Unlimited Time Off. Is it unlimited, really?
Unlimited PTO may or may not really be unlimited, afterall!
I personally am not a fan of Unlimited PTO. On occasions where I’ve had this “benefit”, here’s a few reasons why I didn’t particularly enjoy it.
I didn’t quite understand what it meant to begin with. “Unlimited” tells me I could take every day of every (paid) week off but surely, that’s not it. If the rationale is *use it within reason*, then why call it “unlimited” to begin with?
I always felt like I was borrowing time off, and hardly ever felt like I earned it. There was a guilt feeling always along the lines of: “every else in the team is working today, are you sure you want to take of?”.
Even though it was meant to not be tracked so no one knew how long anyone in the team actually took off, I was never convinced. It felt like, someone was watching/tracking somewhere (even if they weren’t).
I felt the additional burden of understanding what that particular company’s notion of acceptable time off was so I could take only as many days as everyone else (to be fair to my teammates, of course). And I kept thinking, why should how long someone else took be my concern? But, it was. It felt like it had to be.
And I could go on!
Here’s what I would prefer (again, I realize it’s very personal):
Give me 4 weeks off per year. I’ll use it the way it works best for me (and of course, respecting your timelines, deadlines and such — that’s a given).
Let me use it one day at a time, or all 4 weeks at once (folks whose families live 10s of 1000s of miles away may relate to this!).
That’s it. That simple.
What is your preferred PTO policy? (Comment away!)
#snowpal #projectmanagement
Whether you work all year around or party most of the time, try doing it with a bit of planning and enjoy the luxuries it brings to the table.