Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow says it’s time to stop pretending unlimited vacation is working.
The Promise Isn’t Living Up To The Hype
In a recent LinkedIn post, Breslow announced that his online checkout company is officially ditching its unlimited paid time off policy, joining the ranks of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Kickstarter. The move comes after realizing the policy wasn't helping the team; it was actually hurting it.
“It sounds progressive, but it’s totally broken,” Breslow wrote. “When time off is undefined, the good ones don’t take PTO. The bad ones take too much.”
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The result? “A-performer burnout. B-performer luxuries. And feelings of unfairness across the board,” he said.
Bolt is now offering four weeks of mandatory paid vacation, with additional time accruing based on tenure. According to Breslow, this shift brings clarity and fairness, which he believes are crucial if the company is asking employees to “move fast, build hard, and operate at the highest level.”
“Execution requires clarity. That applies to PTO, too,” he added.
Bolt Isn’t Alone
While unlimited vacation policies sound like a dream, experts say they often benefit employers more than employees. CBS MoneyWatch reported in 2023 that such policies allow companies to erase unused vacation day liabilities from their balance sheets, saving them billions.
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Wharton School Professor Peter Cappelli told CBS MoneyWatch that shifting to unlimited time off means companies go from a “contractual obligation to a kind of moral obligation.” He estimated that U.S. businesses are saving about $224 billion by doing this.
“Conscientious employees aren’t likely to take advantage of their access to unlimited time off, but less-motivated employees… can be far more inclined to take off as much time as they can get away with,” workplace consultant Alison Green told CBS MoneyWatch.
Bolt recently made another controversial change—eliminating its human resources department entirely. Breslow said the company has replaced it with “people ops,” which he claims is more focused on efficiency and gives managers more power.
“We believe there’s a better way to do it; and one without middlemen getting in the way of our teammates and their managers,” he wrote. “After several experiments, including Conscious Culture, I've concluded that HR is the wrong energy, format, and approach. People ops empowers managers, streamlines decision making, and keeps the company moving at lightning speed.”
That shift is part of a broader theme at Bolt: cutting unnecessary complexity and putting clearer systems in place. In Breslow’s view, that includes ditching unlimited vacation.
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