I got paid out from my last employer. My wife left her job ~6 months ago and they told her to pound sand on getting PTO paid out. I told her to go back to them and say that she’s taking PTO starting now until the end of her two week notice window, so good luck with the transition. But she’s too nice to leave her coworkers hanging.
1 Like
One of the first companies I worked for did not pay out for accrued PTO. So I just took 3 weeks PTO before formally giving notice. I started my new job while I was on PTO.
Fuck em, I earned those days
3 Likes
Yeah, lots of people don’t realize that so many companies not only don’t pay out PTO on leaving, they also forbid you from taking PTO when you put in your notice. Take that long vacation first, then quit.
2 Likes
Same. It is rare for me to take off more than 2 weeks at a time
I’m usually hovering around 20-25 pto days a year everywhere I work. Usually goes up to around 30 pto days if you stay 10 years but I’m usually out the door by then
I feel like Europeans shit on us for having no time off but they don’t actually get that much more time off than us. But I’ve also never worked in Europe before so I don’t actually know
With those 22 days still lost, I had taken probably 8 days in my final 4 weeks before putting in my 2 weeks. As my company was local, I wanted the ability to return to them if the new job didn’t work out. However, it did work out so I should have just taken a month off.
1 Like
I’m curious what percentage of employees rebound or boomerang back to old employers
Personally I probably wouldn’t unless they cleaned house with management
With that being said I totally understand not wanting to burn a bridge. Sometimes it just feels wrong to do something taboo
You seem to get less time off vs Europe (I get 30 days + public holidays so about 38 days/year)
But even so, they seem to heavily restrict you in terms of length of holiday.
Screw that. Sometimes it takes me like 1 week minimum just to decompress after a stressful period of work.
2 Likes
Ehh I get 22 days pto, 5 sick days, and 11 holidays (thanks juneteeth!) so 38 days off a year. Not lagging too far behind
Old job was 23 days pto and 10 holidays (no sick days). So it has been worse before. (To be fair they offered 28 days after 5 years service tho)
I’ve never had trouble requesting time off for vacation or studying. I used to take 300+ study hours each year for four consecutive years
You need sick days…
Yikes. I have unlimited sick days. I don’t need them beyond 7 straight days (at that point I need a Drs note). I self-certify under 7 days.
So you really have 33 days?
2 Likes
Most frequently I see new hires starting in the area of just under 30 days per year, including holidays, sick, and discretionary PTO days. Like 26-28ish.
I negotiated at my job to not start as a new hire for PTO, but across 5 companies I’ve seen that.
1 Like
Fine 33 days then
Yeah a lot of companies in the USA combined sick leave with vacation and created “PTO”
We don’t need doctors note for sick leave so I just take sick leave around the holidays. Thanks to medical privacy laws and Americans being super litigious I don’t think any employer would dare ask for proof
Sorry, just had a chat with an Oil & Gas guy in Rio (Brazil) who was looking to move to the US (Houston) and he was genuinely clueless about how much more difficult the whole taking time off/sick leave is in the US vs UK (he was from Scotland)
Great pay in the US for O&G but the time off is difficult.
2 Likes
The good news is, most of us will have to work until we die and probably will drop dead at our desks, so we don’t even need to save for retirement.
3 Likes
Employers: best I can do is 5% 401k matching
1 Like
Thats definitely below graduates in the UK then.
Basic is 25 days + possibly public holidays (8).
Some companies are really stingy and count public holidays into the minimum allowable (25) by law. Which means you get 17 days holiday and 8 public holidays.
I suspect that the UK will be trending to having less holidays over the next few years for new starters.
1 Like
Good news is, only 1 of the 5 companies I’ve worked at occasionally required doctor’s notes for sick time, and that one overall was a nanny company in a myriad of ways.
PTO might be a different deal, although it was far more common that managers exerted soft pressure - basically the implication this could affect your performance eval - than actually refused your PTO. But the raised eyebrow of “I wonder how much you care about your job” does a lot of work.
I feel like in the USA, the only way to get lots of time off is to stick with the same employer for 10-20+ years
The only draw back is no pay raises associated with job hopping (probably not an issue for high performers who get promoted on a regular basis, but for the rest of us in the “meets expectations” crowd…)
So far across my last 2 job hops I’ve required PTO earned as though I was an employee with tenure of my YoE.
So far it’s never been a problem. Actually, one job gave it to me before I asked. Wiggle room on PTO days is much more available than on salary. This may include pre-loaded PTO days. In my last job, I negotiated up to 5 PTO days upfront used in increments as needed in order to look at houses, since I was moving, staying in a rented room, and buying a house ASAP near the new job.
2 Likes
Wow I always thought PTO was non-negotiable at large insurance companies
I need to step up my negotiating
My company refuses to negotiate on PTO, but my last company did and it was one of my sticking points.
Fortunately, my company grants PTO based on tenure and pay band, whichever provides the better amount of PTO, so more experienced people would likely come in at the same level as 5- or 10- year experienced associates and therefore get the same amount of PTO. But if you work for 30 years and never get promoted very much, you won’t be penalized for it. I think it’s a decent setup, and even though I did lose a couple days when I came here, I no longer work 50-60 hour weeks every single week and I never have to work when I’m on vacation (grumble grumble MMC), so it’s a win.
2 Likes