PTO Genius, another startup launched in 2020, is urging employees that the algorithm suspects they are at risk of burnout — based on factors such as long hours and changes in behavior — to take a vacation. The service may offer to cash out unused PTO to help an employer relieve that liability. Rob Whalen, co-founder of the six-year-old PTO Exchange, describes an influx of demand this year and says his company now works with 60 employers covering more than 200,000 employees.
“Bernie,” who asked to be identified with a pseudonym for fear of angering management, is a Florida municipal government employee. He can pay out up to 35 hours of PTO each year — about one-fifth of his combined vacation and sick time — and usually maxes out that allowance. He rarely takes time off, is hesitant to burden colleagues in his small department with extra work, and sees the program as a comfort. “It’s a way for people to get something back when they don’t have the protections of a unionized position,” he says, which can help workers exercise their right to time off.
Lonnie Golden, an economics professor at Penn State Abington, part of Pennsylvania State University, who studies overtime and employee well-being, considers cash-out startups quintessentially American. He can’t imagine getting off the ground in, say, western or northern Europe, where, he says, “there’s social and organizational pressure to spend more time on your non-work activity.” The US is the only wealthy country that does not guarantee paid vacation time. Nearly one in four American workers, most of them low-income, receive no PTO at all.
For some employees, trading their PTO isn’t an easy transaction — and cash may not be an option. The software platforms employers use are highly customizable and can give employees the ability to convert the cash value of their time off into retirement savings, student loan payments, charitable donations, or travel expenses. In some applications the PTO can be converted faster than in others.
But cash seems to be what employees want, says Eilat-Raichel of Sorbet. “For the most part, workers only want to use this for gas and for Pizza Hut,” she says — extra help with routine expenses. A former employee of the genetic counseling firm InformedDNA, which uses PTO Exchange, says cash was not an option. She asked not to be named to avoid conflict with the company. After accumulating an abundance of PTOs during the early days of the pandemic, she traded her time for a hotel room at a friend’s wedding. “I was glad I could use the hours for something,” she says. “But I would rather just get money for it.”
The employee was also unsure whether the value of the hotel equaled the value of the time she had earned. Probably not, given PTO Exchange’s standard fee. InformedDNA did not respond to questions from WIRED about the program.
As the economic climate becomes less certain and some companies start shedding staff – leading to payouts of unused PTO – Eilat-Raichel sees payout programs as a way for employers to reclaim some balance sheet predictability. But Bersin, the HR analyst, says the potential recession has made employers more focused on productivity. That suggests they should want employees to use all their free time, he says, because well-rested people get more done. “You really want to have a work environment where people take vacations because then other people feel comfortable taking vacations,” he says. “If you want to give someone some money, just give them the money. Why take it out of their free time?”
In July, Javon Garcia left his job at Howard Brown. Working in relative isolation through the pandemic for nearly two years has burned him out. He’s glad he was able to cash in on his time when he needed the money, but what he ultimately craved was a break. He is now traveling through Europe. It’s unpaid – but much needed – free time.
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