How Many Days of PTO Is Normal?
If you’re looking to add PTO benefits and wondering how many days are normal, use this guide to build the right PTO policy for your company.
Written By: Kristina Proffitt
Last Updated March 25, 2026
Paid time off can do wonders for your employees and the business. But deciding on the right amount of PTO can be a challenge.
Offering unlimited PTO may seem like an easy way to attract talent, but it can actually lead to employee burnout. On the other hand, fewer days off could be easier on your bottom line, but it might affect your retention rates.
So how many days of PTO is normal? What are the most common PTO policies, and where do they fall short? And how can you design a policy that works for your business? We spoke with multiple experts to answer these questions.
How many days of PTO is normal?
A straightforward way to understand this is by looking at the average.
National average
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, most private companies offer employees 11–20 paid vacation days per year, depending on tenure:
- 11 days after one year of service
- 15 days after five years
- 18 days after 10 years
- 20 days after 20 years
Average by industry
The average number of employee PTO days can vary dramatically by industry. The table below shows the average number of paid holidays by industry for civilian workers as of March 2021.
| Industry | Mean paid holidays (days) |
| All workers | 8 |
| Management, professional, and related | 9 |
| Management, business, and financial | 9 |
| Professional and related | 9 |
| Teachers | 10 |
| Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers | 9 |
| Registered nurses | 8 |
| Service | 7 |
| Protective service | 10 |
| Sales and office | 8 |
| Sales and related | 6 |
| Office and administrative support | 8 |
| Natural resources, construction, and maintenance | 8 |
| Construction, extraction, farming, fishing, and forestry | 7 |
| Installation, maintenance, and repair | 8 |
| Production, transportation, and material moving | 8 |
| Production | 9 |
| Transportation and material moving | 7 |
The “average” approach is simple — but is it ideal?
Experts agree that the average should, at best, serve as a reference. What matters more is that your PTO policy meets the specific needs of your people and company.
Adopting the average without considering other factors can backfire. Chris Kirksey, Founder and CEO, Direction.com, recalls how they lost candidates despite offering 15 days off — above the national average. This motivated him to begin tracking the reasons every time a candidate rejected their offer.
“After 6 months of doing this, we had 14 declined offers on record. Nine of them went to totally remote companies with either unlimited PTO or flexible scheduling without any request process. None of them went to companies with more days under a traditional accrual model.”
Chris Kirksey concluded: “The problem was never the number of days. It was the approval friction.”
In some cases, especially during peak periods, the average may simply not be enough. “I’ve seen developers hit walls after major site launches because they only had the “average” rest time scheduled,” says Chris Bajda.
And even when you do consider the average, you should know which “average” to refer to. According to Steve Faulkner, Founder and Chief Recruiter, Spencer James Group:
“In professional services, I would call national averages almost irrelevant. If a company is looking for something to benchmark against, I would advise using their top talent competitors rather than a general national average.”
Popular PTO policies: What works and what doesn’t
Let’s now explore the most common policies and what you should be looking out for when assessing them for your company.
Tenured PTO
Under this policy, employees earn more PTO the longer they stay with the company.
To be consistent with the national average, you can give your employees at least 10 days of PTO per year for years 2–5, then add 2–4 days each once the employee completes 5, 10, and 20 years of service. (In this example, we assumed a 5-day work week.)
Tenured PTO is a way to reward your long-serving employees.
- It gives them a concrete, recurring incentive to stay.
- It also shows that you value longevity and commitment.
But it has some drawbacks:
- Junior employees may feel the policy punishes them because they haven’t been there as long.
- It can also create workload imbalances when senior staff go on vacation.
- It can get expensive if you have many long-term employees.
Use it or lose it
Under this policy, employees must take their PTO within a set time period, or they lose any unused days.
An employee receives 10 PTO days for the year, but by December, they have used only 7 days. This means they won’t be able to use the remaining 3 days.
This policy can benefit both employees and companies:
- Employees are more likely to use their PTO because it expires.
- You may not have to compensate an employee for unused PTO when they leave.
- It reduces admin burden as you don’t have to calculate rollover balance at year end.
But it could potentially cause problems:
- Employees may take long vacations, especially at year end, with no one to fill in for them.
