Would you rather have 5 weeks guaranteed PTO or unlimited PTO?

[Red Squirrel]

How would unlimited work? Is each week something you have to book individually at manager's discretion and is there a risk that you get less than 5 or do you get so many guaranteed weeks that you book ahead of time? Ex: if you want to make plans in summer can you book a week ahead of time?

I feel guaranteed 5 is probably a safer bet though. I'm at 4 now myself because I hit my 10 year anniversary last year. Not sure how long until I get 5, I think it's at like year 17 or something. I also get like 5 floaters so technically I could take those as a week off, but you can't book floaters the same as vacation, so the odds of getting 5 consecutive days in a schedule where there's enough people in is pretty slim. I normally take a day here and there when there are at least 4 people working that day. We are short staffed so the scheduling can be tricky especially in summer because of vacations. Lots of OT.

 

[purbeast0]

California banned Use it or Lose it (so Govt employees can soak the system), so this is how companies get around it. Most other states have a hours cap at most. Usually don't see unlimited unless the company is based there. If employees take less vacation, that's a cherry on top.

I disagree with the bolded big time. I'd argue that the people who take more vacations are probably more productive than the work rats who work 50 hours a week and "never have time" for vacations because the guy who takes vacations is taking that mental break from working 5 days a week.

Just because you are at work clocked in doesn't mean you're helping the company, and based off my experience, a lot of employees "work" for 8 hours but hardly do any real work.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I disagree with the bolded big time. I'd argue that the people who take more vacations are probably more productive than the work rats who work 50 hours a week and "never have time" for vacations because the guy who takes vacations is taking that mental break from working 5 days a week.

Just because you are at work clocked in doesn't mean you're helping the company, and based off my experience, a lot of employees "work" for 8 hours but hardly do any real work.

I agree that you get more productivity out of a rested worker, but you can also get a lot of productivity out of a desperate one. A lot of companies have made it their goal to work people into the ground and then just replace them when their productivity gets too low. I worked for a decade as a PM for a company that had a policy to lay off 2 people per 10 man team every quarter. As a PM I actually had that as a quota.

 

[purbeast0]

I agree that you get more productivity out of a rested worker, but you can also get a lot of productivity out of a desperate one. A lot of companies have made it their goal to work people into the ground and then just replace them when their productivity gets too low. I worked for a decade as a PM for a company that had a policy to lay off 2 people per 10 man team every quarter. As a PM I actually had that as a quota.

And that's the sign of a poorly ran company that I would never work for.

 

[child of wonder]

How would unlimited work? Is each week something you have to book individually at manager's discretion and is there a risk that you get less than 5 or do you get so many guaranteed weeks that you book ahead of time? Ex: if you want to make plans in summer can you book a week ahead of time?

I feel guaranteed 5 is probably a safer bet though. I'm at 4 now myself because I hit my 10 year anniversary last year. Not sure how long until I get 5, I think it's at like year 17 or something. I also get like 5 floaters so technically I could take those as a week off, but you can't book floaters the same as vacation, so the odds of getting 5 consecutive days in a schedule where there's enough people in is pretty slim. I normally take a day here and there when there are at least 4 people working that day. We are short staffed so the scheduling can be tricky especially in summer because of vacations. Lots of OT.

For me, being part of a sales team with no office for our company in the city I live in, I just do whatever I want. No one approves my PTO, I just take it whenever so long as I don't have an existing commitment on a day I want off that is too important to reschedule.

So long as I'm selling, I'm my own boss.

 

[Exterous]

5 weeks PTO for sure. I get another week in 1.5 years and 3 years after that I'll get another week for a total of 5 weeks PTO + 12 sick days + we usually get free vacation days from Dec 24th to Jan 2nd since all our customers are closed then too. Unlimited PTO seems like it would cause friction with managers or coworkers who don't understand work life balance. I use all my days, often plan that out a year in advance, and will just travel even more once I get more days. Too many amazing places to see and visit to not use them

 

[snoopy7548]

Man, the tiers at my company max out at four weeks of PTO (20 days) and you can only roll over 40 hours to the next year. Maybe I should get out.

 

[SMOGZINN]

And that's the sign of a poorly ran company that I would never work for.

