When considering a new job, many factors come into play; salary, location, travel, benefits, and the list goes on. During the hiring process, one thing we have been hearing about more often is unlimited paid time off. With an unlimited PTO, employees don't accrue a specific amount of PTO per year, but rather request time off that is either approved or denied by their manager.

“A MetLife survey found that unlimited PTO was the #1 most valued emerging employee benefit. 72% of the surveyed employees said this was a benefit that interested them – ahead of wellness programs, phased retirement and paid sabbaticals.” (Buck, Key Unlimited PTO Statistics for 2023)

Here are two key benefits of Unlimited PTO:

1. Financial Benefits

Unlimited PTO typically saves companies money, surprising right? Employees actually tend to take fewer days off with unlimited PTO as they don’t feel a need to spend an accrued PTO bank just because they can. Along with this, since there are no earned hours, there is no “payout” or carry-over balance of hours. Since the time-off request still must first be approved, managers can base PTO approval upon the company's needs.

2. Employee Wellness

Unlimited PTO instills a mindset of work-life balance. Rather than working to earn hours of PTO, this encourages the employees to choose their time off and base it on their individual needs. This could be for sick or vacation time. Offering unlimited PTO contributes to a positive work culture and has shown to be a benefit many candidates on the job market inquire about.

A lot of companies have already integrated unlimited PTO into their benefits program. If your company has not, it is a powerful benefit to consider which could assist in the recruiting process and tenure of current employees.

Written by: Emily Onheiser, Senior Search Consultant at Hunter Crown, LLC

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