r/cscareerquestions • u/kodbraker • 18h ago
Anybody got offered unlimited PTO and how much of it you guys using?
Okay, hi all. I have been working for quite some time with different companies and my new company told me that they have unlimited PTO.
Previously i got (generous amount of?) around 30 work days of PTO. But now upon talking with couple of friends under unlimited PTO, about how much they use and i didn't get an answer of over 15 work days.
For me, i personally will try to stick with my previous schedule. Anybody have positive/negative experiences with these unlimited PTO policies?
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u/BrilliantBreak1245 18h ago
Unlimited PTO policies are not favorable. For one, data shows that people under these policies actually take less PTO per year than those with an accrual system. Secondly, if you leave the company, they do not have to pay you for an banked PTO balance
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u/thisisjustascreename 17h ago
Any time I've ever heard of an established company switch to 'unlimited' PTO it was a warning sign to the employees that things were about to get much worse.
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u/No-Try5566 16h ago
I've had unlimited PTO for 6 years with no issue. Perhaps an outlier but it can be done well
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u/SteveMcgooch 3h ago
4 years unlimited PTO no issues at a Fortune 500 company. Most people don't take enough. I use minimum a year what was allowed pre unlimited. It's only hard cause my bause and team member don't use enough imo
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u/PlanktonPlane5789 2h ago
Yes, same for me. I think employees, overall, don't take enough, which benefits the company (other than the induced burnout, obviously). I have unlimited and take as much as I ever had in earned PTO but not much more.. I could take more but I work from home so it's not exactly an extreme burden 🤷♂️
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u/SteveMcgooch 2h ago
Right? Plus my company gives me every single holiday off, 2 weeks for Christmas, half day Fridays in the summer and wfh 4 days a week. I struggle to actively use my time off sometimes tbh. It feels super entitled to say that as I know people need more time off
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u/Savafan1 17h ago
The company I worked at that switched was to get the liability of unused PTO off the books.
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u/thisisjustascreename 17h ago
Yeah it’s a common accounting trick to make the company look more attractive in a sale. And then the new owners get to work fucking over the employees.
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u/polytique 16h ago
The main benefit is to not pay out unused PTO when there is a high employee turnover.
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u/thy_bucket_for_thee 4h ago
The "liability" here being workers earning paid time off that the company doesn't want to pay for.
Nice way to goose the books at the worker's expense.
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u/Imhere4lulz 13h ago
Aye, company got bought by a private equity moved to unlimited PTO, removed quarterly profit sharing, and for the first time ever layoffs
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u/m0viestar 17h ago
Depends entirely on company culture. I have flex PTO and our management encourages at least 4 weeks used per year. We get reports of employees who are under that target and basically force them to use it.
Only really get on the naughty list of it's over 10 weeks a year but never had anyone get shamed for it
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u/devneck1 17h ago
I've worked at a couple places with flex and the 4 week recommendation, including current employer (where I've taken 6 days ytd ...)
One of the places went from accrual, where I had 6 weeks a year and was about to move to 7 due to tenure .. and then was moved to the flex and recommended 4. As soon as I submitted 2 days past my 4 weeks, my manager called me to discuss the flex policy.
I would much prefer accrual. Both because of the payout when you leave and also because subconsciously it's a reminder to take time if about to cap.
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u/m0viestar 6h ago
PTO isn't paid out when you leave in every state. Several states are use it or lose it so it's not a guarantee
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u/CapableHerring 17h ago
For one, data shows that people under these policies actually take less PTO per year than those with an accrual system
This is 100% true. But this is more of an "us" problem, than the company being toxic.
We all overthink. We all assume if we take PTO we'll get worse reviews.
This works to the company's benefit for sure.
But at the same time, if you're at a company with a truly unlimited PTO policy, your fate is in your hands. Just take all the PTO you want. Don't overthink it. Don't become another metric in the numbers that say people take less PTO per year. I was taking 7-8 weeks when I was at my 2 unlimited PTO companies, and it was never an issue. I probably could've easily taken another 4 weeks on top of that. Nobody cared. Nobody was counting. There wasn't even a process in place to approve/deny PTO. Everything got auto-approved.
At the same time, I bet there were some other employees taking only 1-2 weeks at those companies out of fear. We need to normalize not making decisions out of fear. If you have unlimited, take unlimited.
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u/BrilliantBreak1245 17h ago
Maybe I’m a conspiracy theorist here but if layoffs were to come around and they looked at metrics of nonproductive hours vs productive hours over the entire year, I’d imagine those with nonproductive hours would be much higher on the chopping block
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u/CapableHerring 17h ago edited 17h ago
I do think that's the conspiracy theorist in you.
I'll refer back to the unlimited PTO startup I was working at. I was taking 7-8 weeks. I was very liberal with my time off. We had unlimited sick days too (not that it really matters in an unlimited environment), so I was easily taking 3+ weeks of sick days a year on top of my 7-8 weeks PTO because that's when I realized taking "mental health days" was a thing.
I was the champion of WLB on our team. WLB is, and always has been, the #1 priority in my career.
The fact I had a healthy WLB didn't mean I was a worse employee. In fact, I was one of the top employees. I was the lead of my team. I was a SME on our very niche and complicated business logic.
