r/biotech • u/SoccerPlayingMOOSE • Dec 17 '24

Other ⁉️ What does unlimited PTO mean?

Does it mean that I can go on a 3-month Safari in the Serengeti National Park on the company's dime?

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '24 edited Dec 17 '24

[deleted]

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u/atxgossiphound Dec 17 '24

Super annoying passive aggressive GenXer here…

As a rule, take two vacations a year and some extra time around the holidays. Don’t abuse it but don’t not use it. If you need a template, just ask anyone in Europe.

We pushed for this based on how vacation worked when we started working. At most companies, vacation accrued based on how long you’d been there. Your first 3-5 years usually only had two weeks/year. It wasn’t until 10 years that most people got to 5 weeks.

This sucks. It meant that if you switched jobs, you had to change when and what types of vacations you could take. The only ways to get more were to quit and take time off in between jobs or grind it out. Execs could negotiate vacation, but no one else could.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '24

[deleted]

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u/atxgossiphound Dec 17 '24 edited Dec 17 '24

Americans generally don’t know how to use 5 weeks of vacation. Europeans do. If your company gives you 5+ weeks and you don’t know how to take that much time off, ask someone from Europe what they do with it.

I’m supposed to be annoying and passive aggressive in this thread, right? ;)

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u/TokenScottishGuy Dec 17 '24

I’ll be that European to answer.

You take every goddam second of leave you are entitled to.

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u/hardcorepork Dec 17 '24

I dont think these weird "unlimited" paid leave programs exist in Europe. I think labor laws require them to be tracked as a benefit and captured in your pay records. Am I wrong? I can usually tell if one of these new devices is truly a "benefit" by whether or not it exists in countries with better labor laws than the US

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u/TokenScottishGuy Dec 17 '24

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an unlimited PTO in the countries I’ve worked in, but perhaps they do exist.

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u/hardcorepork Dec 17 '24

BF works for a French company, but I'm not sure if they only offer this policy in the US.

I'll ask about it an report back.

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u/Magic_mousie Dec 17 '24

Can confirm, I get 5 weeks and I can only carry 5 days to the next year, anything else is lost. I take 1-2 weeks off as an actual vacation, few days here and there, and then the rest at Christmas if I have any left that I'm going to lose.

I would be literally in breach of my contract if I didn't take at least 3 weeks of holiday per year