If you have unlimited PTO how much of it do you actually use? I can see how unlimited PTO can work if you are working on projects - you take time off between projects. But what if you are a team lead or if your job is infrastructure related? Do you have a team mate that covers for you and then you cover some other person when needed?
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When in doubt, if some corporate executive wants to do it, 99% of the time it's to absolutely fuck you over as hard as possible. Corporate leadership at most companies in the U.S. are parasitic insects existing solely to suck the blood out of the company until their next spawning cycle when they sprout wings and fly off looking for another victim. Never doubt it.
Does your company have any offices in California? Is this policy applied to those offices in California? If the answer to both questions is "yes", then have a coworker in California talk to a labor lawyer to see if California might consider this PTO policy wage theft.
(For context: California considers PTO to be part of your wage, and considers companies that attempt to weasel out of paying PTO to be engaging in wage theft. Based on what I've read California courts give "non-accrual"/"unlimited"/"flexible"/"whatever-they-are-called-these-days" PTO schemes _extra_ scrutiny, because those things hide all sorts of ways to deny workers the wages that they're owed.)
Yikes. You really were expected to do 1900h+ per year previously and the current situation got even worse?
Dictator needs to be a ruler, that also you cannot get rid of. In most of the us you can ditch your boss tonight.
It looks like you want a real dictator to “protect” you from possible poor decisions you can make. Which is fine, just don’t get me and others like me involved please.
Have you heard the one about "our open office plan is meant to enhance the opportunities for collaboration?"
Unlimited PTO is mostly a scam. PTO had a real monetary value as part of a compensation package. Many companies will pay it out in cash when you leave. If PTO is “unlimited “ it basically means the company has decided to not compensate you with PTO. Since no one is “owed” PTO everyone starts treating it like something they don’t deserve and the company develops a culture of not taking time off.
Of course a company’s leadership could still strongly encourage time off in an “unlimited “ situation, but the easiest way to do that is to actually compensate people with PTO!
Depends where you are located.
https://gusto.com/resources/articles/hr/termination/pay-accr...
I'm a lead _and_ I manage infrastructure. If you're a lead and your team can't handle you being out for a week then you need to spend more time leading and less time doing. Being out for longer requires active planning.
So I don't think it would be an issue in the UK either, but the company needs to do the accounting right.
Many companies offer better than that as an additional benefit. For example, I currently get 24 days + 9 public holidays (Scotland) for a total of 33 days. I think I get an additional day after I've been with the company 4 years.
It's a small company, so it's an honour system. I've taken far more than my contractual minimum every year I've worked here, so having to get backpay or carry over hasn't come up just yet.
You can't silo information if the silo can go off grid for a month or more.
You can't have a dependency on a single individual without predictable and avoidable consequences, and what might have taken years to show up instead is obviously going to be you can see coming within the year.
Your SMEs and high performers won't feel the pressure to avoid taking time off, and they'll need to improve documentation and knowledge/skill sharing. Managers will have incentives to support that as well.
Here in Germany the minimal number of vacation days that have to be granted (by law) is 20 days, but it's rare to have that few days in knowledge worker positions.
Unless you're the CTO you should not really worry too much about a vacation replacement, isn't this your bosses responsibility?
Btw don't burn out by not taking vacation. Life is short. You will regret this when you get older.
I turned down 2 other jobs that had unlimited PTO where you could really only get 2-3 weeks max.
Now to your question: 30 days is the norm for knowledge workers. Days off, including: when you are sick, when your kid is sick so you have to take care of them, special occasions such as death of a close relative, marriage, relocation) don't get counted on these 30 days at all.
It's not always bullshit. I actually kind of regret leaving that job for more money and the unlimited time off was a big factor. I went to only having a few weeks, accrued over the year and ended up having some major family issues that lead to me budgeting my PTO. I could've always taken unpaid time but I would never have even thought twice about taking the time with the DTO.
It’s annoying, because under the previous system if I worked a weekend or public holiday, I’d get an extra concrete day to use. Now I don’t.
So by law in Ireland I have to take minimum 20 days PTO, and interestingly, there’s a little known rule that says I’ve to take 2 weeks off in a row as part of that.
Which I never twigged until recently when comparing the employee handbook to employment laws for fun. This rule is a blessing and a curse tbh.
This year so far I have taken about two actual days off, and I usually work on public holidays because I simply forget when they are.
I also have to take a day off almost monthly for medical treatments. At a standard US job, I’d probably end up with 3 days of total annual PTO leftover, and I’d probably have to save the “sick days” (which don’t stick around too easily with my health issues).
At my current job, it only works because they’re not preventing us from taking the time (for now).