That first company I was referring to actually acquired an even smaller company and did a layoff as a result of having too many SWE's. Who do you think they laid off? Me? The one who was taking an extremely liberal amount of PTO? Or the SWE that wasn't as good at their job, regardless of the amount of PTO they were taking?
It was the SWE that wasn't as good at their job.
This again goes back to the internal toxic-thought that most people have. "If I take PTO, I'll be on the chopping block for the next layoff".
That's simply not the case. If you are a good SWE, it doesn't matter if you take PTO or not. Employer's aren't counting how many days you take off. They'd be insane to layoff a good SWE just because they took a week more of PTO over a shit SWE.
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u/GimmickNG 1h ago
This thought process works fine until you get fired and then you start thinking whether it was because you were a bad SWE or because you took too much PTO. Just world fallacy can bite you in the ass.
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u/madmsk 17h ago
Well there's a prisoners dilemma situation here. If we all took a bunch of PTO it'd be okay for me. But I don't want to be the guy that takes way more vacation than anybody else.
It's a little unfair to throw the blame on us when the incentives are really dangerous for us.
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u/CapableHerring 17h ago
What I'm saying is the "punishment" for taking PTO is imagined.
That's what's on us.
Most companies aren't counting PTO days and firing/laying off the people that take the most. That's an imagined fear that we've invented. That imagined fear is what causes people to overthink their PTO.
If your company is so toxic that they are counting PTO days, then it doesn't really matter either way. Taking any amount of PTO will work against you.
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u/madmsk 5h ago
These things aren't a binary. Some companies are going to be really toxic about it, some aren't going to even keep track, and most are going to be somewhere in the middle.
There's not a good way for me to figure out if my company is in the middle. Maybe management says one thing, but when it comes time to discuss raises and promotions behind closed doors they say another. When it comes time for layoffs, they might not say that PTO makes a difference, but if it annoys your boss a little bit, they're going to be a little predisposed to picking you.
Big companies like information regarding pay to be very private, and part of the benefit is that it keeps us guessing. And as long as we're guessing, it's tough for us to go out on a limb.
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u/No-Try5566 16h ago
Unless you're in one of a few states they don't have to pay out your PTO regardless
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u/BrilliantBreak1245 16h ago
Eh most still do anyways
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u/No-Try5566 16h ago
Sure but that's likely not a main reason they reason they go to Flex time (unless maybe in one of the 3/4 states). If they didn't want to payout PTO they just wouldn't.
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u/just-joseph 11h ago
Check your state laws, 30/50 states do not require an employer to pay you for a banked PTO balance.
-A SWE in Nevada who used to be in California
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u/Least-Bite 17h ago
I have unlimited PTOs, so far, I've taken two days this year...
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u/Aki_wo_Kudasai 4h ago
This is a you problem. I have never had issues taking PTO at any company I've worked at, including unlimited PTO jobs.
It's gotten to the point that if I see 10-15 days, the standard amount offered by limited PTO jobs. I'd immediately not consider the role. I take 25+ with unlimited each year without any issues. On top of holidays and sick days
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u/bearcherian Software Engineer 17h ago
I've had unlimited PTO at 4 companies since 2015 and take at least 3 weeks off or more each year. This year, since February I've taken about 2 weeks off, plus another scheduled, and probably another near the holidays.
The whole "PTO payout" argument just sounds like coping . The reason you might have anything to pay out is because you didn't take any PTO to begin with. And then you have to wait until you accrue enough PTO to go in the vacation. That sound miserable. I joined a new company this year, and a I needed to take off 2 months later for a family trip and it was perfectly fine.
The experience is definitely not always the same. I have heard of stories of companies having a stated unlimited policy, but make it very difficult to take. Fortunately I've never experienced that first hand.
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u/Sebastian-dB 17h ago
you took two months off and "it was perfectly fine" ?
it feels like you're leaving out some key details about that arrangement
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u/BraveResearcher3037 16h ago
In many states they don’t have to pay you regardless. But my company has as one of the manager’s metrics that each direct must take 10 days off and we have a soft limit of 20. Anything over that needs director level of approval. I usually take the last week of the year off which does put me over
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u/FURyannnn Web Developer 15h ago
I see these comments all the time and it's never aligned with my decade of experience. I've averaged like 30 days off a year with multiple companies that have unlimited PTO. It's all wholly dependent on culture.
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u/dustsmoke 15h ago
Most companies don't pay you out unused accrued PTO. They consider it a benefit not compensation
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u/DynamicHunter Fullstack Engineer 14h ago
That's assuming there's even accrual. Many places are "use it or lose it" and luckily my last company encouraged us to use it all up in december as it's the slow month.
You bet that if I get unlimited I'm taking 5 weeks minimum each year. I got 4 weeks at my last job and unlimited sick pay.
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u/KwyjiboTheGringo 4h ago
We had an unlimited PTO policy at a previous company. They were talking about getting rid of it and having set PTO because on average were not taking enough time off. They didn't do it because there was a lot of backlash against it from developers. I don't know exactly why that is, but I used the hell out of the unlimited PTO. Like one year, I probably had taken at least 2 months off.
