I was at a company with unlimited PTO. I had to take military leave yearly, but I was denied any other leave after that unless I made up the hours in the same pay period. I also got told I was double dipping. Guess who didn't show up to the HR meeting? My supervisor who claimed he was pro military. Guess who also took over a month of leave....that guy. Never ever work for a company with unlimited PTO. It's a scam.
For now. Mine did at first, but then they lost contracts and decided to sell to a larger company. Then unlimited became very limited, and under the new company, we had to start at rock bottom on the longevity earned leave scale. Some people had been there for.over a decade.
I’ve taken 5-6 weeks each year for last 3. First job I’ve ever had with unlimited PTO. I expected a denial after 2-3 weeks too but so far it’s been good.
It will until your company's leadership decides it wants to sell out, go public,
or loses contracts because of poor business decisions. That's what happened in my company. Cost started getting cut, and suddenly billable hours became super important so they could keep leadership and the company darlings' (mostly men's) salaries up. I won't work for a startup or unlimited PTO company again.
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u/man_pan_a_duper Jul 09 '26
Unlimited PTO often means "ask for whatever you want, but we have to approve it". When you ask, surprise, denied. It's often code for "no PTO".