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In this episode, Kyra explores why employees with unlimited PTO consistently take less time off than those with a set number of days, one of the more counterintuitive findings in modern workplace research. She gets into the psychology behind why that happens, shares her own experience navigating both kinds of workplaces, and takes a global look at how countries like Brazil, Austria, Japan, and Kenya approach rest on paper vs. in practice. The countries and companies that get this right aren’t necessarily the ones with the most days on the books. They’re the ones where nobody has to justify (or feel guilty about!) taking time off in the first place.
Episode Takeaways
Employees with unlimited PTO take an average of about 16 days off per year, compared to 14 for those with a set allotment. While the difference may seem surprisingly small, that small gap tells us a lot.
The benchmark problem is definitely a “been there, done that” reality. When there’s no clear sign of what’s acceptable, most people default to taking less because less feels just a bit less risky, professionally speaking, than more.
Japan mandates up to 20 vacation days and still had to pass a law in 2019 requiring workers to use at least five of them. Just more evidence that culture will typically outlast policy.
Some of the most vacation-forward countries in the world like Brazil and Austria don’t just protect time off on paper…they protect it socially as well, which is just as important.
The permission to rest is rarely coming from outside. In not-so-shocking news, most of us are the ones withholding it from ourselves.
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