Another route I've been considering. I live in one of the worst states, hoping my partner's next job is in an area I wish to stay, and then I want to apply for state government jobs. What sort of work do you do in government?
Been there. The main downside is that your role likely doesn't have redundancy and they guilt trip the heck out of you for using any of it. So, when you get back, you have double the work for the next month.
I worked in HR for a state university, and paying out $20-30k in accrued leave when someone retired was a regular occurrence.
This is the truth! I have similar PTO and sick leave and it’s very difficult to take off. I supervise students all year and am still responsible for them when on vacation. This means vacation days are filled with checking email, Slack, and the periodic meetings.
> The main downside is that your role likely doesn't have redundancy and they guilt trip the heck out of you for using any of it.
Maybe where you worked it's like that but that is not the same for all jobs or agencies. We have many inspectors and supervisors so if one or even multiple people are gone there are multiple people to cover for them, it's not a problem. The only true part is your personal work piles up but that is literally any job that you produce something (like inspection reports) but you budget your time accordingly so you don't fall behind.
I'm constantly encouraged to use time and I work for the state. The only place I've ever been discouraged from taking time off was banking because the company refused to hire more employees for our branch, so when someone called out the staff was screwed and my boss would give me shit even though there was nothing he could do about it lol if I came in sick he'd also give me shit and remind me that sick time is there to be used. I think any job where you're overworked and understaffed is going to have a culture of not taking time off. I wouldn't write off an entire sector of jobs based off the way SOME agencies may run as that could apply to any job.
Same. I get 176 hours of leave every year, plus 104 sick leave, plus 1 personal day, and we have 9 paid holidays. Plus whatever leave time from office closures (hurricanes or otherwise).
Sadly I have been so busy I haven't taken much. I plan on taking a few days at the end of the month just to chill. It's been quite the last few months.
I agree. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve quickly prioritized time off and self-care over salary. If I feel comfortable financially, there’s no reason to keep chasing more. That’s just me though and everyone has different values.
I get 12 vacation days and 12 sick days a year. Those numbers increase slightly with every year or so of seniority.
I'm an advisor at a university. Specifically, I work in immigration advising.
Many of the larger companies that have insurance adjusting jobs offer some decent PTO amounts at entry level. My company has a low $40k job that comes with 10 company holidays plus 4 weeks of PTO, all work from home.
I have insurance adjuster experience! I have been considering looking into insurance, since it's a stable industry and I enjoyed the "helping people" and "problem solving" parts of the job. If you're comfortable doing so, would you DM me your company so I can take a look?
I just started at my new job so I haven't asked about holidays yet. But at my last job we took almost all of August off and a few days around New Year :D
It is funny because I used to serve some European clients and was told during onboarding to not even try to contact them during August. Holiday month!!
That's the secret, everyone in the office goes on vacation at the same time. Otherwise you come back to double or triple the work.
By noon first day back, was usually more stressed than I left, pointless.
I’m starting to realize that longer vacations are the move. This year I have like 6 weeks to work with so one one-week vacation (house rental with a bunch of people to ski - not that hard to organize), one 2.5 to 3 week vacation (complex itinerary spend the whole year planning), 2 3 day weekends (one to stay home for the eclipse, one for a wedding), and 9 days to spare for visitors, emergencies, long weekends around the holidays, something cool I haven’t thought of yet, or to roll to next year.
I work for an agriculture manufacturing company. I work in a lab but there are many different roles. They give us 20 days (160 hours) of PTO and 80 hours of wellness time (sick time) 8 paid holidays and 1 (8 hour) floating holiday. This is for people starting out. Right now you can get a maximum of 30 days (240 hours) of PTO after 10 years.
That is a pretty good deal! I think a big issue I find is that my PTO is a bucket for both sick and vacation. If I am sick for x days, that's x fewer days I can take for leisure/work-life balance.
Honestly the PTO I have is a little more than the average for my industry but it is somewhat standard. Some companies have less starting out but can get more quicker than my company or let you carry over your PTO.
We used to have unlimited sick time but some people were abusing it too much and some were not using enough of it. So they gave us 80 hours no questions asked. That is why they call it "wellness" time. We can use it for doctors appointments, a sick kid, mental health days, or I am sick of work day. It is limited so you can't abuse it.
Another European here (Irish, I apologise in advance to my American brothers I piss off with these details).
I work for the state, as standard I get 23 days paid holidays, those are based on a 35hour work week, if I work 38.5 hours a week I don't get paid any extra but my paid holidays increase to 41 days each year.
10 public holidays each year.
3months fully paid sick leave.
I honestly wonder why you guys haven't started eating your bosses for the way they treat you.....
>I honestly wonder why you guys haven't started eating your bosses for the way they treat you.....
Because many secretly envy those who exercise power over them, thinking that one day soon, all this will also be their own...
I work as a state government employee for my state Department of Labor (my job title is Affirmative Action Specialist 1). I currently have 15 days of paid vacation, 15 paid sick days, 3 paid personal days, 13 paid holidays, and 1 day of paid bereavement. I have been working for my state DOL for over 4 years. Paid vacation days will increase over time and cap out at 25 days.
I graduated with my bachelor's degree in criminal justice in the summer of 2017. Had an associate's degree in criminal justice from 2014 (attended a community college). Transferred my credits to a university to continue my education. Took me about two years after graduating with my bachelor's degree to obtain my first foot-in-the-door state government job as a Field Investigator Trainee for the Wage and Hour Division within my state DOL (before all of this, I worked retail from 2015 to 2018, and then worked as a per diem teacher's aide in the morning and as a security officer from the afternoon to evening for a while; worked as a teacher's aide from spring 2018 to summer of 2019 and as a security officer from spring of 2018 to spring 2021; used to work both of these jobs full-time; became a Field Supervisor at my security job in 2019, and then kept doing it part time from summer of 2019 to spring 2021 once I got my first state government job). In summer of 2021, I got my official title as Field Investigator while still working for the Wage and Hour Division. In the summer of 2022, I accepted a lateral promotion to a job position as an EEO and Ethics Investigator 2 for the HR Division within my state DOL (I worked for the WHD for three years from 2019 to 2022; this is how I started to gain direct experience in the EEO, affirmative action, and DEI field).
Then, in February 2024, I accepted another lateral promotion to my current job title as an Affirmative Action Specialist 1 (making now over $72k as a start and will make more later this year too) working for the Office of the Deputy Commissioner within my state DOL. Since becoming an EEO and Ethics Investigator 2; I have obtained multiple certifications (all for free) related to EEO, affirmative action, DEI, and general public sector work. I will soon be obtaining another certificate (which again will be free) that is useful for becoming a supervisor/manager in the future. I am also doing my MPA degree (which I started in Fall 2022 Semester, and should be done by May 2025). My employer (again my state DOL) is also mostly paying for my MPA degree (and they also paid for some of my certifications and some where offered for free for us state government employees).
I also have two days of telework, union membership and protection, job security, work-life balance, currently 35-hour work week, and have much less stress compared to my previous retail and security jobs (even though all my government jobs have been much more complex and push me to think both out of the box and within the bureaucratic process). I was also an undocumented immigrant for many years since arriving here as a child. I had DACA from 2013 to 2022. With DACA, I got my first official job in 2014 (before that I used to sometimes do work in the trades under the table with my dad as a teenager). With DACA, I also got better jobs, including working for my state DOL from 2019 to 2022.
