First, let's talk about the problem our app is addressing:
A lot of organizations have "unlimited PTO", but psychologically that just doesn't work because people don't have any sort of parameter that grants them permission to take it. We see the policy as well-intended...but it is actually quite a lazy leadership strategy for an organizational rest ethic. It puts A LOT of responsibility onto individuals and there isn't any dynamics to it.
In 2018, American workers left behind 768 million days of unused paid time off (PTO), or more than 27% of their earned PTO, a 9% increase from 2017. In many reported cases we have researched, the policy has led to workers taking still fewer days off, or stirred up disillusionment among the workforce at companies where the policy seems to have been implemented with the goal of paying out even less PTO.
A few other data points:
So... our team really believes in the power of mandatory, minimum, collective, earned, gifted and incented time-off policies.
We are helping organizations enact one or more of them to address workers’ hesitance to take time off. We believe gifting someone time off after a meaningful project should be a part of the job.
For any role, the rest is just as important as the work, so why not treat it that way? To combat PTO accruals and burnout, we are putting forward a lot of thought into a software tool to help companies implement measures such as mandatory weeks off, artificial holidays, and even mental health days to reinforce their culture around disconnecting and well-being.
We have seen it work, and we believe this is the model that more teams and companies can leverage.
If this resonates with you, email us at sales@timeoff.co and we will approach you as an early user of our app.
Cheers! And remember, your leisure is noble and time off is productive.