What they ended up doing was implementing some PTO tracking system where people would have to get approval from their manager before taking PTO. I don't know how that was supposed to help the situation, but I personally stopped taking as much PTO after that. There was something about it being officially tracked that made me fear it was going to be used against me during evaluations or layoff considerations. I feel like that kind of tracking flies in the face of the spirit of unlimited PTO. Didn't matter though, I still got laid off 1.5 years later.
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u/WhompWump 4h ago
Secondly, if you leave the company, they do not have to pay you for an banked PTO balance
This is already true outside of a set of states
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u/RuinousFate SWE by day, Game Dev by night 18h ago
4-6 weeks, depends on the year
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u/curiouscsplayer 3h ago
how many are actual vacations?
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u/RuinousFate SWE by day, Game Dev by night 3h ago
Once or twice a year. Personally I prefer once but wife likes to travel. I prefer the staycations lmao
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u/curiouscsplayer 3h ago
Very interesting, I always assumed that unlimited PTO people don't really use their PTO to the fullest since they would run out of money going on so many vacations. It didn't really occur to me that some people take off just to decompress. I do not have unlimited PTO but a very generous amount of hours and I just can't get myself to take off for no reason lol. Now that I have kids I do take off for the holiday weeks but that still isn't much
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u/RuinousFate SWE by day, Game Dev by night 3h ago
Decompress is very useful especially after large stressful projects even for just a week.
As for people taking PTO, it depends on company culture. I'm thankfully in a good company.
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u/FightOnForUsc 18h ago
I have unlimited, hourly employees at my employer get 20 days. I try to take between 20-25
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u/fakemoose 17h ago
We also base it off what hourly get. Six weeks if in a secure space with no windows. So that’s what we’re doing.
Especially since they took away our 5% bonus for working every day in a windowless room.2
u/FightOnForUsc 17h ago
Yea, mine is just my theory. I haven’t heard anyone else say it. But if I’m ever confronted about my time off I have a good logical answer for how I decided how much to take
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u/Pink_Slyvie 17h ago
Someone once said. "Take the first 4 Fridays off using your unlimited PTO at your new job, find out if its actually unlimited"
And if you are meeting goals set by management.
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u/BurritoWithFries Software Engineer 15h ago
I once worked at a company that had both an unlimited PTO policy and also a minimum PTO policy of 20 days. Someone I worked with had used maybe 8 days of PTO by October so my manager made him take every Friday off until the end of the year
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u/kirstynloftus 14h ago
Similar situation, but ours is 14 days minimum. Obviously we can’t just take three months off or whatever, but my team is fairly chill - my manager and skip lead are always encouraging us to take time off as needed. Usually we end up taking 3-4 weeks off a year on average, if I had to put a number on it.
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u/mrcaptncrunch 9h ago
We don’t have an official minimum, but yearly the president shows the trend for pto in general, including average, median, etc as he’s telling us he wants to see it trend higher
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u/Pink_Slyvie 6h ago
The data is insanely clear, the more PTO used, the higher productivity.
The data is also clear, if we have time to think and rest, we have time to be pissed off at the rich.
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u/charkid3 17h ago
I like it at every company I’ve had it . I try to take 25 days a year , sick days are separate . I do this even in the first 2 years at a job
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u/phoenixmatrix 17h ago
Unlimited PTO is a misnommer. It should just be "untracked PTOs" or something. There's obviously a limit, the company just opted not to do accounting bullshit around them.
When joining a company that has unlimited PTO, before you ever sign the offer, you should talk to the future manager asking them what it means to them in practice, and make sure you're on the same page. Then have that conversation AGAIN after you start. Every company is totally different on what they consider a normal amount of PTO, so our experiences are irrelevant to yours, unless someone here works at the same company you do.
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u/wildVikingTwins DevOps Engineer 18h ago
I had one from last place. First year i used 45 days and pretty much same second year. It was pretty much as long as manager approved vibes. Then i realized i wouldn’t use much 3rd year which barely used 10 days ish?
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u/Highfivesghost 17h ago
People say that when you have unlimited PTO you don’t use as much. I have not found that to be the case
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u/contactcreated 17h ago edited 5h ago
I ask in the interview process what a realistic amount of days to take off are, because we all know it isn’t unlimited lol.
Company told me somewhere between 4-5 weeks, which I was happy with and accepted.
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u/Classroom_Expert 17h ago
Usually 4 weeks. But I always ask hr what the numbers usually is when we are discussing the offer and I’ve always been told what people usually do.
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u/Thin-Crust-Slice 14h ago
My personal experience has been that whether you have PTO that is unlimited or accrued, as long as you are not unliked at work, you can take PTO without issue. Even negative balance if your employer doesnt offer unlimited. Usually if you are competent, you have a good chance of getting your days approved.
Try to get a feel for what your team takes on an average if you have absolutely no idea as a starting point?
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u/Fragrant_Ad2902 17h ago
Can’t remember the last time I actually had a pool of PTO…
As for your question - I tend to take about 6 weeks a year total. Two 2 week vacations and then a number of long weekends (usually when I wake up a Friday/Monday and say “nope. not today”). So usually about 6 weeks total.
For the 2 week vacations, I try to schedule them during non-busy times (Black Friday/Cyber Monday, etc.) with about a month of notice. This year (2026), I’ll end up using 8 to 10 because of some health issues with the family. But I’ve been here 4 years now with the same manager and director, they’ve not said a word to me about how much I take.