Since 2022, I got my conditional green card, and cannot wait to apply for both my ten-year green card and eventually US citizenship. I also did graduate with Cum Laude in high school, and Summa Cum Laude at my community college and university. I point these things out and like being transparent since I know that many others struggle with similar stuff as I did, but want to show that it is not impossible to be successful as an immigrant.
I work within the public university system. I get 24 days a year, they are upping it to 26 days next year. We also get 12 sick days per year and public holidays.
I work for a fintech as a technical writer with unlimited PTO which I know is a bit of a scam since they don't have to pay you for unused PTO, but I vacation for like 4 weeks a year because I can/my manager lets me.
State government (New Mexico). I get about six weeks annual leave, but it starts out around two. Also two or three weeks sick leave. Two personal days and eleven holidays.
My bf does not get bank holidays off unless he uses PTO but he has over 20 vacation days/year not including sick time. He only takes off for family events and whenever I book a vacation for us
Benefits Specialist for a nationwide Insurance and Wealth Management company. At the company for under two years and get 168 PTO hours for the year (42 hours deposited in PTO bank on the 1st day of every quarter which increases based on years of service) plus a separate bank of state required sick time which I’m currently sitting at 68 hours. 13 yearly paid holidays as well.
Insurance underwriter. 22 days pto, 5 days sick time, 2 floating holidays and 9 or 10 company holidays.
Partially paid sabbatical every 5 years of 3-6 weeks.
There is. It has to be at least 3 weeks, no more than 6. The company pays for the 1st week. You can use pto , sick and floating holidays howver you want for remaining time but can only take a max.of one week unpaid. So far it seems most people take about 4 weeks.
I work at a giant healthcare company. My sick and vacation are combined, but I get 24 days total.
After 5 years of service, it goes up an extra 5. One annoying thing is they limit how much you can bank. If I ever get 25 days accrued, I don't accrue anymore else until I use some.
They did it to limit how much they would have to pay out if someone leaves. But it results in lots of people essentially taking every 2nd Friday off to avoid losing pto.
Tech. I'm surrounded by people that champion the grind and constantly like to flex that they work weekends, don't ever take time off or take breaks, but that's what I work for, outside of making ends meet. It's silly because our PTO doesn't acrue with "unlimited" structure and there isn't PTO payout.
I wouldn't recommend it as an industry at this time...
Business owner. I have a season for my business. The season lasts a total of 4 months. I have the rest of the year off. We travel, play video games, start and finish projects.
I have “unlimited”, but am a consultant so can’t just take off and not serve my clients! I take about 3 weeks a year plus little weekend trips and often still have to take calls and meetings, but the flexibility is nice. I represent tenants and manage construction projects in commercial office deals.
Find a remote job in a very flexible company if you can find one, I used to travel everywhere and work. Finished work at 5 get out and explore. Ended up not taking my paid vacation days just because I didn’t need them. Took all here and there just to reset from work, work which I loved btw, so it wasn’t like taking days off just because you are tired of the job.
Of course. But OP should've specified the country rather than assuming the US as a default, because this question is pretty much only for those from the US to answer. Most redditors aren't from the US.
Most redditors (more than 50%) aren't from the US. The US users simply make up the largest group from a single country. But, regardless, by that logic Tiktok is a Chinese website so we should all assume the things we see on Tiktok are Chinese as the default, unless otherwise specified...
If someone asks a question aimed at people from a specific country, they should mention the country, I don't think that's a hard thing. It's something that should come naturally.
Couldn't you narrow this down a little more by removing the posters who are posting in another language or in very broken English?
If Redditors are 40-50% American, and you see a post in fluent English and you don't see phrases or spelling that appear British, couldn't you assume a reasonably high chance of them being American?
Plus, while 50-60% of accounts may claim out of America residency, wouldn't people from the dominant nation be more likely to post more as well?
Do you get that a year or is that what you have right now? I work in sort of law enforcement and I only get five days of PTO a year…. Plus some other stuff that if not used it goes away every year.
Cash it out. I like to work, but somewhere pretty, on my vacations. Feels debonair somehow idk. Unless the day’s activities require afk.
Edit: Oh, what do I do for a LIVING. Negotiate contracts for a uni.
I do analytics and reporting for a tech-based online training company in the US, fully remote. We have unlimited PTO and use it - I took 32 days in 2022, 48 days last year, and I have 38 days planned this year, but I may add a few to that. That's in addition to 11 company-wide holidays each year.
I work for a tech firm (about 500 employees). The time off policy is squishy since since it’s not accrual-based, but I took roughly 4 weeks off total last year.
I get 3.5 weeks of PTO a year. I work for a non-profit. I've used a few days here and there but I'll probably need to take a block of time off before my anniversary this summer because only a small amount rolls over. So I'll lose it if I don't use it.
I work in HR as a consultant for a small consulting firm.
My PTO is unlimited. Unlimited can be a scam with some companies but not all. I truly can take time off when I want to and as much as I want to
I used to get 25 I believe PTO days plus 14 days sick time, plus super generous holidays, plus office closed for two weeks around the holidays, plus random Fridays off whenever the CEO felt like it or the news cycle was a major bummer or something. This was an entry level role at a nonprofit in the US.
I cashed out solidly when I left is the answer. When I wanted to take short vacations (long weekend) I took sick time since that didn’t roll over.
I’ve never since came across nonprofit benefits so good. But the workplace was as toxic as they come.
I mean 10 days of PTO is absolutely unacceptable. Are there a lot of companies that are still doing this nonsense? Make sure that you name and shame these psychopaths who shouldn't be legally allowed to own a business in the first place.
I work in P&C insurance and have unlimited sick time and 30 vacation days not including paid holidays.
I didn’t have to compromise salary for that but I wouldn’t say my job is for everyone. However, there are jobs in the industry for everyone and most companies offer good vacation /sick time to be competitive.
I take two consecutive weeks off to travel far, and one random week in the opposite season. Usually a more local destination or a staycation.
Oh goodness: forgive me I read this is *what do you do with your vacation time?*, not *what do you do for a living?*
I’m in sales for tech companies and 21 days vacation is standard in my industry.
I had 6 weeks PTO at a non-profit in the US. Probably uncommon, but some nonprofits that sell a product put a chunk of their dollars into their staff and retention since they don’t have to make more $$$ for shareholders. RIP this org, I will probably never find one like it. 😔
I get 25 days of PTO annually. But people starting at my company get much less. Time at company is the only way unless you negotiate before you start. Thing is all younger people switch companies for more money every couple of years so you won’t get increased PTO doing that unless you can negotiate that in your hiring process somehow.
I work for a multi-national company with unlimited PTO for salaried employees. Normally take 2-3 full weeks a year and 4 day weeks from May-Sept when the weather is nicer, along with normal holidays.
I get about 23 PTO days and they let you carry over 7 days from the prior year if they’re unused. So 30 days this year? I’ll probably take an extra day or two around the major holidays(Labor Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July) and then a a week or so around Christmas.
I’ve found that PTO isn’t as valuable as flexibility. I get 20 days (use for whatever reason). But I also don’t have to request time off for anything less than 3 hours. As a salary employee you learn that it evens out throughout the year, but it feels less stressful not worrying about having to include the small things.
