Good post. Didn’t entirely go where I was expecting, which I appreciated.
There was a 3 year window at my last employer when I covered Playboy, it was a fun office to visit, esp during happy hours (got to go to the mansion once too!). My buddy and I used to tell everyone else on our team when we got the inevitable questions… they hired good people, returned phone calls, quality sales discussions. Proper adults. I’m not at all surprised you guys made unlimited PTO work.
I agree UPTO has to be earned. Imperative to have people who actually care about the people they work with. For most employers, it’s a huge red flag. For many companies, if they don’t track it, it’s not important. I’d argue for many employers, PTO doesn’t work. If there’s always an assumption the work gets done, and the right people aren’t in place (and enough of them), unlimited PTO does not work.
It’s interesting that the average number of days taken with unlimited PTO is 16. Basically that’s about 3 weeks off per year. At this point at my job, I get 4 weeks, which is 20 days, plus another 9 because a while ago the company did away with sick day accruals and turned it into extra PTO. And you have to take a certain number of days each year or risk not accruing more days. So at this point, unlimited PTO doesn’t have much allure for me because I don’t take all of my days now anyway. And we know one reason companies do this is that, in the event you leave, there is no unused PTO to have to pay out to you.
Good post. Didn’t entirely go where I was expecting, which I appreciated.
There was a 3 year window at my last employer when I covered Playboy, it was a fun office to visit, esp during happy hours (got to go to the mansion once too!). My buddy and I used to tell everyone else on our team when we got the inevitable questions… they hired good people, returned phone calls, quality sales discussions. Proper adults. I’m not at all surprised you guys made unlimited PTO work.
I agree UPTO has to be earned. Imperative to have people who actually care about the people they work with. For most employers, it’s a huge red flag. For many companies, if they don’t track it, it’s not important. I’d argue for many employers, PTO doesn’t work. If there’s always an assumption the work gets done, and the right people aren’t in place (and enough of them), unlimited PTO does not work.
The Happy Hours — miss those. Appreciate the kind words.
Hahaha…articles in Playboy magazine….good one.
* record scratch * I bet you're wondering how I ended up at this mansion. https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F777b63ff-b811-409b-a72a-ee0802700233_960x720.jpeg
I m not doubting you. It was an attempt at humor and apparently I blew it. The joke growing up was I read playboy for the articles.
It’s interesting that the average number of days taken with unlimited PTO is 16. Basically that’s about 3 weeks off per year. At this point at my job, I get 4 weeks, which is 20 days, plus another 9 because a while ago the company did away with sick day accruals and turned it into extra PTO. And you have to take a certain number of days each year or risk not accruing more days. So at this point, unlimited PTO doesn’t have much allure for me because I don’t take all of my days now anyway. And we know one reason companies do this is that, in the event you leave, there is no unused PTO to have to pay out to you.