r/unpopularopinion 1d ago

Unlimited vacations (responsible vacations) is a terrible work benefit for many

My wife and son both have unlimited vacations for their work (not same company). They both brag about it as if it's a great benefit. My wife hasn't taken more than 10 days off in recent years because she thinks it will look bad (she previously got 4 weeks before the switch to unlimited). And when she does, she's still checking emails and attending meetings. My son, who's only been with the company for about 8 months, asked for 1 friday off recently and was grilled by his manager.... he was asked if he was on track to meet all deadlines and his manager reviewed the statuses of all his tasks before approving the day off. They both still like the idea of being able to take more if they need to. lol

I'd much rather know specifically how many paid days I get per year, and just use them up without having to worry about who's analyzing it. Incidentally, I'm self-employed so paid vacations is foreign to me altogether

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u/Islander255 1d ago

The sneakiest, scammiest part of unlimited PTO is that they don't have to do any vacation payout when you leave staff. When I do PTO payouts on payroll, outgoing staff are normally getting anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on how many vacation days they still had left.

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u/OblivionJunkie 1d ago

Mine are limited and the company isn't required to (aka wont) pay out upon end of employment. Worst of both worlds!

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u/Boom9001 20h ago

Mine aren't payed out and it's use it or lose it, I'd still want this system over unlimited PTO.

Unlimited PTO is not unlimited PTO. We will punish/fire you if you use your PTO. Generally you can only take as much as you'd get in accrued PTO without causing a problem. The issue is they get to treat PTO is a kindness they can decline or discourage rather than something you deserve.

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u/ammonium_bot 15h ago

aren't payed out

Hi, did you mean to say "paid"?
Explanation: Payed means to seal something with wax, while paid means to give money.
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