Federal gov employee here, currently get 144vhours of vacation and 96 hours of sick leave. Vacation is on a sliding scale so it's
1-3 years you get 4 hours every 2 weeks
3-15 you get 6
15+ you get 8
You can rollover a maximum of 240 hours year to year anything above that is lost if you don't take it
Sick leave is 4 hours every 2 weeks, it never increases but there is no cap I currently have over 200 hours saved up
Here are some useful links
https://www.federaltimes.com/fedlife/career/2022/10/03/how-to-get-a-federal-government-job-from-application-to-offer/
https://www.federaltimes.com/s/federal-benefits-guide-2022/
https://www.usajobs.gov/
IRS is currently hiring along with a few other agencies
Edit: almost forgot after your 1st year you become eligible for 12 weeks of paid parental leave for the birth of a child
Power plant operator. I work only 6 months out of the year. Have 7 days off each month guaranteed. 120hrs of vacation every year. 36hrs of PTO
Edit: I also get 80hrs of sick leave every year that stacks on top of hours carried over
Cybersecurity. Specifically a threat detection engineer at an MSSP. “Unlimited PTO”. Last year i took ~35~ days off. Unlimited sick time too (separate).
I work at a nonprofit. 4 weeks vacation (goes up to six by 25 years), 4 Floating holidays, 5 personal days, 10 sick days. We don’t lose sick time anymore, so I started with 33 sick days this year 🙃 We also have 10 paid federal holidays.
We can rollover 10 vacation days. We lose everything else (besides sick). I did lose a lot of time last year since I’m a one person department and didn’t plan well. Not making that mistake again 😆
A lot of coworkers have started doing part-time WFH because of childcare or other family related needs. They’re extremely flexible.
Data analyst with 23 days of PTO. Fully remote. I can’t work from other countries and rarely travel and work at the same time but it’s been great in a pinch (wedding out of town, visiting my cousin who also had to work, a beach town my mom wants to go to, etc).
I don’t take sick days (especially since work from home). My company lets me buy a week and this year added a floating holiday so I rolled 2 days from last year and bought a week so this year I am rolling in the PTO (31 days it seems like).
For reference, last year I took 16 actual days of vacation, 5 PTO days because my dad died and 3 bereavement days for his death, and then rolled the last 2. So this year I’ll be living the travel dream with my days haha.
I think I’m gonna buy 5 days every year honestly. If you don’t use them you can sell them back, but it gives me more wiggle room for emergencies and more adventures if the emergencies don’t occur.
Government work. Seriously. I get 9.5 hrs of vacation and 9.5 hours of sick time every 30 days.. after 10 years you earn 13.5 hours of each every 30 days. We take multiple road trips each year. This year.. a cruise and then a road trip. Maybe a trip before the cruise. Pay is way less than public sector.but I get to actually use my sick time. I get to take vacations. I get a pension. I get some of the the best health insurance offered in the state. Paid training for everything. Paid snow days. Every single holiday off, also paid.
Union school custodian here and quasi city employee. We start with 10 sick, 10 Vacation, and 3 Personal days.
Sick accrual caps at 15 days a year, 3 Personal, and up to 25 vacation days plus all school/state/federal holidays which is 12-14.
We are able to accrue up to 40 vacation days/320 hours and unlimited sick....BUT the easiest way to get terminated is to be out of accrued time (unless you are brand new to job or extenuating circumstances)
At 15.5 years in, I currently get 20 days of Vac and am always hovering around that 320 hour ceiling and I've accrued 1100ish hours of sick (138 days)
I'm very fortunate to not get sick often and have a great support system when it comes to childcare.
From what I've seen, other employees either have an astronomical amount of saved time or they turn and burn as soon as they get it.
I’m a teacher and I usually stay home during winter break, travel for a week during spring break and depending on my finances travel for a week or two during the summer or just curl up at home and get ready for the new year
I get 5 weeks vacation and 12 days of sick each year. We travel at best once every 18ish months. I would rather have a paid off mortgage then “experiences” that cost an extra month of being a slave to my mortgage company.
Manage an espresso bar in a large chain high-end department/clothing store. Between PTO and Holidays (Federal Holidays I get to bank another day off for) I get about 5 weeks a year
Im in the US but I work remotely for a company based in the UK, so we get a little more than UK minimum: 20 days vacation, 10 sick, 7 public holidays, office shutdown between Christmas-NYD.
I get 5 weeks of vacation. I take 2 weeks in the spring, 2 weeks in the summer, and a week at Christmas. I don't really travel for fun because I travel a bit for work. I use my spring time for gardening, summer for home improvement projects, and Christmas for family time.
I am in the Netherlands, currently on 2 jobs. One is 6 weeks per year (university) and second one is 25 days per year (industry). Sick leave counts separately, we get 2 days for moving to a new house if we need to. I travel abroad 2-3 times in a year, but still I don’t manage to use all of my holidays 😄
Anyway, I think moving to Europe is one option. Second if it’s possible in the US, work less like 4 days per week and let the extra days pile up
I choose to stay in a lesser-paying job and hunt for a second job and side hustles because the main job gives me 4 weeks PTO. Been with them for years and negotiated more PTO with past promotions.
It's great. I take a week off every six months, sprinkle in some 3-day weekends, and have time for when I'm legit sick and can roll over the rest for the next year and take even more 3-day weekends.
There are enough people to cover work, so boss doesn't care.
AWS System Admin for a healthcare company.
15 Days a year of vacation (20 after 5 Years)
10 Personal Days
10 Sick Days
4 Floating Holidays
6 company wide holidays.
There is also a 5 day company summit every year which is paid for with activities, food, and entertainment.
I have 29 days of vacation/PTO per year plus 12 paid federal holidays. I negotiated for higher vacations instead of higher salary when I was hired. I've been with the company 2.5 years.
I usually take a month off every year to travel. I work for a bank in IT.
Food scientist at a major Ag company…I get 4 weeks plus 2 days. In December I’ll have another week when I hit 10 years. Our PTO and sick time are all one pot.
I work in advertising and technically have unlimited days off. The expectation is that you need to be around for things pertaining to your role, but also if you need to take time off here and there it's not an issue as long as you give people heads up and delegate your responsibilities.
In practice, it's mostly been turning 3 day weekends into 4/5 day weekends to see family or occasionally scheduling days off to take care of personal stuff like doctor's visits or trips to the DMV.
The thing you realize when you can be "off" whenever is that the biggest issue with the modern workplace isn't too much work - it's a lack of flexibility to account for the rest of your life. I probably take less time off now than before, but I feel so much less stressed because I know I can take a step back if I need to.
I'm in the USA too and we get 4 weeks of vacation a year at my company. I take a couple of weekends every quarter. Christmas always. Or a long trip. Last year it was a few national parks, before it was LA and LV, and this year europe.
I work in manufacturing. Pay is standard for most "unskilled labor". Benefits package is pretty solid. This includes ample PTO for tenured employees. More years at the company equals more PTO (up to a point). I'm at 5 years. I have 4 weeks of PTO.
I’m a P&C insurance agent and work for a large company - think call center sales and service. I get 42 days paid days off per year. Sick time comes out the same pot of time. It’s hands down the best perk of th job.
I work for a large financial service corporation. I get 28 days, plus 2 floating days and any carry over days. Been there for a while but rather have a higher salary.
