These companies will give you unlimited paid time off this year

Take as many holidays as you’d like with this popular perk that more UK employers are embracing in 2024.

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For many of us, the idea of taking a trip away is one of our main motivations for working throughout the year. Yet, under current holiday entitlement laws, full-time employees in the UK are entitled to just 28 days of holiday each year.

That’s why job hunters are increasingly searching for enhanced annual leave. Organisations are catching onto the demand. Some have even embraced unlimited paid-time off (PTO), where employees take as much or little holiday as they prefer.

The trend is already common across the pond. But while unlimited annual leave sounds liberating, it has been known to backfire, and discourage individuals from taking any breaks at all. Thankfully, unlike the US, UK law mandates at least 5.6 weeks of annual leave.

Below, we’ve listed the biggest firms with unlimited annual leave. Take a look at these businesses to keep your ‘out of office’ always on.

Dropbox

US-based file hosting service Dropbox opened its first London office in 2015, bringing with it a huge range of benefits to Brits. Most of these are designed to give staff greater flexibility over their work style and hours, including unlimited PTO.

Alongside its generous annual leave policy, the company also offers a flexible benefit fund of £1K (renewed every quarter) to spend on healthcare, dental appointments, or eye tests.

Notably, employees can make use of paid family and carer leave, meaning its support package is ideal for parents, who often have to rely on annual leave for childcare obligations.

Dropbox UK job openings in May 2024:

HubSpot

Marketing software giant HubSpot opened its first UK office in 2021. Now, the brand employs a 70-strong in-office and hybrid workforce across England, Scotland, and Wales – all of whom benefit from the company’s unlimited PTO allowance.

HubSpotters are clearly big fans of holidays. The perk comes in addition to a company-wide week off in July and a four-week paid sabbatical after five years at the firm.

The one stipulation is that employees must record their leave requests via the Vacation Quota Relief (VQR) program. This is to ensure that one employee’s time off doesn’t lead to colleagues working extra hours to backfill their absence.

Jobs available at HubSpot’s London office in May 2024 include:

  • Solutions Engineer (Small Business)
  • Staff Machine Learning Engineer
  • Senior Software Engineer

Visualsoft

Stockton-based Visualsoft (which also has offices in London and Manchester) began offering staff unlimited holiday entitlement way back in 2014, making it one of the first UK companies to adopt the perk.

At the time, Visualsoft CEO Dean Benson  said the decision had been made to foster a culture of transparency, explaining “we’ve discovered that if you trust the people you work with to do the job in hand, they actually do.”

The digital agency hasn’t stopped there. Job listings posted on the company website describe a host of other benefits including free eye tests, monthly vouchers, and remote working options.

Positions being advertised at Visualsoft in May 2024 include:

  • SEO Account Director
  • CRO Account Director
  • Senior CRO Account Director
  • Social Account Director
  • Senior Social Account Director
  • Senior Amazon Executive
  • Marketplaces Account Director
  • Business Development Consultant

Oracle

Oracle is a US-based software company and is one of the largest employers in the world. Despite this, it’s one of the most relaxed when it comes to flexible working, as it offers unlimited PTO to all 143,000 employees (although managers must approve all requests).

The perk is part of Oracle’s flexible benefits programme, Select. Through this, employees can access a range of benefits including healthcare plans, medical options, and insurance. Like Dropbox, staff can tailor their own package using the firm’s flexible benefits fund.

Oracle has multiple offices across the UK. Job openings in May 2024 include:

  • Lead Cloud Architect (based in Reading)
  • SCM Functional Consultant (based in Reading)
  • Technology Cloud Sales Rep (based in Manchester)
  • Senior Associate Consultant (based in London)
  • Applications Sales Representative (based in London)
  • Product Manager (remote)
  • Principal Cloud Support Engineer (remote)

Indeed.com

It’s the UK’s leading jobs website. But if you’re trawling through thousands of postings on Indeed.com this month, wondering why you can’t find one with unlimited PTO, the answer might be right in front of you.

Indeed.com began offering uncapped annual leave back in 2018 for its more than 13,000 global workforce. The only stipulation is that all leave must be approved by a manager, but aside from that there are no minimum or maximum leave allowances for staff.

Other perks available at Indeed.com include:

  • Extended parental leave (unpaid)
  • Childcare vouchers
  • Dental insurance
  • Health insurance
  • Life insurance

EatSleep Media

It’s not just large, American tech corporations that can offer unlimited PTO. EatSleep Media, a Welsh-based media company, marked itself as a trailblazer for SMEs when it introduced boundless annual leave in 2022.

In a blog post, EatSleep declared that the policy would simplify the process of making a holiday request, which was complicated by the firm’s lack of work hours. It also introduced a minimum leave requirement to ensure its 13 staff members take appropriate rest breaks.

“Keeping track of who worked when and what we owe them in terms of time off in lieu can be confusing,” the company declared. “This way, it all becomes an irrelevance. Our staff take the time they need when they need it.”

Unusually, the company also does require staff to submit a formal request for leave. They can simply let management know when they want a day off. While there are currently no vacancies at EatSleep, you can send in your CV for future opportunities.

Written by:
Helena Young
Helena is Lead Writer at Startups. As resident people and premises expert, she's an authority on topics such as business energy, office and coworking spaces, and project management software. With a background in PR and marketing, Helena also manages the Startups 100 Index and is passionate about giving early-stage startups a platform to boost their brands. From interviewing Wetherspoon's boss Tim Martin to spotting data-led working from home trends, her insight has been featured by major trade publications including the ICAEW, and news outlets like the BBC, ITV News, Daily Express, and HuffPost UK.

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