- It may feel restrictive for people who may want to take fewer days off this year so they can take a long vacation next year.
- It can impact morale if employees lose PTO because they couldn’t use it on time.
Note that this policy is banned in several states, including California, Montana, and Nebraska. These states consider PTO an earned benefit that can’t be revoked.
Enhance this policy by introducing a rollover cap
One way to fill the gaps in this policy is to introduce a rollover cap. This lets employees carry over a limited number of unused PTO days to the next cycle. This limits your PTO liability and has less impact on employee morale. It also means you are likely to avoid a year-end rush and run business as usual even during busy periods.
In the example above, the employee doesn’t lose the remaining 3 PTO days and can instead use it in the next cycle.
PTO accruals
In this method, employees earn PTO based on the time worked.
An employee earns 0.05 hours of PTO per hour worked. This adds up to about 10 days a year.
PTO accruals can help employers manage time off more efficiently:
- It distributes PTO days throughout the year, which reduces the likelihood that several people will take time off at once.
- You can better predict worker availability, which will simplify workforce planning.
- Employees can take only what they’ve earned, which limits the risk of PTO misuse (e.g., a new hire can’t take two weeks off in their first month and then quit).
That said, it can also create challenges:
- New employees and part-time workers may have to wait longer before they can take meaningful time off. This could put you at a recruitment disadvantage in a more competitive market.
- It could be challenging to track every employee’s PTO, unless you use PTO tracking software.
Calculating PTO accruals, determining how much time off employees have available, and adding PTO to payroll can be a full-time job in and of itself. While you could use a manual tracker, PTO tracking software like Buddy Punch makes managing your PTO benefits much simpler.
Unlimited PTO
Under this policy, employees can take as much time off as they need. They may need to meet certain conditions, like getting manager approval. Unlimited PTO is a common benefit offered by tech companies.
At first glance, unlimited PTO may seem attractive because:
- It offers people the freedom to take time off whenever they want and builds trust.
- It also minimizes PTO liability as employers don’t have to track PTO use and balance.
But Lexi Petersen, Founder of Cords Club, saw unexpected results.
“Unlimited PTO “ended up being under-utilized by our employees, especially by our frontline and newer workers. Because there was no ‘right’ amount of time they should take, they were unsure how they can go about taking time off.”
The leadership was also setting “unwritten rules, and not everyone was comfortable enough to violate them.”
“We were slow in setting the example of taking PTO seriously despite owning flexible workflows. While our salaried creatives took several weeks off a year, team members in less flexible workflows such as fulfillment, customer service, or bench jewelers took either no paid time off or simply tacked on a day to their usual workweek.”
Create your own fair and effective PTO policy
When creating PTO rules, determine where your company stands on two axes:
- Competition for talent — high or low
- Margins — flexible or tight
Depending on your requirements, your policy can sit in one of the four quadrants in the matrix below.
| ↑ Flexible margins | HIGH COMPETITION | LOW COMPETITION |
| OPPORTUNITY ZONE High Pressure, High Flexibility High competition | Flexible margins PTO Strategy: Above-average PTO or unlimited — use generosity as a differentiator | STEADY STATE Low Pressure, High Flexibility Low competition | Flexible margins PTO Strategy: Market average — match industry norms and reward tenure | |
| ↓ Tight margins | HIGH COMPETITION | LOW COMPETITION |
| BALANCING ACT High Pressure, Tight Margins High competition | Tight margins PTO Strategy: Slightly above average — stay competitive while managing cost exposure | CONSERVATIVE Low Pressure, Tight Margins Low competition | Tight margins PTO Strategy: Conservative PTO with structured accrual — protect cash flow |
Competition for talent
When assessing your company on this axis, consider factors that impact how attractive and flexible your PTO policy should be for employees.
Labor market conditions
Experts agree that PTO must reflect how tight the labor market is. This is especially true for experienced male employees, says Scott Davis, Founder, Outreacher.io. One of his clients ran an experiment to address high turnover rates in this group.
“A 5-day PTO increase resulted in a reduction of staff quitting from this segment from 17% to just under 10% in 12 months. This happened despite essentially unchanged job satisfaction scores in their employee experience surveys.”