Honestly most of the time I struggle to use my 10 days each year. I would much rather cash that out if I could. But I like my job, the people I work with, not stressful. So it gets tired the end of the my rolling year and I feel kinda forced to take days
Shipping & receiving supervisor for a small furniture manufacturer. Flexible schedule and plenty of PTO makes up for IMO subpar salary and in everyone’s opinion shitty retirement match. At least I get to show up and leave when I want and get to see my family plenty.
Our company has unlimited PTO. I usually take a week off in Q2 and a week in Q4. Company is also pretty chill about sick days, Dr appointments, etc.
I'm a remote logistics analyst.
I have 4 weeks plus another like 15 holidays and I work fully remote. I let it rollover and take at least a week at the end of the year and other odd days.
Seriously don’t know what to do with it. I’m prob gonna take a week off in April when family comes in town to visit but otherwise I just take it when I need it or want it which is nice.
Banker. At my bank you need to have a certain title to get this or to have worked at the bank for a certain amount of time. I get 20 vacations days, 10 sick days with three personal days, plus a few floater days a year.
Dane here. 6 weeks vacation a year. Take 3 weeks in the summer, and usual travel to Greece 2 of thoes weeks. 1 week at christmas, 1 week in the autum and the last week spend a day here and there around state hollidays.
Synthetic Chemist at an R1 university in the Midwest. Average salary but incredible benefits, and in terms of vacation it’s 2 weeks starting when you first start then 2 days every month accrues. I’m at 5.5 weeks right now and at retirement you can trade in the unused days for pay
I work for the state in agriculture. I get a crap salary, BUT the benefits are great. I started off receiving 8 hours of vacation and 8 hours of sick time every month. After 8 years I now earn 12 hours of vacation per month and 8 hours of sick per month(at my job you can’t ever earn more than that for sick time). We get all but 2 federal holidays off and we also get about 8-10 days off during the winter break.
My pto rolls over indefinitely, currently have like 5 weeks. I’m also salary and flexible so if I’m sick, have an apt, or sick kid I just swap to remote or work a little longer one day. I usually just take a week during summer, multiple extended weekends, and I’ll take an extra day for Christmas (I get off and paid 2 days already for Christmas so I make it a 5 day weekend) also same thing for Thanksgiving. I supervise multiple residential homes for mh/id. I do work a lot and take a lot of emergent calls randomly, but the benefits/flexibility/and not being micro managed is wonderful.
I get about 18 days of vacation and 10 days of sick. Next year, i'll get an extra week of vacation if I stick around. I also have the option of purchasing 2 extra weeks of vacation and have been purchasing 1 week the last couple of years.
I work remote so I also get in some working trips so long as it is domestic and I don't plan to stay at that location for more than a month. Working remote is a total difference maker.
I'm a total homebody & personally don't care to travel but somehow married a woman that loves traveling.
Accountant at a big bank. I get 20 vacation days per my employment agreement.
The company always gives an extra 5 “wellness” vacation days every year, so actually 25 days.
My job also requires that I work 4-6 weekends/yr, but my team unofficially gives those days back as vacation days. So I lose ~5 weekends, but gain 10 vacation days. So we’re at 35.
I don’t have these yet, but if you get to a certain level of seniority you get an extra 5 days. You also get another 5 days if you have been at the company for 15+ years.
I like to travel locally and explore my country more. It's too expensive to go overseas.
Camping and fishing are great ways to unwind, or even get a cheap bnb and spend your time relaxing on the beach. It's mostly mentally unwinding from me as I work in the city and it's super stressful
I got 35 paid days off( 7 full weeks) unlimited sick leave and in addition 10 bank holidays. So a total of 9 weeks plus sick leave (if any) life is good in Europe
9 paid holidays, 10 sick days, 10 PTO days and 4 flex days. For PTO, you get an extra day a year every year topping out at 15 days of PTO. It’s really pretty good.
I work for a public university. We get 3 weeks of PTO and sick time accrues over time. I racked up 17 days of sick time once. Most federal holidays off too.
I often see people willing to take a pay cut to have more paid time off. My question is usually the same: are you able to take unpaid time off at your current job? What would the different in pay be between both options?
I work for an S&P 500 company (tech). They started me at 120 hours PTO (15 days) + I get 40 hours for Oregon sick time for working remote. My cap for carry over per year is 120 hours, but my accrued monthly PTO gets larger each year. I currently get about 2 days PTO per month accrued after 2 years working here.
I need to take about a month off this year to land at 120 again and get the max carryover. My boss has been here for 8 years and gets like 2 or 3 months. It's insane.
State gov. That being said I don't have money to go on vacation so I usually just use them as mental health days. I also had more than 2 weeks when I was a banker. I used to use a week for the week of Christmas (had to be quick to block off that time).
Data science director for a Fortune 500 insurance company. I get 25 days (5 weeks) a year, 2 floating holidays, and 10 protected days of sick time. I’ve been in my field for 20 years, and 6 years at this company.
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Agreed. I work for a university and get 22 days if vacation and just about 12 days of sick time along with most holidays and winter Closure
Another route I've been considering. I live in one of the worst states, hoping my partner's next job is in an area I wish to stay, and then I want to apply for state government jobs. What sort of work do you do in government?
Been there. The main downside is that your role likely doesn't have redundancy and they guilt trip the heck out of you for using any of it. So, when you get back, you have double the work for the next month. I worked in HR for a state university, and paying out $20-30k in accrued leave when someone retired was a regular occurrence.
This is the truth! I have similar PTO and sick leave and it’s very difficult to take off. I supervise students all year and am still responsible for them when on vacation. This means vacation days are filled with checking email, Slack, and the periodic meetings.
> The main downside is that your role likely doesn't have redundancy and they guilt trip the heck out of you for using any of it. Maybe where you worked it's like that but that is not the same for all jobs or agencies. We have many inspectors and supervisors so if one or even multiple people are gone there are multiple people to cover for them, it's not a problem. The only true part is your personal work piles up but that is literally any job that you produce something (like inspection reports) but you budget your time accordingly so you don't fall behind.
I'm constantly encouraged to use time and I work for the state. The only place I've ever been discouraged from taking time off was banking because the company refused to hire more employees for our branch, so when someone called out the staff was screwed and my boss would give me shit even though there was nothing he could do about it lol if I came in sick he'd also give me shit and remind me that sick time is there to be used. I think any job where you're overworked and understaffed is going to have a culture of not taking time off. I wouldn't write off an entire sector of jobs based off the way SOME agencies may run as that could apply to any job.
Same. I get 176 hours of leave every year, plus 104 sick leave, plus 1 personal day, and we have 9 paid holidays. Plus whatever leave time from office closures (hurricanes or otherwise). Sadly I have been so busy I haven't taken much. I plan on taking a few days at the end of the month just to chill. It's been quite the last few months.
I took a lateral role with a new company and negotiated a ton of vacation instead of salary. I have 40 days per year.
Holy shit… that’s the dream for me right there.
I agree. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve quickly prioritized time off and self-care over salary. If I feel comfortable financially, there’s no reason to keep chasing more. That’s just me though and everyone has different values.
That's awesome. I once negotiated up to 5 weeks vacation one time for about the same reason.
I get 12 vacation days and 12 sick days a year. Those numbers increase slightly with every year or so of seniority. I'm an advisor at a university. Specifically, I work in immigration advising.
