Unlimited Vacation Time
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Unlimited Vacation Time
1–10 of 57 posts
Re: Unlimited Vacation Time
#2I totally agree with you! It's hard enough to get away with taking vacation when it's quantified. Also, I notice that a lot places offering unlimited vacation tend to be younger companies that are growing which makes it that much harder to "get away" without disruption.
Re: Unlimited Vacation Time
#3I switched from a job with 3 weeks of vacation (that would be 4 by now if I had stayed) to one with no policy. My take on it is I can take 3-4 weeks a year without feeling guilty.
I honestly think every responsible and competent adult (and I purposefully leave those terms imprecise) should have no vacation policy. Vacation should be a fact of life: take it when you need it, don't take it when you can't, and work as much as you need to to do a good job (again, imprecise).
Re: Unlimited Vacation Time
#4Another less likely employer benefit to be considered is that in roughly half of that U.S. states, employers must pay out accrued vacation time if there is a policy in place.
An example from California's vacation faq (http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_vacation.htm):
"For example, an employee who is entitled to three weeks of annual vacation (15 work days entitlement per year x 8 hours/day = 120 hours vacation entitlement per year) who quits on August 7, 2002 (the 219th day of the year) without having taken any vacation in 2002, who has no vacation carry-over from prior years, and whose final rate of pay is $13.00 per hour, would be entitled to $936.00 vacation pay upon separation"
Re: Unlimited Vacation Time
#5I've been the beneficiary of vacation payouts somewhat regularly, which were in addition to bonuses paid based on overtime hours. I was also able to take advantage of a significant chunk of vacation I had built up when I left my previous company to help fund starting a new company.
In my case, I would probably not benefit dollar for dollar from an unlimited vacation policy. I would either take less vacation or not benefit from the payouts. That's not to say that unlimited vacation is a bad policy. It might be a great policy, and I'm sure it depends on the details of how it is implemented and the culture of the company where it is implemented; however, it is certainly possible that the practical outcome is more of a net benefit for the company rather than the employees.
Since many startups these days are advertising unlimited vacation, I'd love to hear from both founders and employees about some of the practical ways in which this policy plays out.
Re: Unlimited Vacation Time
#6I notice when I'm offered a certain amount of vacation but feel pressure not to use it, I'm much more likely to use it. The hypocrisy gets to me, and I think, "If you don't want me to use it, don't offer it!" If a boss can't plan around his employees taking the offered vacation, then he's probably not doing his job very well.
Re: Unlimited Vacation Time
#7I switched from a job with 3 weeks of vacation (that would be 4 by now if I had stayed) to one with no policy. My take on it is I can take 3-4 weeks a year without feeling guilty. I honestly think every responsible and competent adult (and I purposefully leave those terms imprecise) should have no vacation policy. Vacation should be a fact of life: take it when you need it, don't take it when you can't, and work as m…
You want to be an independent contractor. That is cool, but not what an employer is.
Do you think responsible adults should just pay employees whatever they need and can, and not agree on a number in advance? Why or why not?
Re: Unlimited Vacation Time
#8Another less likely employer benefit to be considered is that in roughly half of that U.S. states, employers must pay out accrued vacation time if there is a policy in place. An example from California's vacation faq ( http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_vacation.htm ): "For example, an employee who is entitled to three weeks of annual vacation (15 work days entitlement per year x 8 hours/day = 120 hours vacation entitlem…
I've always assumed this is exactly why silicon valley companies have unlimited vacation policies. They know their employees won't take much vacation time, and this way they won't have to put the balance on the books.
Re: Unlimited Vacation Time
#9Another less likely employer benefit to be considered is that in roughly half of that U.S. states, employers must pay out accrued vacation time if there is a policy in place. An example from California's vacation faq ( http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_vacation.htm ): "For example, an employee who is entitled to three weeks of annual vacation (15 work days entitlement per year x 8 hours/day = 120 hours vacation entitlem…
I've always assumed this is exactly why silicon valley companies have unlimited vacation policies. They know their employees won't take much vacation time, and this way they won't have to put the balance on the books.
I agree, but then there's a second order effect. If you know you're not going to get a payout when you leave a job, you're going to make damn sure you get a payout (in the form of vacation) while you're at the job.
Re: Unlimited Vacation Time
#10What I think is a more interesting ideas is this: minimum vacation time. You must take at least X vacation days / weeks per year. I think that would be the best of both worlds and avoids the psychology wherein no vacation is had, which is toxic