Paid time off tracking
- What the unused PTO is worth
- $18,144
- PTO days the policy grants a year
- 270
- PTO hours the policy grants a year
- 2,160
- What the granted PTO costs in wages
- $60,480
Nothing in these worksheets is a figure we found somewhere. Every number comes from the inputs you enter and the accrual method stated on the page: hours granted divided by pay periods a year, applied to the periods completed, plus carry-in, less taken and less approved. The defaults are a worked example of a common US policy, not a recommendation and not a benchmark.
The figures above start from a worked example ($18,144). Change any input and the answer updates as you type.
Download the Paid time off tracking worked example (CSV)
This is the team view, and it exists because the per person balance never reaches the person who sets the policy. Give it your headcount on the PTO policy, the days each is granted, your working day length, an average loaded hourly cost, the share of granted time your people actually take, and your carryover cap. It returns the days and hours the policy grants across the team, what that costs in wages, how many days get taken at your rate and how many are left, what the unused days are worth, the unused hours a head set against the cap in hours, and what one day with everybody out costs. The take rate is the input worth arguing about: it is the one figure here that comes from your own record rather than your policy document, and it is the one that moves the answer most.
What the policy grants, in hours and in wages
18 people on 15 days each is 270 days, or 2,160 hours, and at a loaded cost of $28 an hour that is $60,480 of wages the policy commits before anyone books anything. The hourly figure is yours: the wage plus whatever you load on for payroll taxes and benefits, because that is what an hour of paid time off actually costs.
The take rate, the one input that comes from your record
At a 70% take rate, 189 of those days get used and 81 are left. Every other input here is in your policy document; this one is only in last year's data. If you have never measured it, the placeholder is telling you that, and swapping in your real figure is the single change that moves the answer most.
What the leftover is worth, and whether the cap bites
81 unused days at eight hours and $28 is $18,144 sitting on the books. Per head that is 36 unused hours against a 40 hour carryover cap, so nothing expires on these numbers; push the take rate down or the cap lower and hours start being forfeited, which is a policy decision better made before December than after it.
Paid time off tracking: common questions
What take rate should we use?
Your own, from last year's record. The default of 70% is a placeholder so the sheet has a worked example, not a benchmark and not a recommendation. If you have never measured it, that is the first thing this calculator is telling you.
What should the average hourly cost include?
The wage plus whatever you load on for employer payroll taxes and benefits, because that is what an hour of paid time off actually costs the business. Using the bare wage understates the figure by whatever your loading is.
Is the unused PTO figure a liability we have to book?
Whether accrued PTO is a balance sheet liability depends on your accounting basis and your policy, and in some states on whether it can be forfeited at all. This gives you the wage value of the hours; your accountant decides where it belongs.