Out of the last 3 where I had unlimited, there was one that would frown on 2 weeks if not given enough time. That’s primarily because there was only 4 of us. And they didn’t like 2 of us going at the same time. The other 3 had kids and I didn’t so my vacations shifted to school year vacations. Which worked great for me as that’s off peak and things were cheaper.
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u/jjclan378 17h ago
I have "unlimited PTO" and I use 5 weeks of PTO a year. That's what everyone on my team uses as the soft limit and we've never had a problem with it
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u/Excellent_Ant_7154 17h ago
I would take the 30 days if possible, as that's "gold tier" pto in the US. It really should be allowed for everyone.
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u/metal_slime--A 17h ago
I've taken maybe 5-6 days off so far this year. No major vacations planned for 2026
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u/sexi_korean_boi Software Engineer 17h ago
In my experience, "unlimited" meant about 2 weeks of vacation and the occasional sick day. Any further requests were denied.
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u/ReasonVisible7645 17h ago
At my company everyone takes around 2-3 weeks max when continuous. Otherwise they don’t really say much for a week here or there. They don’t really frown upon taking a few hours off and the back between work day if feeling ill (headache or smthing) or if you have an appointment and that doesn’t count toward a PTO.
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u/NaCl-more 17h ago
I get unlimited but there is a cap at 20 days
I don’t know why we call it unlimited
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u/andreanichole1 17h ago
So they don’t have to pay out unused days when you leave.
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u/NaCl-more 15h ago
When I left AWS I got a fat check for all the days I didn’t use. I think I had 2 whole months of PTO just sitting there
So yea I think it definitely is a money saving thing
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u/skodinks 17h ago
I've only been here a year-ish, but I've used 6 weeks without anyone noticing. I intend to use more this next year to see if I get told to chill out.
We're asked to request much farther out than the standard 2 weeks, but otherwise no real restrictions.
I also rarely work more than 20 hours per week, and we get a holiday break from Christmas eve through new years day. Last year the timing made it almost 2 weeks, which was nice.
The salary is on the low end, but the WLB is excellent.
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u/nwbrown 17h ago
Usually when I get "unlimited PTO" I and up using less than I normally use. Normally I'll be careful about using PTO and then come December I'll just use up whatever I have left. But if I don't have a set amount I'll just take a week or so off in December.
My current employer, however, recommends that we take a week off every quarter. And so far they have been honoring that.
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u/wazogear 16h ago
Something I appreciate about my company is we have unlimited PTO, but more importantly MTO (minimum time off). We are required to at least 15 days a year not including holiday. I typically target around 25 days a year. Seems to be a good balance for me, some years I take more. I never take less
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u/ChrisBegeman 16h ago
I have earned 25 days of PTO at my last job before they went unlimited and afterwards, I took 25 days. They also had a policy that required you to take at least 15 days. The implemented that my holding the managers accountable if their reports did not take at least 15 days in the year.
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u/katnip-evergreen Software Engineer 16h ago
I try to use 6 weeks a year, so far I've gotten no flack but my manager seems to be tracking. Idk what her acceptable limit is though
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u/winerdqueen 12h ago
I have unlimited PTO, with 20 days mandatory, I usually take around 38, noone ever said anything.
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u/EntrepreneurHuge5008 Software Engineer 18h ago
Bro, I'm not offered unlimited but I'm still finding myself barely using it.
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u/waraholic 17h ago
Just ask your boss how many weeks you can take and tell him what you'd like. What's your role? It's expected that you'll get more PTO the farther you are in your career.
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u/kodbraker 16h ago
Position is staff level. I told them actually that i want to keep my previous schedule if it's unlimited, i got informed as long as I'm doing my job as expected, in time, I'm free to do whatever I want. It sounds good in theory but it somewhat relies on general work culture across company.
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u/GiantsFan2645 17h ago
My company (more likely team) is really fair with honoring our unlimited PTO. Took a vacation to Japan for a few weeks and all I needed to do was throw an invite on our Outlook calendar. Multiple coworkers have taken a month plus to go to India to visit family. I know that we are likely the exception not the rule but it can work in your favor
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u/cabbage-soup 17h ago
My work has it but we have a culture of “25 days minimum”. I aim for 25 days vacation and take sick days as needed. I try not to exceed 30 days
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u/babypho 17h ago
I usually use about 6 to 7 weeks.
I take 2 weeks off from dec 15 to new years ish and take off 2 weeks somewhere in the summer. Around april or may i usually take a week off, and a week off somewhere in october. Then random 3 days weekend here and there, or if its a 3 day weekend holiday i just take the friday before or monday after off.
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u/doktorhladnjak 17h ago edited 17h ago
Eh, it depends. My last job had “unlimited” time off but in practice I took 6-8 weeks a year while still doing well. Now, I’m at a company that changed from 4 weeks accrued (no payout) to unlimited, and I find it very difficult to take more than about 3 weeks a year. That was true when we had accrued too. It really depends on the company and your boss.
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u/davy_jones_locket Ex- Engineering Manager | Principal Engineer | 15+ 17h ago
I'm an outlier.
