Employee notices she takes less PTO after her company adopted an unlimited PTO policy: 'In 2022, I took 13 PTO days. Last year with unlimited, I took 8.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Feb 26, 2026 8:00 AM EST

That's how they get you.

Unlimited PTO sounds like a great deal. Who wouldn't want to have to think twice about requesting a day off work after having a little too much fun on a Wednesday night? You wouldn't have to forego taking days off to "save up" time for a big vacation. You could feel confident about not working on the days between Christmas and New Year's Day. In short, you would be free! 

The problem is, unlimited PTO rarely, if ever, works this way. It usually works one of two ways.

  1. The people in charge of approving PTO requests constantly reject employees' requests without reason, discouraging them from asking in the first place.
  2. The employees fear abusing the policy and taking "too much" time off, so they request far less time off than they would if they had a set number of PTO hours.

There are always people who will take a policy "too far" and request more than 6 weeks off a year, but such cases are rare. 

One of the worst parts about unlimited PTO is that the company cannot pay you for your unused time off when you quit or are laid off. If you have 100 hours of unused PTO, your job is supposed to pay you for that time when you leave the company, and they can't pay you for an unlimited number of days off. If you have that policy, you should enjoy it while you have it, because you don't get anything in return for saving your PTO up. 

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  • Woman in brown sun hat lying on sand during daytime
    via Rafael Cisneros Méndez

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The employee in this story noticed that she was taking less time off this year than she did three years ago because of her company's unlimited PTO policy. 

  • My company switched to "unlimited PTO" two years ago, and I realized I took less vacation than when we had the 15 day cap

    did the math last week cause i was trying to figure out how much time off i have left and then remembered...
    via u/AffectionateMud9193
  • i dont have a number anymore. unlimited PTO baby. pulled up my old calendar and in 2022 when we still had the standard 15 days i used like 13 of them.
    via u/AffectionateMud9193
  • last year with "unlimited" i took 8. EIGHT. and the thing is nobody tells you no.
    via u/AffectionateMud9193
  • its not like managers are blocking requests. its just this weird psychological thing. where you feel like youre being watched or judged if you take too much.
    via u/AffectionateMud9193
  • like whats too much? nobody knows. thats the whole point. the ambiguity is the trap. a coworker of mine actually asked HR what the average employee takes per year so she could have a reference point and they straight up refused to tell her.
    via u/AffectionateMud9193
  • Three women sitting at the table
    via Christina @ wocintechchat.com M

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • said it "varies by team". cool thanks i only realized any of this because i finally had some money saved up and was planning a longer trip to portugal, like 12 days, and i caught myself feeling guilty about it before i even submitted the request.
    via u/AffectionateMud9193
  • guilty for using a benefit that is supposedly unlimited. the policy sounds generous on paper and thats exactly why they switched to it.
    via u/AffectionateMud9193
  • no payout when you leave, no liability on the books, and employees mysteriously self police themselves into taking less time off.
    via u/AffectionateMud9193
  • Front view of young businesswoman with computer sitting at the desk in an office working
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • its actually genius if you hate workers
    via u/AffectionateMud9193
  • UndoxxableOhioan So it's working as intended. Unlimited PTO has always been a scam.
    via u/UndoxxableOhioan
  • homelabWannabie My company went Unlimited PTO. I said bet. First year I looked at what my boss put in and copied. 25 days. Each year there after I keep adding days... I'm up to 34 days. I'm going to keep going until they tell me I'm taking too many days - off then I've found the maximum of "unlimited" lol
    via u/homelabWannabie
  • Hyasfuq My guess is they will say nothing until you start getting closer to the 15 days of PTO you used to have. At that point they will start "mentioning" it and discouraging you from taking any other days off.
    via u/Hyasfuq
  • No-Bit-2913 You just need to be confident in yourself, and not worry about how you look. If you co cerned about how you look.. then you fall into their trap. Imo, whatever amount of weeks you used to get before, add 1 more week to that total for your unlimited PTO.
    via u/No-Bit-2913
  • omgseriouslynoway It's your manager's job to approve it. Feel free to request whatever you want. It's up to them to decide what staff are needed at any given. time. I took over 50 days one year because my manager just approves everything I ask for... his manager gave me a gentle wrist slap (metaphorically) for that one lol.
    via u/omgseriouslynoway
  • illstillglow Oh god, if I got unlimited PTO my coworkers would never see me again lol.
    via u/illstillglow
  • Sir_ThuggleS Mine has unlimited PTO as well. The way I ensure I use it is by taking most Fridays off.
    via u/Sir_ThuggleS
  • Mil1512 I'm guessing you work in the US? I live and work in the UK. I get 28 days PTO, sick leave whenever I need it and my PTO doesn't include national holidays so they're on top. I even carried over 5 days of PTO from last year as I have a 3 week holiday coming up for my brother's wedding. Will I be taking every single day? F yes. Will I feel an ounce of guilt over any of those days? F no. You get one life. Make the most of it.
    via u/Mil1512
  • SailingSpark Unlimited is such a scam. I get six weeks a year and use every single one of those hours.
    via u/SailingSpark
  • Dependent_Tune_1333 I have a lot to say about this. For context, I was in middle management and saw/tracked vacation usage. I never cared how much vacation time people were using (it was their benefit) but I would say something if we were 9 months into the year and they had only taken 2 of their 4 weeks (for example). I would point out "Vacation is part of your total compensation and you should utilize it." When the company was considering changing to unlimited PTO they implemented a 6-month tri
    via u/Dependent_Tune_1333

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europe unlimited employee coworkers time off policy PTO human resources company vacation
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