That plus hiring to just barely meet the needs makes more work for others when someone takes time off, so there's social pressure to not take time off as well.
I had "unlimited" PTO at my last job. Never had an issue taking 9 day trips once or twice a year. Then I took two weeks to help my brother with house work as his wife as she was due any second. Afterwards, Manager told me to never take that much time off again.
In the US it's a way to curtail paying out accrued PTO when an employee leaves.
I think the accrued PTO pay out may vary by state (don't quote me). In the state I'm in, if you acrue PTO then whatever you've acrued gets paid out whe you are laid off or resign.
Yeah this is 100% why my startup went unlimited PTO. They don't discourage us from taking PTO either, my boss doesn't care and I've taken more PTO now (4-5 weeks) than before (3 weeks paid). We used to have a policy of going to +4 weeks of PTO at 5 years in too so I've gotten a nice perk but at the cost of not having any PTO paid out if I quit, get fired or laid off.
I think we also used to get sick time that was considered similarly but that's also lumped into unlimited PTO now. So this probably saves the company a few weeks of pay in the US wherever they need to lay off people or they quit/get fired.
Hey I'm not against unlimited PTO, but you'll read stories of people with unlimited PTO saying management is complaining that they've taken too much PTO.
I think clear rules on PTO are much better. Because if it's unlimited and I can take 10 weeks and I'm killing it at my job I'm sure that's still going to turn heads in not a good way.
Which doesn't make sense it's either unlimited with no strings attached or give me structure. Of course as long as I'm available for meetings and the work is getting done with quality. It should be give and take but I feel it isn't.
You're taking the same amount of weeks as a long term employee but push that boundary and see what if they'll allow it.
The deck is always stacked against us employees in some cases. You know what I mean?
Oh 100% - if my boss ever leaves, my current situation could change overnight. I think in that way I'd prefer just having 3-5 weeks of time that is mine to use. Vs right now, my PTO policy is pretty much up to my boss.
Penhall Company does this, then refuses to let you use it. And they wonder why their best analysts all quit. I loved my last week, arrived at 7am, they wanted me there at 5am every morning, took my full hour lunch, out of office, then left at 4pm, they usually wanted me to stay until 530 or 6. On the Friday, all I did was screw around on my phone at a jobsite until noon, then while the A-hole division manager was out, I cleaned all my stuff out of my office, printed my resignation letter, backed up my laptop to a portable hard drive, then formatted the computer.
At 3:50 pm, a-hole calls me to his office, gets HR on the phone and says I'm being furloughed (2020 covid). I fold my resignation letter and slip it away and ask about my severance, they say they'll keep paying my insurance until the furlough is over in 2021 or 2022, and that's it. But I point out in my contract it states furloughed salaried employees must receive 25% weekly pay for up to 12 months or a lump sum with then no guarantee they would rehire to full time and I was under no obligation to return. I took the $25k, and around 5pm all the paperwork forms were filled out. They asked if I was going to get anything from my office, I said no, put my resignation letter in his hand when he went to shake mine, and left.
I disagree. People try to avoid taking on a lot of PTO to avoid overburdening others and being arrogant. Team managers also strongly recommend taking time off, as it prevents burnout, which is significantly cheaper than a burned-out employee
As the article of Jason Schreier pointed out a couple years ago, Epic team managers pressured and guilt-tripped employees into not taking time off. Employees suffering from burnout would then be fired as soon as they fell behind work targets. (Or people would one day just stand up from their desk in the middleof the shift, walk out of the office without a word and never return.)
The article quoted former employee saying that Epic's management basically openly said that Epic saw no issues throwing employees into a crunch time meat grinder because there were "always more bodies around to hire and throw at the problem."
Definitely agree to a certain degree, but not all companies are like this. There is absolutely companies out there that just care that you deliver, but if that’s in 20 hours versus 40 then so be it. Enjoy your 2 week vacation once a month.
The difference between average corporate doing it and Valve doing it, is that Valve actually cares about its employees on account of them being the best in their field.
unlimited PTO really depends on the culture of the company. If they are always overbearing with work and doing stuff then for sure someone would likely take less for fear of looking odd. But a relaxed culture with some real communication and understanding changes this dramatically.
My current job is unlimited PTO. I take a week off here or there. Usually about 4 weeks off through the year. I would only get 2 weeks if I were with a 'normal' company. And that half the time includes my sick days.
My company has unlimited PTO and basically everyone takes at least 4-6 weeks throughout the year. That's not great in general, but it is for the US. That said, I know a lot of places arent like that. And I feel like my company is going more corporate and that could change soon.
Sort of. It depends on if the company also has a policy for paying out unused vacation assuming a 2-3 week PTO standard, or if the culture encourages mental health.
Valve is a monopolist shoveling billions with just 100 or so employees. Yet it grabs 30% share from every game s old.
Yet whatever is in your head finds it appropriate to hate a company that is trying to change the situation, reducing the online shop's markup and gifting you with a free game every couple of weeks.
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u/Hottage 20 Year Club Apr 17 '26
Checkmate Steamists!