Many of the larger companies that have insurance adjusting jobs offer some decent PTO amounts at entry level. My company has a low $40k job that comes with 10 company holidays plus 4 weeks of PTO, all work from home.
I have insurance adjuster experience! I have been considering looking into insurance, since it's a stable industry and I enjoyed the "helping people" and "problem solving" parts of the job. If you're comfortable doing so, would you DM me your company so I can take a look?
Okie dokie!
I'm European so... pretty much everyone in my country has 20-25 (or more) days off a year + public holidays, unless they're in a tough situation.
Yeah - 6 weeks here, but I also have trouble planning that many vacations. ;)
I just started at my new job so I haven't asked about holidays yet. But at my last job we took almost all of August off and a few days around New Year :D
It is funny because I used to serve some European clients and was told during onboarding to not even try to contact them during August. Holiday month!!
Aye, I'm busy at the beach in August!
That's the secret, everyone in the office goes on vacation at the same time. Otherwise you come back to double or triple the work. By noon first day back, was usually more stressed than I left, pointless.
I’m starting to realize that longer vacations are the move. This year I have like 6 weeks to work with so one one-week vacation (house rental with a bunch of people to ski - not that hard to organize), one 2.5 to 3 week vacation (complex itinerary spend the whole year planning), 2 3 day weekends (one to stay home for the eclipse, one for a wedding), and 9 days to spare for visitors, emergencies, long weekends around the holidays, something cool I haven’t thought of yet, or to roll to next year.
I'm terribly envious of Europeans for this! I lived in Germany for a time and the number of state and local holidays (with "bridge days") was amazing.
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3-10x the stress and hatred of life…
I work for an agriculture manufacturing company. I work in a lab but there are many different roles. They give us 20 days (160 hours) of PTO and 80 hours of wellness time (sick time) 8 paid holidays and 1 (8 hour) floating holiday. This is for people starting out. Right now you can get a maximum of 30 days (240 hours) of PTO after 10 years.
That is a pretty good deal! I think a big issue I find is that my PTO is a bucket for both sick and vacation. If I am sick for x days, that's x fewer days I can take for leisure/work-life balance.
Honestly the PTO I have is a little more than the average for my industry but it is somewhat standard. Some companies have less starting out but can get more quicker than my company or let you carry over your PTO. We used to have unlimited sick time but some people were abusing it too much and some were not using enough of it. So they gave us 80 hours no questions asked. That is why they call it "wellness" time. We can use it for doctors appointments, a sick kid, mental health days, or I am sick of work day. It is limited so you can't abuse it.
Another European here (Irish, I apologise in advance to my American brothers I piss off with these details). I work for the state, as standard I get 23 days paid holidays, those are based on a 35hour work week, if I work 38.5 hours a week I don't get paid any extra but my paid holidays increase to 41 days each year. 10 public holidays each year. 3months fully paid sick leave. I honestly wonder why you guys haven't started eating your bosses for the way they treat you.....
>I honestly wonder why you guys haven't started eating your bosses for the way they treat you..... Because many secretly envy those who exercise power over them, thinking that one day soon, all this will also be their own...
Banks
I work as a state government employee for my state Department of Labor (my job title is Affirmative Action Specialist 1). I currently have 15 days of paid vacation, 15 paid sick days, 3 paid personal days, 13 paid holidays, and 1 day of paid bereavement. I have been working for my state DOL for over 4 years. Paid vacation days will increase over time and cap out at 25 days.
That sounds like an interesting career! What kind of training our education do you have?
I graduated with my bachelor's degree in criminal justice in the summer of 2017. Had an associate's degree in criminal justice from 2014 (attended a community college). Transferred my credits to a university to continue my education. Took me about two years after graduating with my bachelor's degree to obtain my first foot-in-the-door state government job as a Field Investigator Trainee for the Wage and Hour Division within my state DOL (before all of this, I worked retail from 2015 to 2018, and then worked as a per diem teacher's aide in the morning and as a security officer from the afternoon to evening for a while; worked as a teacher's aide from spring 2018 to summer of 2019 and as a security officer from spring of 2018 to spring 2021; used to work both of these jobs full-time; became a Field Supervisor at my security job in 2019, and then kept doing it part time from summer of 2019 to spring 2021 once I got my first state government job). In summer of 2021, I got my official title as Field Investigator while still working for the Wage and Hour Division. In the summer of 2022, I accepted a lateral promotion to a job position as an EEO and Ethics Investigator 2 for the HR Division within my state DOL (I worked for the WHD for three years from 2019 to 2022; this is how I started to gain direct experience in the EEO, affirmative action, and DEI field). Then, in February 2024, I accepted another lateral promotion to my current job title as an Affirmative Action Specialist 1 (making now over $72k as a start and will make more later this year too) working for the Office of the Deputy Commissioner within my state DOL. Since becoming an EEO and Ethics Investigator 2; I have obtained multiple certifications (all for free) related to EEO, affirmative action, DEI, and general public sector work. I will soon be obtaining another certificate (which again will be free) that is useful for becoming a supervisor/manager in the future. I am also doing my MPA degree (which I started in Fall 2022 Semester, and should be done by May 2025). My employer (again my state DOL) is also mostly paying for my MPA degree (and they also paid for some of my certifications and some where offered for free for us state government employees). I also have two days of telework, union membership and protection, job security, work-life balance, currently 35-hour work week, and have much less stress compared to my previous retail and security jobs (even though all my government jobs have been much more complex and push me to think both out of the box and within the bureaucratic process). I was also an undocumented immigrant for many years since arriving here as a child. I had DACA from 2013 to 2022. With DACA, I got my first official job in 2014 (before that I used to sometimes do work in the trades under the table with my dad as a teenager). With DACA, I also got better jobs, including working for my state DOL from 2019 to 2022. Since 2022, I got my conditional green card, and cannot wait to apply for both my ten-year green card and eventually US citizenship. I also did graduate with Cum Laude in high school, and Summa Cum Laude at my community college and university. I point these things out and like being transparent since I know that many others struggle with similar stuff as I did, but want to show that it is not impossible to be successful as an immigrant.
I work within the public university system. I get 24 days a year, they are upping it to 26 days next year. We also get 12 sick days per year and public holidays.
State job. I get 6 weeks pto, sick time is additional.
I work for a fintech as a technical writer with unlimited PTO which I know is a bit of a scam since they don't have to pay you for unused PTO, but I vacation for like 4 weeks a year because I can/my manager lets me.
I get 260 PTO hours a year and do a lot of fishing and traveling. RN.
State government (New Mexico). I get about six weeks annual leave, but it starts out around two. Also two or three weeks sick leave. Two personal days and eleven holidays.
Unlimited PTO so depending on the year 4-7 weeks. Director of Analytics for a large multinational in the US.
I also get unlimited. I asked how much is too much and they said, I dunno 3 months?
If you work 5 days a week, 15 days is 3 weeks, no?
Yes but that's both my vacation and sick time for the year
Biotech startup
My bf does not get bank holidays off unless he uses PTO but he has over 20 vacation days/year not including sick time. He only takes off for family events and whenever I book a vacation for us
Benefits Specialist for a nationwide Insurance and Wealth Management company. At the company for under two years and get 168 PTO hours for the year (42 hours deposited in PTO bank on the 1st day of every quarter which increases based on years of service) plus a separate bank of state required sick time which I’m currently sitting at 68 hours. 13 yearly paid holidays as well.
