Any idea why they advertise “unlimited” paid time off but make it nearly impossible to use it? I came here from a prime, where I had more accrued PTO, which I could actually take, even though it wasn’t labeled “unlimited.” Here, I get much more pushback and scrutiny whenever I try to take time off. Really wish I hadn’t made the move.
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@a8 People write their own contract all the time. You just need a higher clearance and the skills. I've been watching people write their own contract for years. They come in when they want and negotiated their pay.
@896 Texas, we do it better apparently.
It's unlimited but not for you. One man I know used 400 hours PTO, over 200 of sick leave. He's still employed, still says it's unlimited... doesn't bat an eye when he says it. Not a standout employee,
@7pg Most red programs are a result of L3H leadership knowingly and willingly underbidding, understaffing and overscheduling contracts. Usually within 3 months of award, there is a program reorganization or tiger team assigned to try and right the sinking ship. All the bid team leaders now bail from their program roles and move on to other bidding opportunities.. and some other team is left holding the bag and taking the blame for the failures of the program. If 100 % of the staff were available and supporting the program, the program would still fail.
Management loves to blame "vacation" and "employees" but they will never blame "themselves."
Why would they? They are collecting their bonus checks and cashing in stock options.
L3H management believes in one thing.
Fail.Forward. and collect the $$$$ along the way!
I've been with the company nearly 15 years. To be frank, when unlimited PTO was first unlimited... people abused the heck out of it whether if it was recognized or not folks abused it.
Back then the fiscal year ended at the end of Q2. So we had two dead zones of activity that made programs fail. The month around June and December had little to no progress on product development. Can you imagine a company function if that kept happening? Our program failed because people were leaving for vacation. And not only were they taking the 160 hours for those months... they'd take the full 200 hours and then sick leave on top of that.
So... yea... the abuses of those programs is likely the result of the stricter language regarding vacation.
My entire department is told to use 160 hours plus reasonable amount of sick as needed. We are actually encounter to use the whole 160, so while it’s not unlimited 4 weeks is good enough, hard to get more elsewhere.
@15w over 10 years we get 205 hours, 9 hours a pay period but no sick time
@15w Union technicians in Clifton start with 80 hours vacation time after a year.. They get 12O hours after 5 years of service and must complete 10 years of service to get 160 hours of vacation time.They also get 5 sick days and 16 hours of personal time. .And one floating day.
Try waiting 10 years to get that 4th week. By comparison ,management gets a better deal.
Just so you know, techs receive 168 hours of accrued PTO annually—that’s actually 8 hours more than Engineers with “Unlimited” PTO.
There is no universe where L3H is giving an employee 10 weeks off.
Having said that, when people go on military orders, they charge vacation until they get back. So it is entirely possible that a report could show 10 weeks of vacation, but in reality it is military orders that have not been reconciled.
I’m more curious who the people are that are using “400+ hours of PTO and 400+ hours of OT” at the same time.
Former EM. It was never truly unlimited. The approval level was higher over 200.
The company budgets for 160 per employee.
Since the company wants to cut spending, they are being hard as--s about approval.
Fwiw, this applies to sick time. You get much above 40-60hrs and questions get asked.
Unlimited PTO is used on the one hand, as an added advertised "perk", to lure naive jobseekers in for being hired at lowered pay.
On the other hand, Unlimited PTO is primarily offered to benefit the company, not the employees. Because when they give you the boot/lay you off, they are then not legally obligated to pay out whatever remaining PTO days you have accrued up until that point. They don't have to pay anything, then for PTO. They win, you lose.
Don't be fooled...unlimited PTO isn't much of a benefit to you as an employee, at all.
I'm pretty sure you can't write your own contact. 😅
But seriously it's the typical bait and switch hiring trick. It's the same trick you used to get the job when you lied or exaggerated on your application and your LinkedIn profile.
@OP This is the problem with many companies that give "unlimited" PTO. They only really want you to take two weeks off. One for Christmas and half for Thanksgiving and few for when your kid is sick. Other than that, they want you to show up for work.
But when you take the job offer, you should manually edit it and write at least 4 weeks of PTO will be taken even with companies "unlimited" PTO policy. This way it's in the contract and it's your right.