How a Financial Services Company's Employees Rallied to Support a Coworker's Family Using PTO.

Some of the most powerful uses of PTO Exchange have nothing to do with retirement accounts or student loans. For one financial services organization with a tight-knit, family-like culture, the platform became something else entirely: a way for a workforce to show up for each other during an unimaginable loss.

The Challenge

This organization offered a generous PTO policy, and many employees found themselves carrying a significant balance of unused time at the end of each year. As an employee-centric organization with a strong emphasis on work-life balance and financial wellbeing, leadership wanted to offer more flexible options that let staff get meaningful value from their earned time off.

But the need went beyond financial flexibility. With a genuinely tight-knit, family-like culture, the organization was also looking for a structured way to let employees support one another during times of hardship, rather than relying on informal, ad hoc efforts every time something difficult happened.

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The Solution

This organization partnered with PTO Exchange in December 2020, launching a program built for both individual flexibility and collective impact. They activated three features: direct exchange, allowing employees to convert unused PTO into supplemental income; giving, enabling PTO to be donated to nonprofit causes; and sharing, which allows employees to exchange PTO to directly support coworkers facing hardship.

That last feature became more than a nice-to-have almost immediately. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a beloved team member passed away unexpectedly, leaving behind a teenage daughter. In response, employees came together and used PTO Exchange to contribute their unused PTO, creating a fund to help support her future.

It was a powerful, spontaneous act of generosity that reflected the organization's culture of compassion, and a clear example of how a flexible benefits platform can support emotional and social wellbeing, not just financial goals.

The Impact

For this charity endeavor, employees at this organization have exchanged:

• $175,000 in PTO value
• 3,641PTO hours
• 126 individual exchanges

Never mind the help received by this family, the value of this company's culture, all coming together for the greater good, is even more.

In Their Words

"We so appreciate the ability to exchange our PTO hours for this important cause.”  EMPLOYEE

Why It Works for Any Company

This organization's story is a reminder that PTO Exchange isn't only a financial wellness tool — it can be a vehicle for genuine community. By giving employees a structured, meaningful way to support each other, this organization turned a benefits platform into something employees will remember long after the balance in their account is spent.

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