CEO Explains Why He's Ending 'Unlimited' Time Off for Employees
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Bolt, a payment startup known for pioneering progressive workplace perks, has ended its unlimited paid time off (PTO) policy.
Founder and CEO Ryan Breslow made the announcement via LinkedIn, calling the idea "totally broken." Breslow, who returned to Bolt's leadership earlier this year following a three-year hiatus, said unlimited PTO led to inconsistent use of vacation time and burnout among top performers.
Newsweek has contacted Bolt via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Advocates of unlimited PTO say it ensures a healthy work-life balance for employees and attracts top talent to companies. However, the policy, which has not been widely adopted, has also been criticized as being prone to abuse by employees and ineffectual, given that workers are still pressured to take as little time off as possible.
Bolt's decision to rethink its time-off policies comes amid a growing recognition by companies of the issue of burnout and its effects on both employee well-being and organizational performance. Alternative means of combating burnout and increasing efficiency are gaining traction in the U.S.—including a four-day workweek, which some businesses and lawmakers support.
What To Know
Under Bolt's new rules, time off will be mandatory, and employees will receive four weeks of paid vacation per year with increases tied to tenure.
"It sounds progressive, but it's totally broken," Breslow said of unlimited PTO on LinkedIn. "When time off is undefined, the good ones don't take PTO. The bad ones take too much. This leads to A-performer burnout. B-performer luxuries. And feelings of unfairness across the board."
Ryan Breslow speaking during the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit at Detroit Opera House in Michigan on October 4, 2022.
Ryan Breslow speaking during the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit at Detroit Opera House in Michigan on October 4, 2022.Several companies—including Microsoft, Dropbox and the marketing software developer HubSpot—have adopted unlimited PTO policies.
The reported benefits include increased flexibility for employees, reducing the administrative burden of tracking and managing vacation time and attracting new talent.
Gene Marks, a columnist and business owner, said the policy had served as a great recruiting and employee retention tool, was easier to oversee than ordinary vacation policies, and eliminated the need to pay out unused vacation time when employees left the company. Marks also found that employees, contrary to expectations, did not take excessive time off.
However, others have argued that unlimited PTO remains dependent on the discretion of managers. Critics also say an underlying implication exists that employees will be punished or disadvantaged for using their time off, meaning the PTO is not unlimited in any real sense.
A 2022 survey by the HR consultancy Namely found that employees with unlimited and fixed amounts of PTO ended up taking about the same amount of time off each year.
As Breslow said in the announcement, the policy might also be open to abuse. The lack of clear guidelines around PTO amounts could result in some employees taking excessive time off, with others—the "A-performers"—feeling pressured to take less and suffering from burnout as a result.
What People Are Saying
Ryan Breslow, the founder and CEO of Bolt, wrote on LinkedIn: "We're flipping the script: no more confusion. Every Bolter now gets 4 weeks of paid vacation (yes, the traditional corporate standard), with the opportunity to accrue more with tenure. Not optional. We mandate everyone take all 4 weeks off. If we're asking people to move fast, build hard, and operate at the highest level, we need to protect their recovery time with the same intensity."
What Happens Next
Breslow, who recently returned to the company after three years marked by investor disputes and legal battles, is part of a broader restructuring at Bolt. Last month, he announced that Bolt would eliminate its human resources department in favor of a people operations model, a holistic workforce management approach also employed by Google.
Breslow said this change would allow the company to focus more on efficiency rather than "fluff." He added that the change was not an indication that the company didn't value "culture, oversight, or checks and balances."
"For serious employee treatment issues, someone can escalate to a superior or people ops team member," he wrote, adding that HR was "the wrong energy, format, and approach."
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