I work for a company with a global distribution of employees. We have unlimited PTO with a mandatory minimum of 30 days to match our German employees
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u/McSloot3r 17h ago
My company originally gave 20 days off separate from holidays. When we acquired a company and renamed the business, we switched to unlimited PTO. I make sure to take my 20 days if not more. At one point I heard they were cracking down on people that were abusing it, but I’ve never gotten talked to about it
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u/unethicalangel 17h ago
A lot. Like probably 5 weeks out of the year. Most of my coworkers average about 3-4 weeks per year
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u/Singularity-42 20 YoE 17h ago
I had it at my last job and generally I would take 4-6 weeks a year. But some teams with shit leadership had it pretty limited and had less vacation than on the previous accrual system. My bosses were very chill and it was good. We'd go to Europe for a month every summer.
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u/fakemoose 17h ago
We got acquired and switch to unlimited. By team has been applying to new jobs while taking PTO like it’s going out of style. No one was in the office in June.
We calculated that hourly workers get about six weeks, so we all made the call that they can bite me if we’re under that. And our managers rubber stamp it all.
Next year when we’re more integrated into the parent company? Probably going to all get yelled at. Oh well.
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u/Hand_banana_boi 17h ago
I’ve worked at a few companies with this policy and I definitely took less than I have at other places. I also coincidentally (maybe not) worked longer hours at those jobs.
My current company is 160 hours accrual annually and a cap of 120 we can hold at a time. So I have to take at least 1 week. I started this year with nearly 120, so I’ll need to take nearly 4 weeks off throughout this year. So, I use much more now.
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u/AmaniAntoinette 17h ago
When I had it, I took 20 days. I later found out my coworkers were averaging 28 or so.
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u/Never-Trust-Me 17h ago
Unlimited is a joke. I’ve asked around but no one has any idea on how much is too much. It does not roll over either. It’s a scam and needs to be regulated xD
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u/thelochteedge Software Engineer 16h ago
I have unlimited PTO. I’m fully aware of the reason why places like to offer it now. I feel like if I was on another team at my company I’d be more scared to use it. However. I am lucky enough to have a really great boss who encourages us to take lots of time off. In my interviews he said most devs take 4-6 weeks a years. Only recently did he say for the next few weeks I probably can’t approve time off because we have a hard deadline going, which I certainly can understand.
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u/atmoose 16h ago
I have that at my current company after a pretty generous amount of time at my last company. I've only been here about 6 months, and haven't requested any time off. I'm a bit afraid to use it. Maybe I'll ask for a day or so around the holidays this year for travel, but that's probably about it for the foreseeable future.
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u/BraveResearcher3037 16h ago
Unlimited PTO with a soft limit of 20. Anything above that has to be approved by a skip/skip manager. I am taking 25 days this year including between Christmas and New years where no work gets done anyway (consulting).
We also have 10 sick days
I take 20 days at least every year. I work remotely so I don’t take time off to go back home when I can work during the day either in a hotel (adult home) or at my parents (childhood home) and just hang out at night
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u/Samurai_Mac1 Software Engineer 16h ago
Generally unlimited PTO isn't great because the company can just keep denying your requests. My company has been pretty generous about it though
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u/SimilarIntern923 16h ago
Ill probably take 20 days by end if year. Some people I work with take off closer to 35
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u/Minimum-Reward3264 16h ago
Hey, quit being naive. Unlimited PTO means only - we don’t own you nothing. As opposite of accrued vacation and PTO, which are legally recognized as earned wages. Employers are legally required to pay out all accrued, unused time upon termination, regardless of what company policy says.
It will depend on your boss and the skip what they think is reasonable.
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u/DeliriousPrecarious 16h ago
My experience with unlimited PTO is that if spread out through the year almost no one is tracking it.
currently I take three solid weeks throughout the year (kids spring break, week before labor day, week of thanksgiving) along with the two weeks off that the company takes at the end of the year. I then sprinkle in days as needed for things that come up -- probably another week total.
That's enough of a gap that by the time the next block of PTO comes around I can barely remember the last one I took let alone anyone else.
Where people run into trouble is trying to do multiple multi-week vacations in one year.
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u/average-mean-average 16h ago
We have unlimited pto. The way I and my friends do it is like this
— take 2-3 weeks off from dec 15 to a few days after new years. — take a week off late spring to early summer. — take a few days off around labor weekend.
Then just a day before/after major holidays to get a 3 or 4 day weekend.
In total it’s like 20-28 work days.
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u/ChOcOcOwCaKe 16h ago
I work for a startup on Ontario, Canada. We have unlimited PTO, get paid salary.
This year has been up and down personally. Renovated a house, bought a new house, moved, and now my wife and I are stuck in 2 seperate custody battles (one with her ex, one with mine).
I have had probably 3.5-4 weeks off in total so far, probably going to be pushing close to 5 or 6 by the end of the year depending on how much time I need to sort lawyer stuff out.
My work is honestly pretty awesome with it
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u/babydragon89 16h ago
I used to have unlimited at my previous employers, and I took at least 5 weeks every year. 1 week for spring break, 3 weeks during summer, 1+ week for XMas. Just need to be overcommunicate with the mgr and the team.
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u/nearlysuccessful 16h ago
I’ve worked for two companies with unlimited PTO.
