> You expect your employer to pay you for not working 40% of the year?! Insanity.

Insanity is saying "You have unlimited PTO", when actually it's a very normal 20 days / year or whatever. Unlimited !=20 days. Just say you have 20 days leave and then it's clear to everyone involved.

I don't know about insanity, in Europe it is very clear what the contract and law says, and it is very simple. People usually have the holidays around the same time of the year. Then again the salaries are much, much lower than (some parts) of the US. You could see it as a tradeoff.

However it varies from country to country but in my understanding the difference to US is drastic.

To be honest, I think this is quickly becoming an outdated way of thinking that favors the business. There is room in our current model to respect that businesses, and the people who found and run them, have a bottom line and also need to grow. But there is also a lot of room for workers to be treated much more humanely than they are today. Why not try to give people 10%, 20%, or more of their time off? A major goal should be humans living their best lives, not just businesses achieving the highest valuation or dollar profit possible. And that is not the current paradigm. Even in Tech, where workers probably have some of the best bargaining power of any sector, most of the humane treatment is lip service. A more worker centric model is an inevitability - more time off, less hours per day, and less days per week worked. It's already happening.

1. I wouldn't call that necessarily insane, depending on the specifics of the work contract. 2. I think the objection to using the word "unlimited" is correct. The only way I can imagine a truly unlimited PTO policy working is if there were concrete performance metrics that I was expected to meet to retain my job. And if I manage to get a year's worth done on January 2nd, I can take off the rest of the year.

How is that insane? It's just a perk of the job.

And yes I agree with OP - 25 days of guaranteed PTO a year is pretty limited and nothing that special.

> You expect your employer to pay you for not working 40% of the year?!

No, but I expect if they won't that they do not call it "unlimited".

That’s priced in. It’s just fair that there is a mandatory amount for everyone and that’s the baseline.

IMO payment is not needed, but I'd be happier in a world with 20 weeks of vacation per year.