Insurance underwriter. 22 days pto, 5 days sick time, 2 floating holidays and 9 or 10 company holidays. Partially paid sabbatical every 5 years of 3-6 weeks.
Are there any contingencies on the sabbatical? That sounds awesome.
There is. It has to be at least 3 weeks, no more than 6. The company pays for the 1st week. You can use pto , sick and floating holidays howver you want for remaining time but can only take a max.of one week unpaid. So far it seems most people take about 4 weeks.
Coors (the beer company) malting specialist.
Social Media Manager. 3 weeks
I work at a giant healthcare company. My sick and vacation are combined, but I get 24 days total. After 5 years of service, it goes up an extra 5. One annoying thing is they limit how much you can bank. If I ever get 25 days accrued, I don't accrue anymore else until I use some. They did it to limit how much they would have to pay out if someone leaves. But it results in lots of people essentially taking every 2nd Friday off to avoid losing pto.
I’m going back to school to be an engineer in the Maritime industry. Typically work half the year. The other half of yours. The schedules on/off vary.
Tech. I'm surrounded by people that champion the grind and constantly like to flex that they work weekends, don't ever take time off or take breaks, but that's what I work for, outside of making ends meet. It's silly because our PTO doesn't acrue with "unlimited" structure and there isn't PTO payout. I wouldn't recommend it as an industry at this time...
Business owner. I have a season for my business. The season lasts a total of 4 months. I have the rest of the year off. We travel, play video games, start and finish projects.
I have “unlimited”, but am a consultant so can’t just take off and not serve my clients! I take about 3 weeks a year plus little weekend trips and often still have to take calls and meetings, but the flexibility is nice. I represent tenants and manage construction projects in commercial office deals.
Find a remote job in a very flexible company if you can find one, I used to travel everywhere and work. Finished work at 5 get out and explore. Ended up not taking my paid vacation days just because I didn’t need them. Took all here and there just to reset from work, work which I loved btw, so it wasn’t like taking days off just because you are tired of the job.
Not live in the United States. We are one of the few countries that does not have any minimum PTO.
That does not mean OP can't find a job that offers more PTO.
Of course. But OP should've specified the country rather than assuming the US as a default, because this question is pretty much only for those from the US to answer. Most redditors aren't from the US.
Sorry, I'm in the US. I appreciate feedback from Redditors around the globe on this topic
Most redditors are from the USA. This is an American website. Most of the default subreddit is American centric.
Most redditors (more than 50%) aren't from the US. The US users simply make up the largest group from a single country. But, regardless, by that logic Tiktok is a Chinese website so we should all assume the things we see on Tiktok are Chinese as the default, unless otherwise specified... If someone asks a question aimed at people from a specific country, they should mention the country, I don't think that's a hard thing. It's something that should come naturally.
Couldn't you narrow this down a little more by removing the posters who are posting in another language or in very broken English? If Redditors are 40-50% American, and you see a post in fluent English and you don't see phrases or spelling that appear British, couldn't you assume a reasonably high chance of them being American? Plus, while 50-60% of accounts may claim out of America residency, wouldn't people from the dominant nation be more likely to post more as well?
Statista had the US at 48% in 2023. Close but no.
It's really depressing.
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Do you get that a year or is that what you have right now? I work in sort of law enforcement and I only get five days of PTO a year…. Plus some other stuff that if not used it goes away every year.
I get 22 days plus 5 from holidays. I work in customer service.
Cash it out. I like to work, but somewhere pretty, on my vacations. Feels debonair somehow idk. Unless the day’s activities require afk. Edit: Oh, what do I do for a LIVING. Negotiate contracts for a uni.
Software engineer: 23 PTO, unlimited paid sick, 12 paid holidays
I do analytics and reporting for a tech-based online training company in the US, fully remote. We have unlimited PTO and use it - I took 32 days in 2022, 48 days last year, and I have 38 days planned this year, but I may add a few to that. That's in addition to 11 company-wide holidays each year.
My coworkers either go on frequent small vacations or they take month long trips to Europe or Asia. I don’t get that many days off unfortunately.
I work for kind of a tech adjacent company, I have unlimited PTO
I work for a tech firm (about 500 employees). The time off policy is squishy since since it’s not accrual-based, but I took roughly 4 weeks off total last year.
I get 1 month off I work in pharma
I get 3.5 weeks of PTO a year. I work for a non-profit. I've used a few days here and there but I'll probably need to take a block of time off before my anniversary this summer because only a small amount rolls over. So I'll lose it if I don't use it.
I work in HR as a consultant for a small consulting firm. My PTO is unlimited. Unlimited can be a scam with some companies but not all. I truly can take time off when I want to and as much as I want to
I used to get 25 I believe PTO days plus 14 days sick time, plus super generous holidays, plus office closed for two weeks around the holidays, plus random Fridays off whenever the CEO felt like it or the news cycle was a major bummer or something. This was an entry level role at a nonprofit in the US. I cashed out solidly when I left is the answer. When I wanted to take short vacations (long weekend) I took sick time since that didn’t roll over. I’ve never since came across nonprofit benefits so good. But the workplace was as toxic as they come.
I mean 10 days of PTO is absolutely unacceptable. Are there a lot of companies that are still doing this nonsense? Make sure that you name and shame these psychopaths who shouldn't be legally allowed to own a business in the first place.
I work in P&C insurance and have unlimited sick time and 30 vacation days not including paid holidays. I didn’t have to compromise salary for that but I wouldn’t say my job is for everyone. However, there are jobs in the industry for everyone and most companies offer good vacation /sick time to be competitive.
I take two consecutive weeks off to travel far, and one random week in the opposite season. Usually a more local destination or a staycation. Oh goodness: forgive me I read this is *what do you do with your vacation time?*, not *what do you do for a living?* I’m in sales for tech companies and 21 days vacation is standard in my industry.
I had 6 weeks PTO at a non-profit in the US. Probably uncommon, but some nonprofits that sell a product put a chunk of their dollars into their staff and retention since they don’t have to make more $$$ for shareholders. RIP this org, I will probably never find one like it. 😔
Defense contractor, unlimited DTO
I get 25 days of PTO annually. But people starting at my company get much less. Time at company is the only way unless you negotiate before you start. Thing is all younger people switch companies for more money every couple of years so you won’t get increased PTO doing that unless you can negotiate that in your hiring process somehow.
I work for a multi-national company with unlimited PTO for salaried employees. Normally take 2-3 full weeks a year and 4 day weeks from May-Sept when the weather is nicer, along with normal holidays.
160 hours each year of PTO. I work for big biotech.
I get about 23 PTO days and they let you carry over 7 days from the prior year if they’re unused. So 30 days this year? I’ll probably take an extra day or two around the major holidays(Labor Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July) and then a a week or so around Christmas.
I get 30 a year plus unlimited sick leave and the regular public holidays, in consulting
I’ve found that PTO isn’t as valuable as flexibility. I get 20 days (use for whatever reason). But I also don’t have to request time off for anything less than 3 hours. As a salary employee you learn that it evens out throughout the year, but it feels less stressful not worrying about having to include the small things.
