Unlimited Vacation

[Jmnhunter]

Our company has announced that starting next year, we are going to a unlimited vacation plan. At first glance this sounds awesome, but I'm curious how many have this plan and find it more restrictive than advertised? From one article I read, it seems like alot of people take less vacation time with this, But trust me, I would have no problem taking more, just dont want to over do it.

 

[Dave N]

Paid? Hell yeah!

 

[2rocky]

Work expands to fill the time available for its completion​

---

A proverb coined by the twentieth-century British scholar C. Northcote Parkinson, known as Parkinson's Law. It points out that people usually take all the time allotted (and frequently more) to accomplish any task.

 

[homers]

Sounds good but probably not in employee best interest. First of all, you won’t accrue or bank hours that are paid out when you leave. I believe that’s the reason companies are going to unlimited PTO. Secondly, you’ll probably be pressured not to take more than 3 or 4 weeks off. You’ll hear manager say that if you can afford to be gone for 3 weeks, then maybe we don’t need your job.

 

[glass eye]

Seems like Americans are the only ones that only take 2 weeks a year. NZ, Australia and many others take 1-3 months.

 

[westbranch]

When large companies make this decision it is usually done as a cost saving measure to avoid paying out accrued PTO when people leave or get laid off. Recently saw some articles about a company with around 20k US employees expected to save $36M a year by adopting to a "flexible time off" policy. Restrictiveness will vary based on company culture/expectations.


I get 7 weeks of PTO and 9 paid holidays, it takes some planning to get work done and also take all of my time off.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I have several friends with unlimited vacation, IMHO it’s a tech company created scam designed to screw employees.

All of my friends end up taking significantly less time than they had before the policy implementation, most went from 4-5 weeks to 2.

 

[dcopas78]

My friend works at a place that does this. He says he actually takes less time off now because management makes people feel guilty about using it, or they pressure you in to shortening the length of time off periods

 

[Deleted member 18333]

Unlimited vacation always sounded like a good way to show your employer how unimportant you are to the business.

 

[nrpate05]

Sounds nice in theory. Depends on the company. I could see a boss comparing vacation time taken between employees and making judgements accordingly. That said, I would be the one taking as much vacation as possible!

 

[Irrelevant]

How do you feel about working while on "vacation"?

 

[Gerald Martin]

It’s called being self- employed. Been doing it for years.
Only problem is the bill collectors don’t like it when I tell them to go pound sand.
“I have unlimited vacation days and I will hunt whenever I please. You’ll get your money when I want to give it to you..”

 

[tzone]

Sounds good but probably not in employee best interest. First of all, you won’t accrue or bank hours that are paid out when you leave. I believe that’s the reason companies are going to unlimited PTO. Secondly, you’ll probably be pressured not to take more than 3 or 4 weeks off. You’ll hear manager say that if you can afford to be gone for 3 weeks, then maybe we don’t need your job.

I pray for the day they tell me that.

 

[WyoDoug]

I am on unlimited vacation. I don't ever have to work again.

 

[TOGIE]

When large companies make this decision it is usually done as a cost saving measure to avoid paying out accrued PTO when people leave or get laid off. Recently saw some articles about a company with around 20k US employees expected to save $36M a year by adopting to a "flexible time off" policy. Restrictiveness will vary based on company culture/expectations.


I get 7 weeks of PTO and 9 paid holidays, it takes some planning to get work done and also take all of my time off.

I have several friends with unlimited vacation, IMHO it’s a tech company created scam designed to screw employees.

All of my friends end up taking significantly less time than they had before the policy implementation, most went from 4-5 weeks to 2.

exactly

i currently only get 2 weeks accrued pto, not a ton, but i also get what amounts to nearly 12-16 days of comp time (if i don't want overtime) due to increased summer weekend work load, and 11.5 paid holidays, 3.5 of which i can use whenever i please

i'm extraordinarily lucky. and the thing is, i'm encouraged from the top down to use all of it if i want to. we're reminded not to let our floating holidays expire, we're encouraged not to change vacation schedules if stuff comes up at work, use the time, etc, etc.

and i'm very aware of how these mindsets change in organizations that my friends work at (also my wife's) that have or have switched to unlmiited pto

 

[zpooch]

My current job has permissive leave, so basically you ask for it and get it. I don't think anybody abuses it or takes more time than the guys that have a set pto. The hourly guys have a finite number of days based on seniority and they use every single one of them.

I definitely had more days off and used more vacation at my previous job that had a set number of days than I do now with the permissive system, it sort of self regulates.

 

[d-edward]

When large companies make this decision it is usually done as a cost saving measure to avoid paying out accrued PTO when people leave or get laid off. Recently saw some articles about a company with around 20k US employees expected to save $36M a year by adopting to a "flexible time off" policy. Restrictiveness will vary based on company culture/expectations.


I get 7 weeks of PTO and 9 paid holidays, it takes some planning to get work done and also take all of my time off.

This is accurate from a company perspective - virtually eliminates vacation liability on the books. My company does this.

In terms of advice, I would recommend putting the number of days/weeks you expect to take off during the course of the year (and hunting season) on the calendar as much in advance as possible. Avoids scheduling conflicts and there's transparency about when you expect to be out of office. Family vacations, hunting and fishing trips, an extra day between a public holiday and the weekend - as long as they are on the calendar early, should be no reason to equate your number of days off from an existing PTO plan vs. unlimited.

If you have a manager or co-workers who make you feel guilty for exercising your right to take time off, that's not an organizational vacation policy problem...that's a people problem and you should be considering your employment options accordingly.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

I definitely had more days off and used more vacation at my previous job that had a set number of days than I do now with the permissive system

This is a very true statement!

 

[jvanhoy]

Seems like Americans are the only ones that only take 2 weeks a year. NZ, Australia and many others take 1-3 months.

Sign me up

 

[Bambistew]

What is the catch? Do you just have to put in X number of hours on he clock, and the rest are yours with some flexibility during the work week? There has to be a catch... I worked for a firm that had milestones for billability and hours worked. Anything above and beyond was "banked time", meaning you got 1 hour vacation time for every hour worked extra. It worked out that I got zero paid vacation, and 10 paid holidays. Assuming 40hrs a week. It wasn't terrible if there was lots of work to bill OT was available, granted I didn't get paid OT either... Some people who where out of town working would rack up a weeks vacation in a week, and could take a lot of time off. I said F that place like a lot of people, and they have since changed their policy. THe attrition was like 20% a year. My current job is about 5% if that.

I have all the vacation I can use in a year now, and have flex time on a monthly/weekly basis. I could work 3 days a week if I want, but would need to be somewhat available to clients. Its stupid how much time I can take off, I usually run out of money and ambition to do stuff before vacation time.