The Society for Human Resource Management, SHRM, said that roughly 1% of companies nationwide offer unlimited vacation. This list of companies includes heavy hitters like Netflix, Ask.com, and SurveyMonkey, all which have been named some of the best places to work. The question still remains, though, whether this kind of rule really encourages good or bad behavior within the workplace.
Lotte Bailyn at Quartz said that “numerous studies have found that time away from the office and more frequent vacations lead to greater productivity, improved job performance and lower levels of stress.”
Obviously, unlimited vacation time is great for an employee. Workers who have kids or lots of extended family often find themselves eating up their precious days off with kindergarten plays or family functions. What if unlimited vacation actually has the opposite effect though? What if the absence of a vacation policy actually discourages employees from taking any days off because they’re unsure of what normal time off looks like? This has become a real problem for companies that have unlimited vacation.
Most of the time data shows that companies who offer unlimited vacation know that their employees probably won’t take advantage of it. Employers offering unlimited vacation usually have workers with A-type personalities. These workers are driven and successful and the health of their job is of the utmost importance to them.
If looking at unlimited vacation from an employer’s perspective, a company that offers such a perk will never be hard-pressed to find employees. This is an excellent recruiting tool. Once employees are hired, companies are also more likely to retain employees because of this policy.
This kind of policy can actually save companies money, too. Employees, in these cases, aren’t responsible for tracking vacation days so there is no concern over paying employees for unused time off.
HR experts explain that ultimately the success of the approach within any company really depends on how well it fits the company’s business model.
