10 Companies With Unlimited PTO and Vacation Time

By Jessica Howington, Senior Content Manager

Taking time off from work is a fantastic reset. Disconnecting from the daily duties of work can help you get some perspective and return refreshed and raring to go.

However, not everyone has paid vacation, and even if you do, finding the time to take time off isn’t always easy. Fortunately, employers are starting to understand how vital vacation is, and many are adding unlimited paid time off (PTO) as a standard benefit.

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10 Companies With Unlimited PTO

Many companies are recognizing that all work and no play makes for unhealthy employees. The 10 companies below are just some of the workplaces that offer unlimited vacation time.

1. Automattic

Automattic, a fully distributed company since 2005, specializes in web development and supports a range of open-source projects, including WordPress. Automattic offers an open vacation policy and encourages its staff to “take at least 25 days of time off per year.”

Explore flexible Automattic jobs here!

2. Bright Cellars

Bright Cellars is a data-driven wine subscription company working to help wine drinkers discover and define their taste in wine by matching them with personalized monthly selections. In addition to unlimited paid vacation, Bright Cellars offers holiday time and parental leave.

Explore flexible Bright Cellars jobs here!

3. Impulse Creative

Impulse Creative is a digital marketing and branding agency offering design, digital and online marketing development, sales strategies, written content, and video services to help build and strengthen brands. Impulse Creative believes in putting its people first, offering paid maternity and paternity leave, paid sick leave, paid holidays, and other benefits on top of its unlimited vacation policy.

Explore flexible Impulse Creative jobs here!

4. InkHouse

InkHouse provides award-winning, integrated PR services, offering expertise at the intersection of “media relations, social media, creative services, and content marketing.” In addition to unlimited vacation days, InkHouse offers its team work-from-home Fridays and birthdays off.

Explore flexible InkHouse jobs here!

5. Morning Brew

Morning Brew is a daily email newsletter briefing the latest news from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. When describing its unlimited PTO policy, Morning Brew has stated, “by unlimited, we mean absolutely unlimited.”

Explore flexible Morning Brew jobs here!

6. Motley Fool

The Motley Fool educates the masses on making better investment choices and provides guidance on buying great stocks from the right companies in order to gain wealth acquisition over time. Since it was established, The Motley Fool has “never tracked vacation or sick leave” and instead maintains a simple policy: “take what you need.”

Explore flexible Motley Fool jobs here!

7. Netflix

Netflix is an entertainment company offering video-on-demand and streaming media. Netflix describes its vacation policy as simply “take vacation” and doesn’t “have prescribed time-off policies for salaried employees.” The company doesn’t “set a holiday and vacation schedule” so associates can “observe what’s important to [them].”

Explore flexible Netflix jobs here!

8. Upworthy

Upworthy is a social media site that posts shareable content in the form of videos, graphics, and stories. Upworthy allows its staff to “take vacation when [they] need it,” recommending a minimum of three weeks’ vacation time annually so associates can “recharge and come back fresh.”

Explore flexible Upworthy jobs here!

9. WITHIN

WITHIN is a marketing firm specializing in performance branding. WITHIN recognizes “that time away from the office is vital to [its] employees’ happiness,” so the company’s unlimited PTO policy “means you can take what you need, when you need it, and come back refreshed.”

Explore flexible WITHIN jobs here!

10. Zynga

Zynga is self-described as a leading developer of the world’s most popular social games for web and mobile platforms, such as FarmVille and Words With Friends. Zynga’s flexible time-off policy, or discretionary time off (DTO), is offered on top of parental leave and other benefits.

Explore flexible Zynga jobs here!

What Is Unlimited PTO?

In many countries, employers are required to provide staff with paid vacation days in addition to paid holidays and paid sick time. The United States, though, has no such requirement. This may help explain why, according to Forbes Advisor, nearly one-third (31%) of U.S. employees did not have access to PTO in 2023.

But having paid time off doesn’t necessarily mean employees are taking it. In 2023, more than half (52%) of employees reported that they worked while on vacation, and over 765 million vacation days went unused by Americans altogether.

How Does Unlimited PTO Work?

While the details vary from company to company, there are some commonalities across company policies. Here’s how unlimited vacation time works.

1. It’s Not “Unlimited”

While the name implies that you can take as much vacation time off as you want, that’s not exactly the case. For example, out of 20 working days in a month, you probably can’t take 19 of those days in a row off every month.

Some companies cap how much time you can take off at once (e.g., no more than two weeks at a time). And often, the ability to take time off is linked to your performance. If you’re getting your work done, taking a vacation every few months is usually not a problem. But if you aren’t performing, you may find yourself with unapproved requests.

Finally, just like “traditional” time off, just because you want to take a specific week or three off doesn’t mean you can. If your whole department requests the days between Christmas and New Year’s off, but some people need to work that week for whatever reason, you may not automatically be one of the lucky ones scheduled for that break.

2. It’s Tracked

The words “unlimited vacation time” may imply that the company never tracks how much time you take off. However, they often do.

While you may be able to take as much time off as you want whenever you want, your HR department and manager may still make a note of it. This is done, in some cases, on a master calendar, so everyone in the company knows when you’re in and out of the office (and not reachable!).

3. It’s Not Yours to Keep

One of the advantages of unlimited vacation is that you never have to worry about using up, losing, or rolling over vacation days. The unlimited supply means paid time off is always there when you need it.

However, the downside is that you can’t “bank” your days off. While this is an advantage while you work for a company with unlimited PTO, you most likely won’t be paid out for those vacation days when you leave.

4. You May Take Less

And because you’re never worried about “using or losing” your vacation days, you may discover that you’re unintentionally taking less time off than if you had a capped amount of days!

Knowing you only have X amount of days off each year or that you must use Y days off by the end of the year forces you to plan out your vacation days with intent, ensuring you use it all. Ironically, when you never have to worry about losing days or taking too many days off, you may forget to plan for time off and never take vacation days!

Benefits of Unlimited Vacation Time

While there is debate about potential abuse of the system or employees feeling overwhelmed or scared by such policies, unlimited vacation policies provide workers with the flexibility they need to make life work and allow them much-needed time to recharge.

Additionally, business leaders realize that unlimited vacation time boosts company morale because employees can take time to relax, recharge, and refocus. In turn, employees are happier, healthier, and more rested, providing the company with highly productive and creative workers who are invested in the company.

Related Companies that Hire:

Take a Few Days

Although unlimited vacation policies are not a one-size-fits-all option, it does provide benefits to both employers and employees.

If you’re searching for a company with flexible policies like unlimited vacation time, consider joining FlexJobs. Our research team fully vets each job posting to ensure it’s a legitimate opportunity. Take the tour to learn more!

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