If big 4s changed to “unlimited” pto, would that actually help improve the work life balance we all try to obtain?

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It would hurt because teams would pressure employees to not take vacation when they want it using excuses like 1) it doesn't expire so what is the rush and 2) we need you during that time, but since you have unlimited, take a longer vacation later

likeuplifting

Ya I totally agree. Plus there’s no payout when you leave. I just feel like that’s why, at some point, they would totally try to switch to it since they would end up “winning” here

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Unlimited vacation is usually bad for the employee and good for the employer. Having a limited (but healthy) amount of pto that accrues makes the subject of taking time of very objective, plus you get a big payout on it when you leave. My wife works at a place that has unlimited PTO but a strong talking to if you’ve been taking “too much”. So, because the actual amount you can take is ambiguous, it encourages employees to very rarely take PTO in order to avoid getting talked to about their PTO.

likesmart

Same here. I have 25 working days PTO a year +10 National holidays (8 fixed and 2 floating). All those can be rolled over to the following year. I believe that this is good enough and I’m actually making good use of it. We are receiving many mails during quarantine related to take the PTO while our practices are “slow”... I’m not sure that other companies with unlimited PTO encourage their consultants to take it.
My wife has unlimited PTO but she is actually taking less days a year than before. It seems to me a good strategy for the company not to accrual holidays and also not having most of the employees on PTO in November & December.

likesmart

Plus you’re still somewhat limited by the amount of PTO you can take if you still want to meet your utilization goal

likesmart

Oh wow! Lucky!

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Not at all, unlimited vacation offers no incentive to the employee to actually take the vacation. Since there’s no limit or deadline, we keep pushing taking time off. Psychologically, if you don’t have a cutoff, you keep thinking you’ll take it some other day when things are more relaxed at work and that day never comes. You’ll most likely burn out much faster and the culture at work will become more toxic. People will look down on you for taking time off and not be as respectful because you no longer value it. In my opinion, it’s better to have a set number of days that expire. It encourages you to actually take the time off.

likesmart

My sister joined a startup after leaving an established company with normal PTO that expires. The startup said unlimited time off within reason. Then said most people take about x number of days, which was fewer days off then her prior job. So in her case it wasn't better.

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Depends on the type of place you work. In big4 probably bad for the employees.
My wife works at a non profit with unlimited leave. Almost everyone takes 6-8 weeks off but work together to not let that affect deliverables

likeuplifting

This is how it should be! Any chance her company is hiring? Lol.

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They would totally use it against you. Bye bye performance bonus and raise. So anxiety levels would be up....

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No it wouldn’t

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It is also beneficial to the company’s balance sheet to drop PTO, as it no longer has to accrue a specific amount to cover the outstanding paid time off, as it would any liability

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