Free Calculator

Is Your Time-Off Package Actually Competitive?

PTO is one of the first things a candidate compares and one of the loudest reasons people leave. Enter your package, set the benchmark to your market, and see exactly where you stand in days.

Your package (per year)

Paid vacation plus personal days. Use your full PTO bank here if sick is combined.

Enter 0 if sick time is part of the bank above.

Company-paid holidays per year.

Market benchmark (per year)

Adjust these to what comparable employers in your industry, region, and tenure actually offer. The defaults are commonly cited US private-sector reference points, not a statistic for your situation.

Your paid days off per year

0

vs market

0 days

total gap

Vacation

0 / 0

you / market

Sick

0 / 0

you / market

Holidays

0 / 0

you / market

Line by Line Against the Market

Where the total gap comes from. A package can look fine on vacation and still fall behind on holidays or sick time, so it pays to see each line.

Vacation / personal0 vs 0
Sick days0 vs 0
Paid holidays0 vs 0
Total paid days off0 vs 0

What This Means for You

PTO is a visible number, so the gap is felt fast.

Days on paper only count if people take them.

A competitive number that people feel they cannot use is worse than an honest smaller one that everyone actually takes. If your utilization is low, that is a culture signal, not a policy win. The most competitive move is often protecting the time you already offer, not adding days no one uses.

Price the time off in dollars, then weigh the whole offer.

Each paid day is worth a day of salary. To turn this gap into money and see PTO alongside health and retirement, run the benefits package value calculator. To see the same time off from the employer’s cost side, use the true employee cost calculator.

About the numbers: Total paid days off = vacation and personal days + sick days + paid holidays. The gap is your total minus the benchmark total, with each line compared separately. There is no federal minimum for paid time off in the US, so the benchmark defaults (15 vacation, 8 sick, 11 holidays) are commonly cited private-sector reference points meant as a starting point, not a statistic for your industry, region, or tenure. Set them to your real market for an accurate read. Unlimited PTO is entered as the days actually taken, since it cannot be compared as a policy. This is a positioning tool, not legal or HR advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

What counts as PTO in this calculator?
Paid vacation and personal days, paid sick days, and paid holidays. Some employers combine vacation and sick time into a single PTO bank. If yours does, put the whole bank in the vacation field and enter 0 for sick days. Parental leave, bereavement, and jury duty are usually separate policies and are not counted here.
What benchmark should I use?
The honest answer is your own market: what comparable employers in your industry and region actually offer for similar roles and tenure. The defaults are commonly cited US private-sector reference points to get you started, not a statistic for your specific situation. There is no federal minimum for paid time off in the US, so norms vary widely. The fastest real benchmark is asking candidates what they have now, since they will usually tell you.
Is unlimited PTO more competitive?
Not automatically. Unlimited sounds generous but cannot be benchmarked in days, and a well-documented pattern is that people often take fewer days under an unlimited policy than under a fixed bank, because no one is sure what is normal. If you offer it, compete on the days people here actually take and on setting a healthy floor, not on the word unlimited. Enter your real average taken to compare it fairly.
Does more PTO actually help recruiting and retention?
PTO is one of the most visible lines in an offer and one candidates compare directly, so a below-market package is felt immediately and an above-market one is a genuine edge. But days are only worth what the culture lets people use. Generous PTO that people feel they cannot take is worse than an honest smaller number that everyone actually takes.
How is this different from the benefits value calculator?
This one answers "is my time-off package competitive against the market." The benefits package value calculator answers "what is the whole package worth in dollars," including the cash value of PTO. Use this to position against competitors, and use that one to price the total compensation an offer really carries.
Should tenure change the benchmark?
Yes. Most structured PTO policies step up with years of service, so a fair comparison holds tenure roughly constant. Benchmark an early-career offer against early-career norms, not against what a fifteen-year veteran has accrued. If you are comparing a specific role, set the benchmark to what that role would get elsewhere.

Know Where You Stand Before a Candidate Tells You.

You do not want to learn your PTO is below market from the offer someone turns down. Benchmark it now, fix the line that lags, and make the time off something people actually take.

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Related: Job Offer Comparison → Related: True Employee Cost →

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