We are witnessing a new HR trend: unlimited or forced paid time off (PTO), also known as unlimited vacation or, on the other side of the pond, holidays. The London stockbroker Finncap recently announced they will force their employees to take at least four week of vacation, as a consequence of a difficult year that forced employees into longer hours. Spill, a start-up providing online counselling, asked all its employees to take 2 weeks off at Christmas and, further, launched a holiday pledge to incentivise leaders to role-model positive behavior by taking time off to rest and combat burnout. Consulting firm Deloitte will provide unlimited flexibility on PTO as well. For firms like Deloitte, these policies have become part of their employers’ brand, demonstrating an extreme shift into flexible working.

Unlimited PTO consists of giving employees freedom to choose the amount of time off they can take in a working year, and to give them the autonomy to choose (in coordination with colleagues) when to take it. Crucially, these policies rely on organizations trusting their teams that work will continue to be done under the frame of maximum flexibility. Forced time off, by contrast, stems from the fact that some employees take too little time away to release the pressure-- in which case, there is no other option than forcing them.