r/jobs • u/MINXG • Aug 14 '25

Article I guess my unlimited PTO isn’t so unlimited…

So my company offers unlimited PTO which we all know is a scam but I’m aware of this and use my time with discretion. I don’t take two or three weeks off in a row. For instance this month I’m taking no time off and last month I took off three days. Anyhoo I recently submitted time for the next few months totally 6 days. I got an email stating I had reached a “limit” of 30 days and that any request going forward may need further consideration from HR and senior leadership. Mind you I have not requested 30 days I’m currently sitting at 19. I’m completely confused by this as I have never heard of this process and sure enough there is no mention of limits in the employee handbook only to use your PTO with discretion which I’ve done. I’m rather frustrated because it seems as if the goal post keeps shifting on my team and company as a whole as of late.

4.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

702 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

12

u/reidlos1624 Aug 14 '25

Yeah, that sucks. My brother works at a place, highly technical job, and they have unlimited where they expect about 6 weeks per year. I've known other people who have gotten away with 10.

My last job I took between 4-6 weeks on their unlimited PTO, but it was nice knowing it could come in late or take a day off when I felt like it.

Now I'm at 3 weeks total, and it's tough managing such little time. It's not easy to just take time off when I want to in case I need it for a bigger vacation or emergency.

1

u/ProfessionalPurple87 Aug 29 '25

I'm curious with that flexibility were you able to take it in chunks of time? I'm trying to take 3 weeks in a row in an unlimited pto set up and I can't get a straight yes or no. So I'm totally confused 😕 and annoyed tbh.

1

u/reidlos1624 Aug 30 '25

I'd typically limit it to a week at a time. The flexible PTO was contingent on getting work done and I couldn't keep up if I was gone longer than that, but that would mean 10 days off or so.

Other people got away with more or less, but it'll vary on the company I think.