taking.

It also takes away a benefit that used to accrue to people with seniority at a company - new people would get less vacation - that is no longer a thing - which seems weird.
 
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At our accounting firm we track it, but no one gives a shit about how much you have taken unless a) it's way too low and you're going to burn out or b) you have abused it and taken 7 weeks. We legitimately have people who take 7 or more weeks per year and think that's normal.
 
Seems like if you're going to offer unlimited vacation, you can't get miffed if people take all they want.
 
DeacDiggler said:
At our accounting firm we track it, but no one gives a shit about how much you have taken unless a) it's way too low and you're going to burn out or b) you have abused it and taken 7 weeks. We legitimately have people who take 7 or more weeks per year and think that's normal.
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European teacher in a former career, amirite?

I do wish United States culture was more generous and understanding about time off, in general.
 
it's a strange thing, indeed. we have nominal amounts of PTO by tenure but it's never been tracked and never a problem with one exception. i wonder if de facto unlimited vacation is better than an official policy of unlimited vacation, excepting the value of accrued time off.
 
I have unlimited time off and a good boss. But our salary is tied to living expense and position not performance. And it generally is understood you are good if you get your work done. And if you don’t youre held accountable
 
DeacDiggler said:
At our accounting firm we track it, but no one gives a shit about how much you have taken unless a) it's way too low and you're going to burn out or b) you have abused it and taken 7 weeks. We legitimately have people who take 7 or more weeks per year and think that's normal.
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what’s the tipping point where management gets mad? 7 weeks? is 6 ok?
 
Another element of unlimited PTO is enabling women to effectively come back to work after having a baby. There's less pressure to use PTO strategically for childcare issues, doctors' appointments, etc.
 
Yeah, but the number of women who actually wind up in a position with unlimited PTO is pretty small.
 
I have unlimited TO. But, I get paid on what I produce, so . . . yeah.
 
Milhouse said:
what’s the tipping point where management gets mad? 7 weeks? is 6 ok?
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6 is where you start to get noticed. if your numbers are good then it's fine, but the issue is that we have staff who don't have a project to work on so they take a few days off, rather than actually going and finding some work to do.
 
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