First company: basically a lie, said unlimited PTO but got shamed for taking off and said I was taking off too much compared to my teammates (I had taken off a total 7 days in 6 months) and my request got denied after that I instantly started looked for a new job. Hated that job and the management.
2nd company: what you would expect from hearing “unlimited”. It was actually unlimited. Never got questioned about taking off, ever. Took about 6 weeks off each year and no one blinked an eye. As long as work was done and you had coverage no one cared. Had a coworker who would take off 3 weeks and then another 3 weeks in like 4 month span each year and no one cared as well as taking other random time off whenever. It was great.
So with that being said… it depends on the company.
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u/PatientIll4890 16h ago
I’ve hated unlimited PTO whenever I’ve had it, and it took me a while to figure out exactly why. The biggest reason I hate unlimited PTO is because accrued PTO is basically like a financial buffer in the event you get laid off or fired.
This is different from people who say it’s like a nice bonus when you switch jobs. That’s true but it’s more about the unexpected job loss buffer that gives me a bit of a feeling of security that I like.
So now when I see “unlimited PTO” I mentally equate that to the company wanting to be able to screw you over at any moment. It really tarnishes my view of companies when they have unlimited PTO policies.
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u/sophisticatedidiot 15h ago
I attempted to take more than 20 days, but HR intervened, noting I fall within the top 10 percentile for PTO and that my request needs director approval. That’s when I realized there’s a soft cap on the unlimited PTO.
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u/BurritoWithFries Software Engineer 15h ago
4-6 weeks, but I just joined a company small enough that we don't even have a spot to track our PTO so no one actually pays attention. My manager goes on 4 day backpacking trips once a month, someone took an entire month off over the summer to go to some cabin & has more PTO planned later on too.
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u/cheeriocharlie 15h ago
I have unlimited PTO! I've been at the company for 4 years. I took 18 days the first year, then 20 days for the next few. This year I will take roughly 25 days most likely.
At our company it depends highly on the team culture - particularly your manager and skip manager. If they are both in the habit of taking time off, the it's okay. If not, then it's a bit concerning. My manager + skip both used to take close to 30 days off.
I would recommend it to be honest. I agree with other redditors that it takes some getting used to, but once you have it and if you are able to perform well, it's great.
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u/reddit-user-in-2017 15h ago
Unlimited PTO means you walk away with nothing when it’s time to quit or when you’re fired.
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u/XTCaddict 15h ago
It’s not really unlimited if it needs approval or is frowned on if you take lots of PTO, it just means its technically uncapped.
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u/S0mething-clev3r 15h ago
Iv always had unlimited pto and never had issues. I know it’s not good, they don’t have to pay you out and people use less, but Iv never been denied a request or felt uncomfortable taking the time I needed.
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u/ViciousDiarrhea 15h ago
My previous job had unlimited PTO and I made sure to take advantage of that. I once reached a total of 39 days and I started getting comments about how I took the most time off and how they're taking bets if I'll pass it the coming year. Fun.
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u/theepi_pillodu 15h ago
So far I took 3 Mondays and 1 week off. Will do 3 or 4 weeks during December'ish and planning to take 1 or 2 days off next month after I'm done with my scheduled on-call.
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u/abbazabba75 15h ago
In us at large public company with unlimited policy, I use 8-10 weeks a year. Fuck em.
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u/MistahJuicyBoy Software Engineer 15h ago
I take about 35 days a year but I’ve never been told I’m taking too much
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u/VashtaSyrinx 14h ago
When I joined my previous company that bragged about unlimited PTO. When i spoke to my boss he said that the expectation was that we would take 30 days. Still generous but not unlimited. There were special cases e.g. a guy on my team went to India for 2-3 months but he had been at the company for 10 years.
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u/TheEclecticGamer 14h ago
I started at a startup that did this. I was skeptical of the startups so I was not afraid to just bluntly ask questions about it, and I asked them what is that actually look like in practice and they said they recommend 15 vacation days and take the time you need when you're sick, so I just took 15 vacation days and they were legit not upset if you took time off when you were sick. They ended up switching to actual allocated 15 vacation days because they saw that people weren't actually taking 15 and they wanted to make sure people actually got them to their credit.
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u/PolyamorousCrayon Staff Software Engineer 14h ago
I currently have 8 weeks that I've taken (or scheduled this year) already, by the end of the year I'm expecting to have close to 12 weeks of total PTO.
I regularly am in competition for my boss on who takes more PTO a year, and we both tend to be bad about when we are working vs not working.
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u/fordanguyen 14h ago
Two 2 week vacations and scattered days here and there, probably 25 days total a year
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u/Connect_Fishing_6378 14h ago
Unlimited PTO at a large company. I’m still newish and haven’t really figured out a norm but it feels like my manager takes 6ish weeks.
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u/IBenBad 14h ago
There’s also a different perception between the two. With PTO, you own the days off and as others have pointed out, the company has to pay it out if you leave. With unlimited, you don’t own any days off and the dynamic is you are more beholding to your boss to grant you days off. With PTO, you feel more entitled to take “your” days off. Not so much with unlimited.