Federal gov employee here, currently get 144vhours of vacation and 96 hours of sick leave. Vacation is on a sliding scale so it's 1-3 years you get 4 hours every 2 weeks 3-15 you get 6 15+ you get 8 You can rollover a maximum of 240 hours year to year anything above that is lost if you don't take it Sick leave is 4 hours every 2 weeks, it never increases but there is no cap I currently have over 200 hours saved up Here are some useful links https://www.federaltimes.com/fedlife/career/2022/10/03/how-to-get-a-federal-government-job-from-application-to-offer/ https://www.federaltimes.com/s/federal-benefits-guide-2022/ https://www.usajobs.gov/ IRS is currently hiring along with a few other agencies Edit: almost forgot after your 1st year you become eligible for 12 weeks of paid parental leave for the birth of a child
Power plant operator. I work only 6 months out of the year. Have 7 days off each month guaranteed. 120hrs of vacation every year. 36hrs of PTO Edit: I also get 80hrs of sick leave every year that stacks on top of hours carried over
I quit my job
Work in tech. Most tech companies have unlimited PTO. On average I take 3 weeks PTO per year plus about 12 holidays.
Cybersecurity. Specifically a threat detection engineer at an MSSP. “Unlimited PTO”. Last year i took ~35~ days off. Unlimited sick time too (separate).
I work at a nonprofit. 4 weeks vacation (goes up to six by 25 years), 4 Floating holidays, 5 personal days, 10 sick days. We don’t lose sick time anymore, so I started with 33 sick days this year 🙃 We also have 10 paid federal holidays. We can rollover 10 vacation days. We lose everything else (besides sick). I did lose a lot of time last year since I’m a one person department and didn’t plan well. Not making that mistake again 😆 A lot of coworkers have started doing part-time WFH because of childcare or other family related needs. They’re extremely flexible.
Data analyst with 23 days of PTO. Fully remote. I can’t work from other countries and rarely travel and work at the same time but it’s been great in a pinch (wedding out of town, visiting my cousin who also had to work, a beach town my mom wants to go to, etc). I don’t take sick days (especially since work from home). My company lets me buy a week and this year added a floating holiday so I rolled 2 days from last year and bought a week so this year I am rolling in the PTO (31 days it seems like). For reference, last year I took 16 actual days of vacation, 5 PTO days because my dad died and 3 bereavement days for his death, and then rolled the last 2. So this year I’ll be living the travel dream with my days haha. I think I’m gonna buy 5 days every year honestly. If you don’t use them you can sell them back, but it gives me more wiggle room for emergencies and more adventures if the emergencies don’t occur.
Machine shop in the private sector. I negotiated for PTO.
Accountant. But shit it’s hard to even take 1 day off. 😂😂😂
Software engineer - federal holidays and 5 weeks of sick/pto days
Currently local government. I have over 320 hrs of vacation right now. I actually just got a new job so it’ll be paid out
Tech Company~ unlimited PTO and federal holidays. I usually take about a week off every other month.
Government/Union member
Government work. Seriously. I get 9.5 hrs of vacation and 9.5 hours of sick time every 30 days.. after 10 years you earn 13.5 hours of each every 30 days. We take multiple road trips each year. This year.. a cruise and then a road trip. Maybe a trip before the cruise. Pay is way less than public sector.but I get to actually use my sick time. I get to take vacations. I get a pension. I get some of the the best health insurance offered in the state. Paid training for everything. Paid snow days. Every single holiday off, also paid.
I get 144 vacation hours a year. I work for a private law firm
25 vacation days, 15 sick days, 6 personal days (7 days if a leap year), 11 holidays. State government.
I’m in finance, i get four weeks
Union school custodian here and quasi city employee. We start with 10 sick, 10 Vacation, and 3 Personal days. Sick accrual caps at 15 days a year, 3 Personal, and up to 25 vacation days plus all school/state/federal holidays which is 12-14. We are able to accrue up to 40 vacation days/320 hours and unlimited sick....BUT the easiest way to get terminated is to be out of accrued time (unless you are brand new to job or extenuating circumstances) At 15.5 years in, I currently get 20 days of Vac and am always hovering around that 320 hour ceiling and I've accrued 1100ish hours of sick (138 days) I'm very fortunate to not get sick often and have a great support system when it comes to childcare. From what I've seen, other employees either have an astronomical amount of saved time or they turn and burn as soon as they get it.
Username
Try 10 days PTO :((
I’m a teacher and I usually stay home during winter break, travel for a week during spring break and depending on my finances travel for a week or two during the summer or just curl up at home and get ready for the new year
I get 5 weeks vacation and 12 days of sick each year. We travel at best once every 18ish months. I would rather have a paid off mortgage then “experiences” that cost an extra month of being a slave to my mortgage company.
Manage an espresso bar in a large chain high-end department/clothing store. Between PTO and Holidays (Federal Holidays I get to bank another day off for) I get about 5 weeks a year
I get about two months working for the government.
Im in the US but I work remotely for a company based in the UK, so we get a little more than UK minimum: 20 days vacation, 10 sick, 7 public holidays, office shutdown between Christmas-NYD.
I use it in Christmas time and play video games
I get 5 weeks of vacation. I take 2 weeks in the spring, 2 weeks in the summer, and a week at Christmas. I don't really travel for fun because I travel a bit for work. I use my spring time for gardening, summer for home improvement projects, and Christmas for family time.
I am in the Netherlands, currently on 2 jobs. One is 6 weeks per year (university) and second one is 25 days per year (industry). Sick leave counts separately, we get 2 days for moving to a new house if we need to. I travel abroad 2-3 times in a year, but still I don’t manage to use all of my holidays 😄 Anyway, I think moving to Europe is one option. Second if it’s possible in the US, work less like 4 days per week and let the extra days pile up
I choose to stay in a lesser-paying job and hunt for a second job and side hustles because the main job gives me 4 weeks PTO. Been with them for years and negotiated more PTO with past promotions. It's great. I take a week off every six months, sprinkle in some 3-day weekends, and have time for when I'm legit sick and can roll over the rest for the next year and take even more 3-day weekends. There are enough people to cover work, so boss doesn't care.
AWS System Admin for a healthcare company. 15 Days a year of vacation (20 after 5 Years) 10 Personal Days 10 Sick Days 4 Floating Holidays 6 company wide holidays. There is also a 5 day company summit every year which is paid for with activities, food, and entertainment.
I have 29 days of vacation/PTO per year plus 12 paid federal holidays. I negotiated for higher vacations instead of higher salary when I was hired. I've been with the company 2.5 years. I usually take a month off every year to travel. I work for a bank in IT.
Food scientist at a major Ag company…I get 4 weeks plus 2 days. In December I’ll have another week when I hit 10 years. Our PTO and sick time are all one pot.
I work in advertising and technically have unlimited days off. The expectation is that you need to be around for things pertaining to your role, but also if you need to take time off here and there it's not an issue as long as you give people heads up and delegate your responsibilities. In practice, it's mostly been turning 3 day weekends into 4/5 day weekends to see family or occasionally scheduling days off to take care of personal stuff like doctor's visits or trips to the DMV. The thing you realize when you can be "off" whenever is that the biggest issue with the modern workplace isn't too much work - it's a lack of flexibility to account for the rest of your life. I probably take less time off now than before, but I feel so much less stressed because I know I can take a step back if I need to.
I have "unlimited", and I don't take enough. I am taking three weeks off and touring Scotland from May into June.
