PTO Exchange, the first benefits platform that allows employees to self-direct the value of their unused paid time off (PTO) for other needs and causes, announced a significant milestone – 1M hours of PTO exchanged on its platform, equaling $54M. This milestone supports the tremendous need for HR teams to offer innovative benefits like convertible PTO to meet the diverse financial needs of their workforces.

“We are excited about reaching this milestone because it validates what we thought when we created the category – employees need and want flexibility in the way they can utilize their benefit dollars to support their transitions and moments in life,” says Rob Whalen, Co-founder and CEO of PTO Exchange. “By listening to our customers and employees, we can continue to innovate and develop new solutions on our platform to support our customers’ diverse workforce population and their ever-changing needs.”

After several years of extreme economic volatility and financial turmoil, employees are facing financial hardships as total household debt has risen to almost $17.3 trillion and the personal savings rate has collapsed to well under pre-pandemic levels. This has led to employee stress reaching record levels, contributing to an engagement crisis – less than a quarter of employees say they’re engaged at work. Employers are looking for alternative ways to help alleviate their employees’ financial stress and PTO Exchange gives them the power to do so with its convertible PTO platform. Their convertible benefit platform can offer options like retirement contributions, student loan or tuition payments, HSA contributions, cash for unexpected expenses and more that can improve employees’ financial circumstances while reducing the balance sheet liabilities created by large amounts of accrued PTO.

Since its inception, PTO Exchange has worked with over 100 customers in various industries (including Easterseals MORC, Makeready, and Griffin Capital). The company has seen a massive spike in interest in the market, with nearly 60% of the transactions happening since the start of 2023. Through the platform, employees have been able to address ongoing inflation challenges and put more than $5 million of pre-tax contributions toward their retirement savings and health savings accounts.

“PTO Exchange gave us a vehicle that is flexible to meet individual needs and supports our employee’s financial well-being,” says Aimee Bosma, Director, Total Rewards at Dayton Children’s Hospital. “In the past several years, it has been difficult for employees to utilize all our generous PTO hours. PTO Exchange allows our employees to still benefit from their PTO hours in ways that are meaningful for them. Partnering with an innovative company like PTO Exchange allows us to provide yet another exceptional experience for Dayton Children’s employees.”

PTO Exchange also partners with industry heavy hitters Businessolver, NFP, Transamerica, and many others. These firms realize that employers are struggling to find scalable solutions that can address the varied needs of a multigenerational employee population.

“I think PTO Exchange offers a great benefit. It’s not a heavy lift to implement or a high cost to the employer while offering great value to the employee,” says Julie Curran, Vice President, Corporate Benefits at NFP. “I find PTO Exchange to be a great balance of two demands that are happening right now: demand on the employer’s budget and demand for better employee benefits.”