initialism🔤 abbreviation
PTO
paid time off
What it means
PTO stands for 'paid time off' — the days an employer pays you not to work, covering vacation, personal days, and sometimes sick leave in one pool. It's especially common in US workplaces, where 'taking PTO' means using those days.
Words like “PTO” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.
Examples
- I'm taking PTO for the first week of August.
- How much PTO do you have left this year?
- She used a day of PTO to move apartments.
- Our company offers unlimited PTO.
Where it comes from
An HR initialism that became widespread as companies merged separate vacation and sick-day systems into a single 'paid time off' balance.
Related abbreviations
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