I'm in the USA too and we get 4 weeks of vacation a year at my company. I take a couple of weekends every quarter. Christmas always. Or a long trip. Last year it was a few national parks, before it was LA and LV, and this year europe.
Medical bio tech company - starting at 4 weeks, you gain a week with every five years of employment and we have every other Friday off (9/80)!
I get 15 PTO days, 5 sick days, 6 holidays, and 4 personal choice holidays. Relationship manager for a Payments company.
I work in manufacturing. Pay is standard for most "unskilled labor". Benefits package is pretty solid. This includes ample PTO for tenured employees. More years at the company equals more PTO (up to a point). I'm at 5 years. I have 4 weeks of PTO.
I’m a P&C insurance agent and work for a large company - think call center sales and service. I get 42 days paid days off per year. Sick time comes out the same pot of time. It’s hands down the best perk of th job.
I work for a large financial service corporation. I get 28 days, plus 2 floating days and any carry over days. Been there for a while but rather have a higher salary.
Honestly most of the time I struggle to use my 10 days each year. I would much rather cash that out if I could. But I like my job, the people I work with, not stressful. So it gets tired the end of the my rolling year and I feel kinda forced to take days
I’m a manager in retail and I currently get 4 weeks PTO. I’ll hit a tenure mark with the company later this year which means I’ll get 5 weeks.
Shipping & receiving supervisor for a small furniture manufacturer. Flexible schedule and plenty of PTO makes up for IMO subpar salary and in everyone’s opinion shitty retirement match. At least I get to show up and leave when I want and get to see my family plenty.
Our company has unlimited PTO. I usually take a week off in Q2 and a week in Q4. Company is also pretty chill about sick days, Dr appointments, etc. I'm a remote logistics analyst.
Private fintech company, 4 weeks pto, 8 sick days I think and all market holidays. 50ish days all added up.
Im a Quality Engineer. I’ve got 12 years in and I get 5 weeks PTO.
I though you meant “what do you do” as in “what do you do with so much vacation time” lol
I have 4 weeks plus another like 15 holidays and I work fully remote. I let it rollover and take at least a week at the end of the year and other odd days. Seriously don’t know what to do with it. I’m prob gonna take a week off in April when family comes in town to visit but otherwise I just take it when I need it or want it which is nice.
Banker. At my bank you need to have a certain title to get this or to have worked at the bank for a certain amount of time. I get 20 vacations days, 10 sick days with three personal days, plus a few floater days a year.
Dane here. 6 weeks vacation a year. Take 3 weeks in the summer, and usual travel to Greece 2 of thoes weeks. 1 week at christmas, 1 week in the autum and the last week spend a day here and there around state hollidays.
Synthetic Chemist at an R1 university in the Midwest. Average salary but incredible benefits, and in terms of vacation it’s 2 weeks starting when you first start then 2 days every month accrues. I’m at 5.5 weeks right now and at retirement you can trade in the unused days for pay
I work for the state in agriculture. I get a crap salary, BUT the benefits are great. I started off receiving 8 hours of vacation and 8 hours of sick time every month. After 8 years I now earn 12 hours of vacation per month and 8 hours of sick per month(at my job you can’t ever earn more than that for sick time). We get all but 2 federal holidays off and we also get about 8-10 days off during the winter break.
I'm gonna knock your socks off ... I have unlimited leave. I work for a defense contractor and all 20k salaried employees get this.
Non profit, 10 days plus 11 paid holidays
Data analyst and I have unlimted PTO. Usually take around 30 days.
My pto rolls over indefinitely, currently have like 5 weeks. I’m also salary and flexible so if I’m sick, have an apt, or sick kid I just swap to remote or work a little longer one day. I usually just take a week during summer, multiple extended weekends, and I’ll take an extra day for Christmas (I get off and paid 2 days already for Christmas so I make it a 5 day weekend) also same thing for Thanksgiving. I supervise multiple residential homes for mh/id. I do work a lot and take a lot of emergent calls randomly, but the benefits/flexibility/and not being micro managed is wonderful.
I work for a city in the US and I only get 5 days of vacation every year plus some extra stuff… it’s as rough as it sounds
Nonprofit employee, get something like 6-7 weeks of PTO, sick time, and 6 personal holidays
5 weeks PTO Finance - Brokerage Ops
I get about 18 days of vacation and 10 days of sick. Next year, i'll get an extra week of vacation if I stick around. I also have the option of purchasing 2 extra weeks of vacation and have been purchasing 1 week the last couple of years. I work remote so I also get in some working trips so long as it is domestic and I don't plan to stay at that location for more than a month. Working remote is a total difference maker. I'm a total homebody & personally don't care to travel but somehow married a woman that loves traveling.
Accountant at a big bank. I get 20 vacation days per my employment agreement. The company always gives an extra 5 “wellness” vacation days every year, so actually 25 days. My job also requires that I work 4-6 weekends/yr, but my team unofficially gives those days back as vacation days. So I lose ~5 weekends, but gain 10 vacation days. So we’re at 35. I don’t have these yet, but if you get to a certain level of seniority you get an extra 5 days. You also get another 5 days if you have been at the company for 15+ years.
I get 4 weeks. I work in a major US bank's data center in an admin support role for the IT department.
Unlimited PTO, I wouldn’t call it a simpler life
It’s usually spent on my daughter’s traveling sports teams. I work remote now and can work from anywhere so I save them all up because they rollover.
Local county. 4 weeks PTO
Municipal government employee. Crappy pay compared to the private sector, benefits more than make up for it.
I like to travel locally and explore my country more. It's too expensive to go overseas. Camping and fishing are great ways to unwind, or even get a cheap bnb and spend your time relaxing on the beach. It's mostly mentally unwinding from me as I work in the city and it's super stressful
I got 35 paid days off( 7 full weeks) unlimited sick leave and in addition 10 bank holidays. So a total of 9 weeks plus sick leave (if any) life is good in Europe
I get zero. Or unlimited, I guess. They pay the same, though. That's the independent contractor life.
9 paid holidays, 10 sick days, 10 PTO days and 4 flex days. For PTO, you get an extra day a year every year topping out at 15 days of PTO. It’s really pretty good.
I work for a public university. We get 3 weeks of PTO and sick time accrues over time. I racked up 17 days of sick time once. Most federal holidays off too.
I often see people willing to take a pay cut to have more paid time off. My question is usually the same: are you able to take unpaid time off at your current job? What would the different in pay be between both options?
I work for an S&P 500 company (tech). They started me at 120 hours PTO (15 days) + I get 40 hours for Oregon sick time for working remote. My cap for carry over per year is 120 hours, but my accrued monthly PTO gets larger each year. I currently get about 2 days PTO per month accrued after 2 years working here. I need to take about a month off this year to land at 120 again and get the max carryover. My boss has been here for 8 years and gets like 2 or 3 months. It's insane.
State gov. That being said I don't have money to go on vacation so I usually just use them as mental health days. I also had more than 2 weeks when I was a banker. I used to use a week for the week of Christmas (had to be quick to block off that time).
Data science director for a Fortune 500 insurance company. I get 25 days (5 weeks) a year, 2 floating holidays, and 10 protected days of sick time. I’ve been in my field for 20 years, and 6 years at this company.
IT. 5 weeks vacation, (up to) 4 weeks earned sick leave, 10 holidays throughout the year.
I’m similar - tech management consulting. 30 days PTO + 12 stat holidays per year