BambooHR report: PTO requests hit four-year high; hiring outpaces turnover

A new report from Lindon-based human resource platform BambooHR found that January had the highest percentage of employees making paid time off (PTO) requests since the beginning of 2019. The study, the first Workforce Insights Report with data pulled from BambooHR’s platform, also shows that the average number of employee performance reviews in companies is increasing annually and hiring is now outpacing turnover.

The report shows that hiring outpaced turnover through January and February of this year, both in the U.S. and globally, after falling short in December 2023.

“As people leaders, we’re constantly trying to stay ahead of workforce trends that might impact the businesses we work in. However, some of the most common metrics published like unemployment rates and labor participation rates don’t always provide the insights we need to make informed decisions in our day-to-day work,” said Brad Rencher, CEO of BambooHR. “The Workforce Insights Report is BambooHR’s monthly deep dive on millions of employee data points captured in our platform across the globe. We want to give HR leaders and organizations a deeper understanding of the factors impacting their most valuable asset: their people.”

While a higher proportion of employees are asking for PTO every year, PTO approvals aren’t keeping pace, leaving a wider gap of unapproved time off, the study found.

• January 2024 had the highest percentage (56 percent) of PTO requests in the past four years.
• Employee PTO requests have increased 11 percent on average annually since 2019, while approvals are only increasing 9 percent on average annually.

On average, 37 percent of employees make a PTO request every month, with around half of requests (49 percent) being approved. But, in 2023, 44 percent of employees made PTO requests.

• The industry with the highest proportion of PTO requests by employees in February was finance, followed by nonprofits, with more than half of employees requesting PTO. The restaurant/food and beverage category ranked dead last for PTO requests.
• Maine and Oklahoma are the top U.S. states for PTO requests, while Puerto Rico and Utah have top approvals while being the lowest for PTO requests.

The number of employee reviews is increasing every year, but not all regions see the same volume. The United States has fewer reviews than its global counterparts but is trending higher.

• The average number of employee performance reviews is increasing by 15 percent annually.
• There were 28 percent more reviews done in January 2024 than in January 2023.
• Reviews consistently spike in the summer and winter, with the most manager and peer feedback completed between June and July and November through January.
• U.S. employees receive fewer peer reviews than in other countries, with five peer reviews for every manager review in the U.S. compared to an average of 17 in other countries.
• The average number of employee performance reviews is increasing by 10 percent annually in the U.S., compared to 8 percent in non-U.S. countries.

Layoffs have made headlines for more than a year but hiring and job openings are now outpacing turnover in 2024.

• Global turnover decreased by 25 percent from February 2023 to February 2024.
• At the end of 2023, turnover topped hiring, but from December 2023 to February 2024, hiring increased by 27 percent and job openings by 54 percent —the highest proportion of job openings since last March.
• Every industry (education, nonprofit, construction, travel, healthcare, finance and food/bev) has a higher proportion of hires than turnover, though in the tech industry, they are nearly equivalent with only a 7 percent difference.

“This data tells me employees value work-life balance and direct feedback more than ever before,” said Anita Grantham, head of HR at BambooHR. “Managers looking to retain talent will need to take a closer look at what staffing needs they have and if increasing PTO and performance feedback is possible. The workforce isn’t shy about asking for these things. I think we’ll only see this trend continue and organizations will have to increasingly embrace those values to attract the new generations entering the workforce.”