In many parts of Europe, it’s common for workers to take off weeks at a time, especially during the summer. Envious Americans say it’s time for the U.S. to follow suit.
Some 66% of U.S. workers say companies should adopt extended vacation policies, like a month off in August, in their workplaces, according to a Morning Consult survey of 1,047 U.S. adults.
The US company I work for offers unlimited vacation whch is a means for a company to avoid the financial liability of an entitlement to leave. That is illegal in Canada so for Candian employees we have unlimited vacation with a minimum of four weeks.
In Europe, vacations are paid time off. That wouldn’t work with unlimited days.
“Unlimited PTO” is just a scheme for companies to not have to keep track of PTO owed to the employee (and not have to pay unused days out when they leave). It’s generally a raw deal for the employee.
In a company with traditional PTO, an employee could save up 4 weeks, and with adequate planning, take it all at once, even in the US. Their manager might grouse if it is near a key deadline, but if the employee has the time banked up it will generally get accepted. But in a company with unlimited PTO, the employee doesn’t have that documented evidence that they have been saving PTO, and the manager has more leeway to reject the request if it is at an inconvenient time.