Unlimited vacation policy has been adopted by a few companies but it still remains a rarity in much of the corporate world. The business community, at large, is currently dealing with, among other things, the recent push by some government and labour leaders to hike the minimum wage. Asking some of these companies embrace unlimited vacation policies might not be something they are eager to deal with presently.
In her recent article titled Unlimited Vacation: Is It About Morale or the Bottom Line for Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) Dana Wilkie writes:
“Unlimited vacation first became popular at startups in Silicon Valley and then began to seep into other industries—typically those where employees work independently and can set their own hours. Companies that have embraced unlimited vacation include Netflix, Virgin America, The Motley Fool, Achievers, Jellyvision and General Electric, which offers the benefit to senior employees.
Still, unlimited vacation policies remain rare in corporate America; just 1 percent to 2 percent of companies offer the benefit, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM’s) 2016 Employee Benefits report. Evren Esen, SHRM-SCP, SHRM’s director of survey programs, said that statistic hasn’t changed appreciably during the past five years.
Leaders at companies that have adopted unlimited vacation laud the perk. They say there’s no more pressure on workers to plan and save days. Meanwhile, they say, employers are freed from the administrative hassle of tracking time off and the financial burden of paying out unused vacation time.”
The benefits of taking time-off is undisputed and studies including one by Oxford Economics revealed that employees are more dedicated, productive and healthy when they take time-off. However, for several companies, unlimited vacation sounds more like a fantasy rather than reality, and so, it would be better to check with your HR department and ask about your corporate culture (if you are not sure) as it pertains to a policy like this, before getting excited about the companies that offer it.
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