For years, American workers have racked up trend names for the various ways they’ve checked out of corporate life.
There was “quiet quitting,” then “bare minimum Mondays,” and more recently the “date them till you hate them” trend, in which disengaged employees stick around long enough to fall out of love with jobs they’ve already outgrown.
Now, one of the latest workplace trends is more practical and arguably more useful. Employees have figured out how to wring out every possible day of a standard PTO bank.
It’s called “PTO-maxxing.” And according to new data from mobile-first employee experience platform Blink shared with Fortune, the right calendar strategy can stretch 15 vacation days into as many as 49 days off in a year.
“Strategically spreading vacation days around federal holidays creates more breaks to prevent burnout before it starts,” Lauren Burns, chief operating officer at Blink, said in a statement shared with Fortune. “With summer quickly approaching, workers can make the most of Memorial Day, July 4, and Labor Day by using just one or two days of PTO to extend those three-day breaks into four- or five-day resets.”
Now Memorial Day has already passed, but there is still plenty of time to map out your remaining vacation days for the rest of the year and get a kickstart on the 2027 holidays.
Blink analyzed the U.S. federal holiday calendar to identify the exact days workers should request off to turn long weekends into four- and five-day breaks without burning through extra PTO.
The planning is fairly straightforward. For Monday holidays like Memorial Day or Labor Day, a worker should pair it with one vacation day taken on the previous Friday. That turns a three-day weekend into four. Take a Wednesday and a Thursday around Christmas (which lands on a Friday this year), and two PTO days turn into a five-day reset. Stack those moves across the calendar, and the totals add up fast.
“Alternatively, employees can save some days for a longer trip, where using just five PTO days can turn into a 10-day break while still allowing smaller resets throughout the year,” Burns added.
Below is a chart showing how you can max out your PTO days for the rest of the year and through the beginning of 2027.
Americans are leaving vacation days on the table
PTO maxxing is hitting at just the right time when American workers desperately need the time off but rarely take it.
Nearly 50% of U.S. workers who get paid time off use less than they’re offered, according to Pew Research Center. Many say their reasoning is because they’re worried about falling behind at work or they’d feel bad about making their coworkers pick up their slack while they’re gone.
The picture looks even worse compared to the rest of the world. Expedia’s Vacation Deprivation Report, published in 2024, found Americans get just 12 vacation days per year—the fewest of any country surveyed. Plus, more than 50% said they don’t plan to use all of their vacation days.
“In Japan, people take time off every month instead of just twice a year,” Melanie Fish, head of Expedia Group brands public relations, said in a statement. “For the French, not even a full month of vacation feels like enough time.” And in Hong Kong, respondents actually took more time off, on average, than they were allocated, according to the study.
“Clearly there’s a lot for the U.S. to borrow from, whether it’s spreading your PTO throughout the year or prioritizing rest on your next vacation,” she continued.
Other research also shows that even when workers do take time off, they don’t fully unplug. SHRM cited data from a 2024 Harris Poll showing 86% of employees check emails from their boss while on vacation, and 56% take work calls. Nearly half said they feel guilty about taking time off in the first place.
Other workers have also used PTO maxxing to lock in better childcare coverage when schools are out.
“The problem with this is most parents don’t have those days off from work,” marriage and motherhood content creator Paige Connell said in a TikTok video in November 2025 ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. “Parents are doing the math right now and they’re saying ‘how do I make this work? Do I take PTO? Do I take sick days?’”
“Parents are left doing this crazy math equation,” she continued. “Parents do not have enough PTO or sick time to bridge that gap.”
Written by Sydney Lake for Fortune as “‘PTO-maxxing’ is the summer hack turning 15 vacation days into 49 days off” and republished with permission.
