This yogurt brand is offering people $5,000 to take time off

The popular Icelandic skyr yogurt brand, siggi’s, wants Americans to take their paid time off. No excuses! But siggi’s is doing more than just urging their own employees to take their PTO, they’re offering to foot the bill for any hard worker’s vacay.

The brand just announced a new contest that’s easy to enter and comes with a pretty amazing prize: $5,000 and a $1,000 flight voucher. All you have to do is tell the siggi’s, in a few sentences (200-300 words) why you haven’t used all your PTO in the past. 

A siggi’s spokesperson told Fast Company that the inspiration for the challenge was, quite simply, the normalization of a society that never stops working. “At siggi’s, we believe that less sets you free. In our product, that means less sugar and simple ingredients. But that belief extends beyond food.”

The spokesperson continued, “In a culture obsessed with doing more, working more, and sometimes, burning out… siggi’s is on a mission to help people find their greatness by doing less. That is where the PT-Yo Program was born.”

Of course, there may be a ton of reasons why so many Americans (62%, according to a 2024 report) may leave vacation days unused, like competitive culture, stress or guilt about taking time off, but the days add up. They also have a massive price tag. Last year, Americans had more than $312 billion in untouched vacation days. 

The yogurt brand believes that trend is worrying. “As an entrepreneur, I know how hard it is to step away,” said Siggi Hilmarsson, founder of siggi’s in a press release. “But stepping away is where the real breakthroughs happen. This summer,  we’re motivating people to take their time—and take it seriously.”

The brand also recently debuted a billboard in New York City’s Times Square urging workers to use their PTO. Because, if they don’t, well, nobody wins. However, if you’ve managed to slack off on slacking off in the past, you can still be one of 10 people to win siggi’s PTO challenge. According to the spokesperson, contestants need to be over 18, live in the U.S. (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and all other territories and possessions outside of the continental U.S), and basically just want to take an epic (and well-earned) vacation.

Check out the challenge here and put in your PTO request.