Following in the footsteps of American companies including Netflix and LinkedIn where unlimited paid time off is commonly and widely offered as a perk to staff, the UK has started to follow suit. Unlimited paid time off (UPTO) – Sound’s great, doesn’t it? But how does it work in reality? Are there more pitfalls than benefits?
As you probably guessed, it is the policy of allowing staff to take as much holiday as they would like and paying them for it.
In the UK, almost all staff who work a 5-day week must legally receive at least 28 days paid holiday per year (including bank holidays). However, according to the results in a survey undertaken by Glassdoor prior to the pandemic, only 43% of employees actually take between 91-100% of their holiday entitlement each year.
The idea behind UPTO is that employees choose how many days holiday they would like to take each year. But if not even 50% of employees are taking their current holiday entitlement now, then arguably, UPTO will not actually make a difference.
Generally, the pros and cons could include the below:
Pros: Increased productivity, fully flexible working approach, increased trust culture, attractive staff perk and/or increased personal well-being of staff.
Cons: Unclear expectations, staff feeling under pressure in case they request ‘too much’ leave, policy abuse, staff taking too little holiday resulting in burn out and/or rifts...
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