With work-life balance a top priority for workers, unlimited paid time off (PTO) is becoming a more popular option for workers in tech.
About 21% of workers in tech say they now have unlimited paid vacation and sick days, according to the latest reading of an ongoing query by Comparably. That’s significantly higher than workers outside of tech, 9% of whom say they have unlimited PTO.
20 to 30 days is still the most common arrangement
While unlimited PTO was nearly unheard of just a decade ago, it now appears to be *almost* as popular as the three weeks commonly offered by employers in the tech space. (Remember that in the U.S. there is no federal mandate that people be paid for time not worked; it’s up to the employer.)
Indeed, when tech workers were asked how much paid vacation and sick days they could take a year, the most common responses were “15 to 20 days” (24%) and “20 to 30 days” (28%). “Unlimited” was the third most popular response (21%), followed by “10 to 15 days” (17%) and “0 to 10 days” (10%).
People in product and executive roles report unlimited PTO the most
Workers in product and executive roles at technology companies reported the highest rates of unlimited PTO.
Executive (30%)
Product (27%)
Workers in IT and legal reported the lowest rates of unlimited PTO.
IT (8%)
Legal (13%)
36% of workers in San Francisco claim to have unlimited PTO
San Francisco had the highest rates of tech workers who claim to have unlimited PTO, followed next by Salt Lake City.
San Francisco (36%)
Austin (30%)
Salt Lake City (28%)
7% of workers in Houston claim to have unlimited PTO
Houston, Dallas and Seattle had the lowest concentrations of workers who reported having unlimited PTO.
Houston (6%)
Dallas (10%)
Seattle (9%)
The results are as of Aug. 24 and include the responses of more than 10,000 workers in the technology industry.
