How a Tennessee-Based Financial Services Company Turned Forfeited PTO Into Student Loan Relief.

Student loan debt doesn't just weigh on new graduates, it follows employees well into their careers, quietly adding financial stress that shows up at work. One Tennessee-based financial services company, with more than 8,800 employees, decided to tackle that problem using a benefit employees were already losing every year: unused PTO.

The Challenge


Like many employers, this organization saw a significant portion of its workforce entering their roles burdened with student loan debt. With financial stress weighing on employee wellbeing, leadership began exploring ways to offer more targeted support for loan repayment, without increasing direct payroll costs.

Complicating things further, the organization's PTO policy didn't allow employees to carry unused time off into the next calendar year. That created a real tension: how could the organization honor employees' earned time if they weren't able to take it, especially in a fast-paced, deadline-driven work environment? Leadership wanted a creative, cost-neutral solution that would let employees unlock the value of that unused PTO and apply it directly toward their financial goals, student loan repayment chief among them
.


The Solution

This organization partnered with PTO Exchange to launch a program that converts eligible unused PTO into student loan payments, specifically supporting employees who had rolled over time from the previous year.

The program was built around a few key design choices:

  • Only rollover hours are eligible for exchange on the platform

  • Employees can use those hours to pay down student loan debt directly, helping reduce interest accumulation and accelerate repayment

  • Where employees previously could only make one exchange per year, in January, PTO Exchange now allows them to initiate exchanges year-round, as long as the hours being used come from the prior year's balance

 

The Impact

Since 2022, employees at this organization have exchanged:

  • $535,692 in PTO value
  • 10,727 PTO hours
  • 722 individual exchanges

This change brought a new level of flexibility and control to employees, turning time they couldn't use into a powerful financial benefit, without adding complexity for HR or increasing benefit costs.


In Their Words

 

"Adding a PTO exchange program to the mix was the right thing! Employees are really appreciating the extra benefit, engagement is high and it's helping to lower the burden of student loans.”  HR

Why It Works for Financial Services


By aligning unused time off with debt repayment, this organization created a genuine win-win: reducing forfeited PTO on one side of the ledger while supporting employee financial wellness on the other, in a way that's personalized, meaningful, and measurable.

 

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