Here’s what these 5 companies are doing for their holiday PTO

5 companies share their holiday PTO strategies

December 20, 2021 5:30 AM

The holiday season is here, and employees and employers alike are trying to figure out just how much of it they’ll get to spend with family and friends this year.

Ten days is the average annual PTO in the United States private sector — not including paid holidays and sick days, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. And to this day, 28 million Americans don’t get any paid vacation or paid holidays, according to data from career insights platform Zippia. But as we move into another new year, it’s possible that the outlook on holiday time off will also renew.

“Implementing generous PTO models and giving your employees the space and trust to take time when they need it — and as much as they need it — will be critical to minimizing burnout and building healthy, engaged teams that produce quality results moving forward,” says Andrew Le, Co-Founder & CEO of Buoy Health. “Changing the way the business world approaches holiday PTO is one of many steps that can help improve a company’s culture and show employees that you care about them as people first and foremost.”

The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation days and paid holidays, according to Zippia. But if there’s any one good thing to come out of the pandemic, it’s the industry-wide focus on creating a work-life balance providing the nudge to finally change the landscape.

“If you look at other countries as a case study, some are already there — in China it is common to have at least an entire week off for Chinese New Year, which doesn’t require using your individual PTO and vacation time,” says Michael Alexis, CEO of TeamBuilding, a employee engagement site. “Your employees value PTO, in many cases more than other forms of paid compensation, and so it will continue to be a way to attract, retain and reward a great team.”

Here’s a list of five companies offering comprehensive holiday PTO — and why and how they do it:

Summer Fridays

Unlimited PTO, in additional to allowing the whole company to take off the last week of the year

“Our PTO structure has allowed and encouraged employees to feel comfortable taking time for their personal life while respecting the work that needs to get done. Our schedules have been built with people's scheduled time off in mind, and whether celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, Summer Friday supports that.” — Sarah Roberts, partner, head of finance and operations at Summer Fridays

Teambuilding.com

Introduced a dark week this year between Christmas and New Year’s

“Last year was the first time we offered virtual holiday parties as a service. Due to the global shift to remote work, there was a massive influx in demand. We were understaffed and our team worked long, irregular hours to help serve our clients. We realized that the regular official holidays, such as Christmas and New Years were not enough to compensate for this. We introduced “dark week” as a way to both thank employees and provide meaningful time to relax.

For us, dark week is extra PTO days off between Christmas and New Years. The default is that full-time employees are not required to work, and will still be paid for this time. Some employees choose to work, as we do have some need for coverage, and these team members earn floating PTO days they can use at another time.” — Michael Alexis, CEO of TeamBuilding.com

Buoy Health

Two full weeks off at the end of December, in addition to regular PTO

“Our employees have time to breathe and really unplug with their family and friends, and they’re happier and healthier for it. Three-day or four-day holiday weekends can go by in a blink of an eye, so having a half-month to really settle down, unwind, reflect, and spend quality time with the people we love has had huge benefits for our teams. People come back refreshed and ready to bring new ideas and innovations to the table. And whether it’s holiday PTO or just personal PTO, employees have confidence that their time will be respected—we don’t want our teams to feel like they have to be “on” all the time, and we strongly encourage our teams to stay offline when they’re out.” — Andrew Le, co-founder & CEO of Buoy Health

Momentive

Company-wide global shutdown between Christmas Eve and New Year’s

“We believe this extended break allows our global team to take a break during the holidays without the stress that sometimes comes with missing a stretch of work with individual paid time off. They also don’t have to worry about using their personal vacation days — the days off for the recharge are in addition to individual PTO and other holidays we provide. Benefits like extra company-wide PTO, especially around times like the end-of-year holidays where spending time with loved ones is so important, are highly valued and becoming increasingly expected. And for companies looking to be employers of choice as the great reshuffling continues, they would be well advised to give their people the meaningful benefits — like extra holiday PTO — that they’re looking for. Just providing the standard holiday PTO, especially around the end-of-year holiday season, won’t cut it anymore.” — Becky Cantieri, Chief People Officer at Momentive

Podium

Company-wide office shut-down between Dec. 24 and Dec. 31

“Over the past few years, we’ve found that collective time off has proven to be a great way to ensure our team is taking a break and stepping away to recharge and come back ready to run towards our company goals. Podium has been doing a summer reset and a holiday reset for many years now. We believe this holiday shutdown will help our people really rest, recover and refocus for 2022. It is one of the best ways we can take care of our people and we would be nothing without them.” — Katie Morrow, Vice President of People Operations at Podium