An American employee apologizes for missing an afternoon of work for surgery and promises to stay on Slack. Meanwhile in Europe, it’s August. The office is empty, and no one is sorry. It’s a well-worn joke, highlighting cultural attitudes towards PTO and work-life balance. It’s very much rooted in reality. New research by Deel reveals that even with access to Unlimited PTO policies, those in the US and Canada take significantly less PTO than their European counterparts.
According to Deel’s new Economist, Lauren Thomas, “Whether unlimited time off is a boon or a bust depends on where you are.” On average, Europeans take 27 days per year, compared to only 16.3 days taken by Northern Americans. This gap shrinks, but remains significant, with fixed time off policies, with 23 days on average taken in Europe and 17 by Northern Americans.
This imbalance begs the question; with global hiring continuing to rise, should leaders be concerned about disparities in PTO use within their multicultural workforce?
The risks
Unlimited PTO is challenging to manage. While on paper it offers total flexibility and freedom, many factors can impact someone’s ability to take time off. The demands of their role, pressure from leadership to be ‘always on’, and unspoken norms about what’s acceptable can turn it from a benefit to a burnout trap. We can see from the data that regional culture has a significant impact on PTO usage. For globally distributed teams, cultural differences can lead to resentment and disengagement when they result in inequalities.
For example, what happens when one manager in Montreal pushes back against more than 13.5 days PTO (Montreal’s average), but another in Berlin is happy to approve 27 (Berlin’s average)? Such disparities can be a source of resentment among employees even when, on paper, everyone has access to the same benefits. At a time when global employee engagement is at an all-time low, and the incoming Gen Z are increasingly concerned with workplace wellbeing, employee satisfaction should be a top concern for any company aiming to stay competitive.
Fixing unlimited PTO
To fix unlimited PTO, we must circle back to the question of culture. While it is the employee’s responsibility to manage their PTO according to the needs of their role, the employer must create a culture where taking time off isn’t unfairly penalized.
Guardrails should be implemented, making it clear how much time can be taken off at once, how far in advance requests should be made, and potential reasons for refusal (e.g., overlap). While it may seem counterproductive to create restrictions around a policy that’s meant to offer flexibility and freedom, light-touch guardrails promote PTO usage by making the rules clear. This reduces the risk that employees will avoid taking time off for fear of breaking some unwritten rule, and standardizes the policy across regions, whilst respecting employees’ autonomy.
Managers and people leaders should be aware of the guardrails, and feel comfortable accepting or refusing requests in line with company policy. Consistent gaps in usage across regions may persist, but it will be because of employee choice and not because of uneven policy application or burnout culture. Employees benefit from true flexibility, while productivity and engagement stay high.
While these measures can ensure that unlimited PTO works for employee satisfaction and not against it, the key to making flexibility part of your company culture is to look outside of just your time off policy.
Unlock flexibility with Deel
PTO is not the be-all-and-end-all of flexibility, and not necessarily what drives employee satisfaction within an organization. Flexibility can come in the form of:
- Work-from-anywhere policies, giving employees freedom of movement
- Flexible hours, allowing teams to manage their own schedules
- Earned wage access, boosting financial freedom
- Immigration support, assisting people with international relocation
- Global 24/7 tech support, keeping teams connected wherever and whenever they work
Deel facilitates all these and much more, providing your employees with a flexible work environment that fits into the palm of their hand. If you want flexibility to be the core of your company culture, book your free 30-minute Deel demo.