🏖️PTO Accrual Calculator

About this tool

Choose how your PTO builds up. Per pay period spreads an annual allowance across paychecks, per hours worked accrues at a rate such as 1 hour per 30 worked, and UK statutory holiday covers 5.6 weeks pro rata or 12.07% for irregular hours. Enter what you've used and carried over, plus any cap, to see your available balance in hours and days.

How PTO accrual works

Paid time off (PTO, vacation or holiday) usually builds up gradually rather than arriving all at once. With per pay period accrual, the yearly allowance is divided by the number of paychecks. 15 days of 8 hours is 120 hours a year, so a bi-weekly employee accrues about 4.62 hours each pay period, and by mid-March of a calendar year has about 23 hours. Per hours worked accrual suits part-time and hourly staff. California's paid sick leave, for example, accrues at least 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. Many employers also set a cap: once your balance reaches it, you stop accruing until you take time off, which encourages people to use their leave. Some allow unused time to carry over to the next year, and some pay it out when you leave. In the UK, almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year: 28 days for someone working five days a week, pro rata for part-time (three days a week gives 16.8 days), capped at 28 days, and employers may count bank holidays within it. For irregular-hours and part-year workers, holiday accrues at 12.07% of hours worked in leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. Honest limits: your contract, handbook and local law decide the details, including rounding, waiting periods, carry-over limits and payout. US states and countries differ widely, and this isn't legal or HR advice. The notice period calculator, the working days calculator and the timesheet calculator are related.

Frequently asked questions