That was ExxonMobil.

 

[purbeast0]

That was ExxonMobil.

What point are you trying to make?

 

[SMOGZINN]

What point are you trying to make?

It is not a poorly run company. It is one of the most profitable and largest companies in the world with a huge workforce. The general wisdom that treating your employees well is more productive only works up to a point. There are other successful methods of getting work out of people, and companies are happy to use those methods if we allow it.

 

[purbeast0]

It is not a poorly run company. It is one of the most profitable and largest companies in the world with a huge workforce. The general wisdom that treating your employees well is more productive only works up to a point. There are other successful methods of getting work out of people, and companies are happy to use those methods if we allow it.

Just because they make a shit ton of money doesn't mean they aren't poorly ran at the "regular" employee level. Look at EA. They are by far the most lucrative 3rd party video game company out there yet there are horror stories from countless employees because of how poorly ran they are.

I work with a lot of people from the huge contracting companies like Leidos, Boeing, Raytheon, Delloite, etc, and those people are typically the most miserable people I've worked with out of everyone because of how crappy their companies are, regardless of them being the big boy players in the industry.

 

[ultimatebob]

It is not a poorly run company. It is one of the most profitable and largest companies in the world with a huge workforce. The general wisdom that treating your employees well is more productive only works up to a point. There are other successful methods of getting work out of people, and companies are happy to use those methods if we allow it.

In a good job market like this, people have choices where they want to work. If I got the choose my job, I'm sure as hell not going to choose the place that has a 20% mandatory turnover rate every quarter. I wouldn't care how prestigious their brand name is.

 

[jpiniero]

In a good job market like this, people have choices where they want to work. If I got the choose my job, I'm sure as hell not going to choose the place that has a 20% mandatory turnover rate every quarter. I wouldn't care how prestigious their brand name is.

The job market is terrible except for minimum wage jobs (who are fine with being understaffed). That's why wages are going nowhere.

 

[Ns1]

The job market is terrible except for minimum wage jobs (who are fine with being understaffed). That's why wages are going nowhere.

not in SoCal - job market is on fire here.

 

[SMOGZINN]

not in SoCal - job market is on fire here.

That is because no one can afford to live there, even with the great job market. As far as I can tell they are all moving to Dallas.

 

[Ns1]

That is because no one can afford to live there, even with the great job market. As far as I can tell they are all moving to Dallas.

It's basically a revolving door. People who can't make it leave, to be immediately replaced by people trying to make it.

 

[SMOGZINN]

It's basically a revolving door. People who can't make it leave, to be immediately replaced by people trying to make it.

California the Multilevel Marketing version of a State!

 

[Ns1]

California the Multilevel Marketing version of a State!

 

[Red Squirrel]

not in SoCal - job market is on fire here.

But that requires going to SoCal.

 

[Ns1]

But that requires going to SoCal.

Oh noes. Sunny weather, beautiful women, more great food than any of us can afford, and stuff to do all the time. Such a shitty place.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Oh noes. Sunny weather, beautiful women, more great food than any of us can afford, and stuff to do all the time. Such a shitty place.

It disgusts me. How do you do anything worthwhile in a place like that?
Seattle. That is a proper town. It is overcast most of the time, rains on the regular, cold and wet. A man can walk around in a trench coat and be properly dour.

 

[clamum]

Holee shat. If it was truly unlimited, I'd take that. HOW LAY LOO YA

 

[jpiniero]

not in SoCal - job market is on fire here.

Dunno, companies have gotten much more sophisticated in their job postings for jobs they never intend to actually fill.

Holee shat. If it was truly unlimited, I'd take that. HOW LAY LOO YA

It's not really unlimited, it's more like Verizon unlimited.

Oh noes. Sunny weather, beautiful women, more great food than any of us can afford, and stuff to do all the time. Such a shitty place.

And apparently tons of homeless people.

 

[Ns1]

And apparently tons of homeless people.

Yep. An issue shared by any major metropolitan city.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

5 weeks guaranteed for sure. I highly doubt with unlimited pto you'd get approval to take that much. Now if its 2 weeks vs unlimited, I'd like unlimited.