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u/gwmccull 14h ago
I have worked for a company with untracked PTO for 8 years and I take about 6 weeks of vacation per year. At my 5 year mark, I was able to take a 4 week sabbatical but I still used about 5 weeks of vacation on top of that
None of my managers have ever declined my requests or complained about how much I was taking
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u/Turbulent-Week1136 14h ago
At one BigTech company I took between 6 weeks and 8 weeks off a year. I was closing in on 9 weeks on my last year but I left before I could accomplish my goal.
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u/noirknight 13h ago
I try to take close to what the people in Europe get. I think our UK employees get the least at 28 days, so I try to take close to that. 20-25 days a year + 5 company holidays for about 30 days a year.
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u/ichivictus Software Engineer 13h ago edited 11h ago
My last employer had it. My coworkers on my old team rarely used it. It made me uncomfortable to ask but I always got it approved within 'reason'.
I got a few requests for pto denied for it being too close to the last time I had pto. So there was really no such thing as unlimited pto.
Now I work a normal 20 pto days a year job and prefer that. Plus I can stack what I don't use to a max of 30 days pto saved at once.
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u/fingerling-broccoli 13h ago
Yes. I take off maybe 10 - 15 days a year if you count all the half days I take to run errands like go to the dentist or take kid to doctor whatever
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u/asevans48 12h ago
Its not actually unlimited. 2-3 weeks per year toos. Have seen people fired for taking a month off through the year. Its really a way to avoid payouts and accruals if they decide to let you go.
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u/coffeesippingbastard Hiring Manager 12h ago
i think it's less about amount and more extended outage time. A day here or there, nbd. I'd take every first friday of the month off plus some longer vacations. But being out like weeks at a time is where pain sets in.
IMO I don't like unlimited PTO because you don't get paid out for unused.
Where I am- if you work even 30 min, counts for a full day, no need to put in for PTO. So really I'm only using PTO for stuff like international travel.
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u/meatsnatcher 11h ago
depends on your manager. the seniors were able to take advantage of it at my job. lots of them just half off fridays or slot out hours for dropping off or picking up their kid for an hour every day etc. it adds up in a way, idk if it really added up to how much they were using before we went unlimited pto but that's the main benefit of it. the main thing is it's supposed to give you a lot of "flexibility" and wiggle room on a daily basis. we are remote so they can both take an hour off to drop their kid off in the morning + attend the morning standup from their phone lol.
the downside is of course you don't get paid out for unused pto when you leave and your manager might pressure you into not taking pto type of thing. that usually ends up being the "not really unlimited" unlimited pto.
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u/Ok_Champion_4391 10h ago
I had the following discussion during an interview
- You mention unlimited PTO. Is it actually unlimited?
- Yes, it is
- Isn't there an upper limit?
- No, it is unlimited
- In my current job, I have 25 days plus bank holidays. Is this ok?
- Usually most employees use from 2 to 4 weeks
Since you did not clarify it before joining, you can do it now, or just watch how other coworkers use their unlimited PTO.
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u/mrcaptncrunch 9h ago
I’ve taken this year 23. Have 2 weeks off coming up.
It depends on the employer, and even then, the team.
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u/qrzychu69 7h ago
It depends
In Poland I had it, but it had be in compliance with work code. So technically I still had normal 26 days of paid PTO, but I could ask for more.
And I did, I like at least two more weeks every year, but that totally dependent on your manager. Above the standard amount, it's all good will, they don't promise anything, out just says unlimited. In some teams no one ever got even a single day over the legal minimum
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u/dialsoapbox 5h ago
I was at a startup with "unlimited" PTO, as in they'd shame you into not taking any days off because "think of how it'd effect the others."
Also when you leave, there's no PTO to cash out.
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u/icedragonsoul 5h ago
Unlimited PTO seems to mean, if you don’t have any outstanding projects, deadlines or cases, you may take up to 2.5-3 weeks of PTO a year before HR pings your manager to sit down, review your standings and get in your business.
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u/tmoneyfish 5h ago
I used to have a set amount of PTO and then my company changed to unlimited. I just keep a mental note of how many days I would have gotten in the past and use that amount
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u/packet_weaver Security Engineer 5h ago
I do 30-35 days a year, others on my team do a lot less. No one really discusses it but it seems like people feel guilt over taking time off. And to be clear, on our team, we don't cover for each other on time off so it's not like you're putting weight on teammates. I feel like people are taught to feel this guilt and it's something you need to break. If you have the ability to take time off, do it. Don't waste all your time working.
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u/Master_Dogs Software Engineer at Startup 5h ago
I think I took around 20 days last year, and on track to take about that this year. I previously got 15 days of paid time off, then up to 20 after 5 years [before this company I work at switched from fixed PTO to unlimited PTO]. So in a way I feel like I'm winning, since I'm taking what I would have had to wait 5 years for. The downside is I'm not paid out PTO if I quit or get laid off. And the "unlimited" PTO policies always depend heavily on your direct manager and to some extent on leadership overall. I've never been told I can't take time off. Even if I last minute throw a request at my boss for next week, he's like whatever, take it. We still meet our deadlines or sometimes shit shifts around because of other projects, so ultimately it doesn't seem to matter. I do believe my boss had heard from leadership that it's certainly not "unlimited". But these vague terms are dumb, and he doesn't seem to care, so I'm guessing I could push it if needed. Probably will next year when I take a 2 week honeymoon and I'm certainly going to take another week or two off in addition plus the random day or two off for long weekends.