According to Scott: “Excellent management, compensation, or even things like after-work socials can all convince people to stay or make turnover costly, but when someone hits their ‘You’ve got to be kidding me’ threshold, only PTO can truly keep them from taking that job across the street.”
Market compensation
PTO is a low-cost way to make a package feel competitive without significantly increasing payroll spend.
If you’re in an industry where PTO is an uncommon benefit — like retail and restaurants — you can offer a below-average number of PTO days. But if you’re competing with large companies, offering more PTO can help you compete for new talent and retain existing employees.
“New team members receive two sick days upon hire and begin accruing PTO after their first 90 days. This structure allows employees to settle into their roles while reinforcing accountability and ownership.”
– Debbie DeGooyer, Director of Human Resources, Arcane Marketing
Role seniority
Experienced employees generally bring extensive knowledge and experience — and expect additional time off.
So while two weeks of PTO can be competitive for entry-level employees and administrative or support roles, it isn’t competitive for “experienced, revenue-generating professionals or leadership roles,” says Steve Faulkner.
“Offering 2 weeks to a 10-year industry veteran signals either cost constraint or an outdated workplace philosophy.”
And increasing PTO based on seniority rewards long-term employees and can keep them around for longer. This can also make you a more attractive employer when hiring for more competitive positions.
Understanding the margins
When assessing where your company stands on this axis, try to understand cost control, shift coverage, and operational requirements.
Cost vs. competitiveness tradeoffs
Consider the cost of the PTO you offer alongside the trade-offs that come from it. For example, if you’re considering how much PTO you should offer:
- Offering little time off can reduce your expenses on employee benefits, but it can increase turnover and burnout.
- On the other end, offering unlimited PTO can make you an attractive employer, but it can make it harder for you to ensure coverage.
Companies face similar conflicts when deciding on other aspects too, like whether rollover should be allowed.
- Allowing rollover can give your employees flexibility, but if there are large unused balances when an employee leaves, your costs can go up.
- On the other end, use-it-or-lose-it policies will keep admin tasks easier for you, but employees may feel they’re losing benefits they’ve earned.
The goal is to offer enough flexibility to employees without creating costs your team can’t sustain.
Legal and liability considerations
The most important factor when designing a PTO policy is the law of the state where you’re based. For instance, some states — like Hawaii, Kansas, and Mississippi — don’t enforce PTO laws. Others — like Illinois, Louisiana, and Massachusetts — mandate that employees must be compensated for any unused PTO when they leave the company.
State laws often change, sometimes without notice. Consult the latest statutes when designing your PTO policy to stay compliant.
An actionable PTO policy clarifies 3 things:
- How PTO is earned. For example, do employees receive their PTO at the start of the year, or do they accrue it over time?
- How it is used. For example, how far in advance must employees request PTO?
- What happens to unused PTO. For example, can employees roll over unused PTO to the next year?
How software can help you manage your PTO benefits
Buddy Punch is a user-friendly and feature-rich time and PTO tracking app. It makes it easier to track PTO with features like:
- Accrual rules: Configure PTO accruals by pay period, hours worked, or anniversaries, with customizable carryover settings.
- Time-off requests: Employees submit requests via desktop or mobile. Managers receive real-time notifications and can set approval workflows.
- Blackout dates: Restrict time-off requests on critical business days.
- Reports and calendar: PTO tracking, exportable reports, and a shared time-off calendar for visibility.
Its competitive pricing and payroll integrations make Buddy Punch a strong choice for businesses.
Learn more about Buddy Punch
- Start a free trial — no credit card required
- View pricing
- Watch a video demo
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- Request a personalized demo
Contributors
- Camille Bagatsing, Marketing and Operations Manager at Search Party Recruiting
- Chris Bajda, E-commerce Entrepreneur and Managing Partner at GroomsDay
- Chris Kirksey, Founder and CEO at Direction.com
- Debbie DeGooyer, Director of Human Resources at Arcane Marketing
- Lexi Petersen, Founder of Cords Club
- Scott Davis, Founder of Outreacher.io
- Steve Faulkner, Founder and Chief Recruiter at Spencer James Group
