Unlike Jensen Huang, this CEO embraces work-life balance and is proud he takes vacations and coached his kids’ baseball team

Yogurt CEO Bill Cassidy argues normalizing time off is a competitive advantage—not a concession

Courtesy of Lactalis U.S

YogurtBillionaire CEOs, Jensen Huang and Elon Musk, udly embrace not taking a day off of work

However, not taking PTO may do more harm than good for , according to Bill Cassidy, CEO of Lactalis U.S

Yogurt ( to brands Yoplait and Siggi’s)

He tells Fortune he works to —and encourages his team to take their dream vacations

Each year, nearly half of U.S. workers forgo their dream vacation— a trip to Paris or Hawaii—and instead log more hours in the office

The result: more than 700 million unused paid time off (PTO) days, according to a 2019 study

But for others, including Bill Cassidy, CEO of Lactalis U.S

Yogurt, the trend is a warning sign

Cassidy’s alternate stance is simple: “I work to .” “Work is an enabler to do all the other stuff that we want to accomplish in our s,” he tells Fortune. “I love what I do

I love my family and friends more than work

But when you put the two together, you have that right level of balance.” At a time when many CEOs view advancing nology and AI disruption as reasons to double-down on hustle culture, Cassidy said he believes striking the appriate balance is what will lead to success for workers and leaders a. “To be a better leader, I also need that right amount of time to disconnect from the , spend time with family and friends and come back—whether it’s a two-day vacation, a week’s vacation—that’s kind of irrelevant, but I come back recharge with more energy to drive the ,” he adds

Encouraging employees to take PTO While some leaders may take pride in working all the time—seven days a week, with no vacations—Cassidy says that’s not a lifestyle he ever planned to embrace. “One thing I never wanted in life was to have regrets that I did not spend the right amount of time with my kids, in particular,” he says

In fact, even while climbing the corporate ranks, he continued to coach his kids’ football, baseball, and soccer teams—even if it meant he had to substitute responding to s for team practice

That mindset even spilled into marketing

Earlier this year, Siggi’s launched a PTO-focused campaign with the goal of calling attention to the lack of vacation days throughout the world

More than 42% of all Gen Z and millennials say their managers should help set boundaries and facilitate work-life balance, according to a 2025 Deloitte study

Striking the right PTO balance Determining how much PTO is awarded for employees is a major consideration of many job seekers—and can even be a make-or-break factor

In fact, one survey found 1 in 5 workers would turn down a job without unlimited PTO, even though it’s only found at 6% of companies, according to SHRM

Beyond being an enticing perk for new-hires, unlimited PTO is viewed as something that could give companies a competitive edge

Some 57% of retail investors expressed the belief that companies offering unlimited vacation could fare better than the top 500 companies listed on the U.S. stock exchange, according to a survey by Bloomberg

He takes around six weeks of vacation each year and hopes his employees will do the same. “I take a lot of vacation and I’m hoping that certainly sets an example,” the former Netflix CEO said in 2015. “It is helpful

You often do your best thinking when you’re off hiking in some mountain or something

You get a different perspective on things.” But other companies have tried unlimited PTO—and reversed course

A LinkedIn post from Ryan Breslow, the CEO of fin startup Bolt, went viral earlier this year for announcing the death of unlimited PTO at his company due it causing more harm than good for employees. “We just killed unlimited PTO at Bolt,” Breslow wrote. “It sounds gressive, but it’s totally broken

When time off is undefined, the good ones don’t take PTO

The bad ones take too much.” And while Lactalis did not vide specifics of their PTO policy besides being “generous and flexible,” Cassidy said he believes the companies that thrive won’t be the ones that glorify constant work, but the ones that help employees take time off—without guilt

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