Unlimited PTO: The Capitalist Wellness Scam Disguised as a Benefit
Unlimited PTO claims to offer freedom. But without structure or payout, it may be the most expensive “benefit” you’ll never use.
Imagine you’re a modern knowledge worker in a buzzy startup The CEO returns from a mindfulness retreat full of TED‑Talk confidence and declares that the company will now offer Unlimited PTO. MS Teams explodes with emojis. Someone googles “flights to Bali” before the applause stops. Another orders a surfboard, convinced a new age of corporate freedom has dawned.
This is the sales pitch of Unlimited PTO. It promises blank calendars, tropical escapes and the illusion that your employer has finally decided you are a human being, not a productivity machine. The policy is rolled out in HR emails full of words like “trust” and “ownership.”
Six months later reality creeps in. The surfboard is now a standing desk prop. Vacations vanish under project deadlines. Colleagues whisper about “team players” and “commitment.” The boss who made the announcement hasn’t taken a single day off himself. The invisible strings tighten. Unlimited PTO reveals itself for what it often is: an offer that exists mainly to be admired.
A Brief History of “Freedom”
Unlimited PTO sounds like a beautiful innovation, but in truth it’s simply the latest repackaging of an old idea: give workers the illusion of choice, and they’ll police themselves better than any manager ever could.
In 1936, France introduced two weeks of legally mandated paid vacation. Workers took actual holidays. Trains to the Riviera were packed. It was a cultural revolution powered by union pressure. That same year, the International Labour Organization adopted a global framework for paid leave. Europe never looked back.
Indonesia, following its post-independence labor reforms, established 12 days of paid annual leave, a modest number but one backed by enforceable rights and, crucially, monetary value. Don’t use it? You get paid out. Simple. Real.
Meanwhile, in America, corporations offered vacation as a perk…like health insurance, or a ping-pong table. No national law required it. Instead, employees were told, “We’re all family here.” And like many families, they refused to discuss money and worked through Christmas.
Then came Netflix. It introduced “no vacation policy” and called it “freedom and responsibility.” The result? Employees voluntarily took less time off, while praising the culture of trust. Corporate heaven.
By the 2010s, startups everywhere were drunk on disruption. HubSpot, Evernote, LinkedIn all embraced “unlimited” leave, despite evidence showing most people don’t take it. The phrase appeared in job listings right next to “fast-paced environment” and “work hard, play hard,” which roughly translates to “you’ll never know when it’s okay to stop working.”
And thus, the grift began: workers handed their time back to their employers, companies slashed liability from the books, and everyone high-fived over how progressive it all looked.
“Take All The Time You Need” Unless…
On paper, Unlimited PTO sounds like an invitation to rest, recharge, and rediscover hobbies. In practice, it’s like being handed a blank check with the gentle suggestion not to cash it.
First, there’s the benchmark problem. With no stated minimum or maximum, time off becomes a psychological tightrope. Take too little and you quietly implode. Take too much and someone updates the org chart without your name on it. No one wants to be the person whose “work-life balance” got them reassigned to “non-critical initiatives.”
Your manager? Still grinding through weekends. You put PTO on the calendar. Then take it off. Then put it back. Then move it to next quarter. Karen is still annoyed she had to cover your shift last time and she brings it up in team retros with terrifying subtlety.
And when you do leave the company? No vacation payout. Unlike in Singapore, where accrued leave is paid out upon termination, or Indonesia, where unused leave counts toward your Uang Penggantian Hak (UPH), Unlimited PTO offers... nothing.
No accrual. No encashment.
And don’t expect clarity on sick leave either. Legally protected sick days exist across Southeast Asia, but some companies still try to blend sick time into the unlimited pool. Which means your recovery from COVID or burnout is deducted from the same goodwill pot as your cousin’s wedding in Bali.
It’s a system where the company saves money, avoids liability, and gets to look benevolent. Meanwhile, you get to lie in bed with a fever, wondering if you’re technically “on vacation.”
The Company’s Secret Weapon: A Benefit You’ll Never Use, and They’ll Never Pay
From a company’s perspective, Unlimited PTO is HR alchemy. It looks generous, costs less, and somehow gets employees to take fewer days off while thanking their employer for the privilege.
Start with the financial upside. Traditional leave policies come with accruals. These sit on the books as a liability. If you leave with 12 untaken days, that’s real money the company has to pay you. But with Unlimited PTO? No accrual, no payout, no problem. Suddenly, your unused vacation is worth exactly zero. From an accounting standpoint, it’s clean. From your standpoint, it’s just... gone.
Then there’s the recruitment value. “Unlimited PTO” sits neatly beside “work from anywhere” and “snacks in the kitchen” in job listings designed to sound like love letters. It signals trust, flexibility, and enlightened culture. All without the requirement of actually letting people disconnect.
And let’s talk about optics. “We don’t track hours,” they say proudly, while quietly noting that your Teams status turned yellow at 11:38pm. Your output is still measured. Your responsiveness still noticed. Your absence, very much felt.
It’s a policy that looks like freedom but isn’t. You pretend to rest, they pretend to care. Everyone claps.
But the data tells the truth. People with Unlimited PTO consistently take 2 to 5 fewer days off than those on fixed plans. And companies have started noticing.
It turns out that employees don’t need infinite freedom. They need permission. Structure. Maybe even a company-wide calendar block that says: Log off. It’s fine.
Welcome to “Freedom,” Where You’re Free to Keep Working
You’re told you’re being empowered. You’re told you’re trusted. You’re told the boundaries are yours to define. What you’re actually being handed is a blank form with instructions to fill it out yourself while staying online and hitting all your KPIs.
Your boss? Out of Office for a week of “deep strategic thinking” in Ubud. Karen from Sales still hasn’t forgotten that time you took a Friday off and she had to move her 1:1. You, meanwhile, are carefully crafting a PTO request with the emotional weight of a diplomatic cable, unsure if three days off will tank your performance review.
Now shift the lens to Southeast Asia, where laws still offer actual leave.
Indonesia gives you 12 paid days plus a legally protected sick pay structure that tapers gently.
Singapore offers 7 to 14 annual leave days, plus up to 60 days for hospitalization.
Malaysia mandates accrued leave that, if unused, must be paid out.
This is policy that is written, enforced, and worth money.
So when an SEA-based company enthusiastically markets “Unlimited PTO,” ask a few simple questions.
Is this extra, or a replacement?
Will I be judged for using it?
Will I get compensated if I don’t?
If the answers are vague, you’ve just been handed the illusion of freedom, expertly swapped for your rest, your rights, and your exit cash.
At its core, Unlimited PTO is the kind of benefit that looks great on paper but functions like an inside joke. You’re given “limitless freedom,” but only if you don’t actually use it.
In rare environments with mature leadership, clear cultural norms, and policies that encourage real time off, employees might thrive. They might even rest. But these are the exceptions. Most of the time, Unlimited PTO functions more like a beautifully executed cost-saving measure dressed up as progressive thinking.
No tracking. No accruals. No payouts. And somehow, no vacations either.
So when a recruiter cheerfully pitches it as a perk, pause. Smile. Ask one simple question:
“How many days did people actually take last year?”
If the answer is vague, evasive, or involves a nervous laugh followed by “it really depends,” you already know the truth.
At StratEx - Indonesia Business Advisory we work with clients to craft time-off strategies that attract talent without burning them out. Contact us to design modern, compliant, and human-centered time-off frameworks that people actually use.