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Though people might think changing work attitudes are driving employees to take more paid time off, the opposite is actually true, according to new research from PTO platform Sorbet. According to a press release, their study, which was based on a survey of 1345 U.S. employees, suggested that 55% of PTO was left unused this year, versus about 28% before the pandemic. Moreover, what PTO was used wasn't used equitably: men were granted 10% more PTO than female colleagues and were 33% more likely to use their PTO, according to Sorbet's data.
Some of this could be due to relationships between employees and their managers. Around 24% of employees don't feel comfortable asking their managers for PTO, the survey finds.
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A new shift to remote and hybrid work policies could play a role, too, with 31% of employees saying working remotely makes it more difficult to take PTO, according to the research.
Though you might expect parents with younger children to take more PTO to care for their kids, the survey actually suggested that parents with kids under the age of 12 were 12% less likely to take PTO than workers without kids or with older kids. Lower-income workers and older workers were also more likely to take PTO than their counterparts, while women were 19% less comfortable taking PTO than men. On the other hand, women are 27% more comfortable using sick days.
Sorbet's press release points out that unused PTO is responsible for $318 billion in liabilities in the U.S. economy, since workers who leave their jobs can get paid out for unused PTO. Those liabilities could become problematic if large portions of the workforce are laid off or quit unexpectedly – something that seems increasingly likely with the ongoing effects of the Great Resignation.
"Paid time off is one of the most underutilized assets employers have at their disposal in the battle to attract and retain talent," says Sorbet CEO and co-founder Veetahl Eliat-Raichel in the press release. "In a post-COVID world, employees clearly feel less legitimized and incentivized to take time off which causes a breathtaking loss of value to both employers and employees. Value which should be harnessed towards both the companies' and the employees' financial wellbeing."
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