"They never take leave" is one of those signals managers reach for when they want to say something nice in a performance review. It’s also a yellow flag on its way to becoming an attrition flag — and the right intervention depends on which kind of "never takes leave" you’re looking at.
Three reasons people don’t take PTO
- They’re genuinely happy and don’t feel a need. (Rare.)
- They’re ambitious and worry it’ll cost them perceived dedication. (Common.)
- They’re afraid the work won’t survive their absence. (Most common — and most fixable.)
How to tell which one you’re looking at
A quiet 1:1 question, asked without judgement: "When you’ve thought about taking time off recently, what stopped you?" The answer is almost always one of the three above. Listen to which.
For the fearful ones
The fix is structural, not motivational. "Take a week" doesn’t address the actual concern, which is that the work won’t survive. Build a 30-minute handover ritual that everyone uses before leave: a single doc covering active threads, expected decisions in their absence, and a named backup. The first two times someone uses it, they’ll be amazed at how much their week actually was.
For the ambitious ones
The fix is leadership behaviour. They’re reading you. If you take leave publicly, fully unplug, and praise others who do the same, the signal lands. If you Slack from the airport "just checking in", you’ve told the team that taking leave is theatrical, not real.
For the genuinely-happy ones
Make sure they’re actually happy and not Stockholm-syndromed into thinking they are. A monthly question — "On a 1–10, how’s your energy?" — usually surfaces it before a real burnout does.
Don’t do this
- Send a "you have unused PTO" email and walk away. It produces zero behaviour change and slight resentment.
- Schedule a "wellness day" team activity and pretend it’s leave. It isn’t.
- Praise the person for "dedication" while quietly worrying about them. You’re reinforcing the thing you’re worried about.