Minimal Annual Leave Is a Red Flag for Job Seekers

Have a lackluster paid time off (PTO) plan? Expect a lackluster response from job seekers.

While a lack of information in job postings regarding a role’s salary range or the specific benefits offered seems like an obvious reason for job seekers to stop short, the most egregious red flag is a minimal annual leave allowance, according to a survey of 1,092 people conducted by London-based business services company StandOut CV.

Other top red flags in job postings include pressure to engage with company social media content; omission of salary details; a lack of diversity in the company’s board or on its “about us” page; and the mention of the phrase, “We’re like a family.”

That finding comes after the 2024 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey found that leave benefits tied with retirement savings and planning as the most important employee benefit offering, according to HR leaders. Those benefits lag behind only health care benefits in perceived importance.

HR Q&A: Improve Employee Retention by Reevaluating Benefits Packages

We gathered other articles on PTO policies from SHRM.

Average Time Off

Paid vacation, holiday, and sick leave continue to be near-universal benefits, all provided by 96% or more of employers, according to SHRM.

While allotted time off varies by employer, there is some data on the average amount of leave an employer offers to employees. Employers offer an average of 12 paid vacation leave days, 10 paid sick leave days, and 20 PTO days (which include both vacation and sick time) for a full-time employee who has been at a company for one year, according to the 2024 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey.

SHRM’s survey offers a basis of comparison for employers, but paid leave policies, like all benefits, should reflect what is important to an organization’s workforce, said Calven Engstrom, a data sourcing specialist at SHRM.

“It’s really about managing employees’ needs,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s doing what you think would make your employees happy.”

Employees Working on Vacation Is a Major PTO Problem

For employees, not only is feeling like you don’t have enough time off a big PTO issue, but not truly stepping away during that time off is a big problem as well.

When they did take time off, 60% of employee respondents to a Harris Poll in 2024 said they struggled to fully disconnect from work, 86% checked emails from their boss, and 56% took work-related calls during their time off. Nearly half said they felt guilty about taking time off in the first place. Another survey of workers by online learning platform ELVTR found that a large majority of employees (68%) admitted to working during vacations.

“It’s a pretty common issue,” said Nicholette Leanza, a therapist at mental health provider LifeStance Health, who noted she has often checked emails and messages while on vacation.

While some employees may view checking in on work during vacation as a new normal, there’s risk if they do: It can have a detrimental effect on well-being — and lead some employees to quit.

Unlimited Time Off

Unlimited time off policies are growing in terms of employer implementation and employee interest. Data from retirement plan provider Empower found that roughly 1 in 5 U.S. residents say they would decline a new job if it didn’t offer the benefit.

But while some employers are hesitant about offering such policies — worried that employees would be away from work too often — the data reveals that employees who work at companies with unlimited PTO policies don’t take much more time off than those who work at companies with specific time off policies.

On average, employees with unlimited time off take 16 days off per year, compared to the 14 days that employees with specific time off take, according to the Empower report.

How to Promote Paid Time Off in Your Workplace

Even though employees want robust PTO policies, many hesitate to use their allotted days. But there are a number of ways HR professionals and other company leaders can foster an environment in which taking PTO — for vacation, sick days, volunteer work, or other purposes — is encouraged.

 That includes promoting the benefits of taking time off, having managers and company leaders lead by example by taking time off, and addressing barriers to taking time off.