Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO) for employees can lead to greater productivity & less burnout

Lester Kiewit speaks to Karen Lowe, Director of 4 Day Week SA.

Have you heard of Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO)? 

It is a structure where employees are not assigned a set number of paid days off at the start of the year, but where they are afforded the freedom to take time off when needed as long as doing so will not disrupt business and their team.

This provides significant flexibility as an employee and rewards productive use of work hours without compromising work goals or performance. 

Businesses like Cell C have adopted this into their leave policy at an executive level, which is also where most experiments around PTO are being done since most execs don't take time off often, says Lowe.

Lowe says unlimited paid time off leave models have been around for quite a long time and folds into 'a total rewards package,' giving the employee a chance to dictate when and how they take leave.

With any policy, it has a lot of rules and regulations - the most important rule - unlimited paid time off should not impede work performance or affect teams negatively.

This policy is also based on flexibility, trust, autonomy and results from employees.

"The policy has quite a lot of rules and regulations so with unlimited paid time off, you need to plan ahead like any other leave plan and ensure that the work gets done."

- Karen Lowe, Director - 4 Day Week SA

"It is seen as a privilege, not a right... your starting point is always productivity and output. Am I covering my work and therefore, am I able to take time off? And if I do take unlimited time off, does it impede my team's ability to do their work?"

- Karen Lowe, Director - 4 Day Week SA

Lowe notes that unlimited paid time off might be difficult to implement in specific working environments but contingencies can be made and more staff should be hired for coverage that does not result in the burnout of other employees who are still working.

"It's difficult to apply an unlimited paid time off policy to a blue collar work environment or production, shift-work or manufacturing environments."

- Karen Lowe, Director - 4 Day Week SA

"If you apply unlimited time off in specific environments beyond executive level, you've got to have coverage... so if you are going to apply it in more complex output environments, you're going to need to extend the number of employees in the line and know that it's going to have an incredible impact on the amount of coordination and administration on the leave policy."

- Karen Lowe, Director - 4 Day Week SA

Lowe says unlimited time off policies can be adapted for work places for it to be productive and effective while having a positive effect on employees and the business. 

"In the right environment and if it's applied well, it can have a positive effect on burnout and well-being... and it can foster autonomy and trust and place more power in the hands of middle management which is important for teams to grow."

- Karen Lowe, Director - 4 Day Week SA

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