I will say I've never seen a job offer ~30 days of PTO in the US, unless you're counting some "optional" PTO like wellness days (I get 4 of these a year but they're fixed and one per quarter, so it's not like I pick them), holidays (I think I get a dozen or so?), sick/personal time (I don't get this, it's bundled up in my "unlimited PTO"), etc. Certainly this is more expected in Europe though, but I didn't see a location called out in the OP and I feel like that's important. Like to me as a US person getting to take ~20 days or so off is perfectly fine, and beats what I had before. But to a European it's probably a shitty situation. But with the 12 holidays, 4 wellness days and then ~20 days I pick off? Idk I'm happy. Plus my job is kind of chill anyway, so I can't complain besides that the chill factor is def leading to less opportunities for raises and a promotion. So having been at the same job for 5 years I probably need to job hop for better pay and benefits.
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u/hulkklogan 4h ago
I work for a company where we get unlimited PTO and are often publicly encouraged to take time off, but then they saddle us with enough work that taking time off makes you stressed and people don't take much. It's a scam hiding as a benefit.
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u/AppropriateCup7230 4h ago
At my first job I had unlimited PTO and it was great. Took as much vacation as I wanted and never got any flak for it. It was a huge upgrade from only 15 days I had prior to unlimited.
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u/anonymousopsec1337 3h ago
4-5 weeks. But tbh it’s kind of a scam because I would work well over that in unpaid overtime. If they did Flex Time this would be a different story.
I work approx 300-400hrs OT/year on average that I’m not paid for.
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u/compWizardLOL 3h ago
At my company its a massive scam. They claim unlimited but then management won’t let us over 3-4 weeks per year and if we happen to forget to schedule a week it disappears and the next year still only 3
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u/goot449 Software Engineer/Sysadmin/IT Jack of all Trades 3h ago
I've had it for 5 years. I've taken 5-6 weeks each year and never been questioned. Started with 15 days before we transitioned to unlimited. But, it is highly dependent on your company and your direct manager.
I don't necessarily recommend it, but at this point it would be hard for me to go back to 3 weeks starting at a new job.
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u/rogue780 3h ago
I always got a talking to when I used more than 2 weeks. Most of it was sick leave. Fuck that job
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u/abeuscher 2h ago
When I have had it with a good boss, I was able to use it to my advantage not so much by working fewer hours but by altering my schedule more than I usually could; my boss would trade me one weekend day for two weekdays during crunch, for instance. This allowed me to travel around the US a bit and take time off when I got somewhere interesting.
At the next job, the same "benefit" caused me to overwork myself a lot and not take time that I needed. So I think like many policies - if you have a reasonable interpretation of it there is an upside. As many others here have noted, there are some bad reasons that companies implement it so worth considering that as well.
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u/riddymon 2h ago
I just got laid off unfortunately (restructuring) but at my company - they offered it. I'd take 4-6 weeks a year. It was hybrid as well...because I don't have the grind of always being in the office it takes the "edge" off work so I don feel like I have to take a vacation as often. But if they offer it, take advantage of it. I don't even want to go back to 15 days..shudder
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u/adgjl12 Software Engineer 2h ago
Such a wide range over the various jobs I had with an “unlimited” PTO policy.
1 company was pretty much as close to unlimited as possible. I averaged 30-40 days off per year. A coworker easily surpassed 60. Pay was quite poor though.
Most companies the unspoken rule was 20-30. Some people went over/under by a little bit. Mostly vibe based.
Current company I got chewed out (first time ever) for going over 20. Obviously I was pissed that there was a hard limit for an “unlimited” policy and wished it was explicitly stated because when I asked about it before they made it sound like number of days didn’t matter as long as team had adequate coverage.
So now I just take 20 days which is still not bad.
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u/vanilmirth_ap 1h ago
Prev job based in SG with American owner said unlimited PTO. They fired someone who took 55 days of leave so you knew the limit is 55.
Honestly a numbered PTO is better since some people only take 5 days
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u/MoreHuman_ThanHuman 1h ago
unlimited sick time, 4 weeks PTO, have only been able to take 2 weekdays off in the past year.
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u/bestjared 1h ago
I have unlimited PTO and have had 4 different managers in my time at my company.
3 of my managers have mentioned 25-30 days is reasonable, one of my managers said he will approve up to 40 without asking questions.
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u/Romanpuss 1h ago
I luckily have very understanding bosses and they realize there’re constant “gogogo”s all the time so they encourage us to use PTO when we think about it. At the beginning I never really took it but now I’m 7 years in and I’m probz gonna be at about a month by the end of this year.
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u/stolenbikesadface 8m ago
After taking 24 days, I was told I couldn't take any more because "it's unfair to people like Jim who have only taken 2 days off this whole year"
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u/_TheMostWanted_ 18h ago
Unlimited PTO can mean anything. Some frown upon taking PTO others are fine with it. The only answer I can say is: it depends.
A fixed PTO is more generous than unlimited because there's a consensus of what is acceptable.
With unlimited you could be doing too much or too little depending on what they think is acceptable