I have heard mixed messages about offering unlimited annual leave. Is this a good idea? And if I roll this out what are the do’s and dont’s?
Some of the more cynical companies (in the USA) are allegedly only offering unlimited vacation as it means accrued annual leave isn’t a liability on their balance sheet.
More nuanced feedback is that unlimited vacation means employees are less aware of their “entitlement” to a certain amount of vacation. If the company culture doesn’t support it, this can mean that employees take significantly less vacation than a fixed allocation.
That said, many companies have authentically implemented unlimited vacation, along with the culture change to make this a real benefit to employees. Some very progressive companies I’ve heard of offer employees the choice. Some roles like sales can be quite cyclical, so they might benefit more from unlimited flexible vacation. Other people may value the certainty of having fixed vacation.
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I agree with Jon. When you talk about a company culture supporting it, I think it is worth calling out leaders as being crucial in leading by example on this one. If there is unlimited annual leave do leaders encourage employees to use it? Do they celebrate when someone takes a good bit of leave and do they themselves take leave?
This article includes a few different perspectives including Chloe Hamman, a People Scientist at Culture Amp.
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