TIL a survey of 5,188 US workers found that 46% said they take less paid time off work than is offered to them.

I've always seen it work like this: you have unlimited vacations, but you have to go through an approval process to use them. Some stipulations have usually been requesting the PTO earlier depending on the days that you are requesting (Ex. getting it approved 1 month prior to a few days of vacation, 2 months prior if it was a week long vacation, etc.). Another common one is centered around deadlines (Ex. you cannot schedule PTO one week before or after a big deadline).

I've worked at a place where it was a HUGE pain in the ass to get things scheduled. But I've also worked at a place where it was an absolute delight. They didn't give a shit what you did as long as you finished your work.