With the holidays approaching, the topic of time-off weighs heavy at most businesses and we want to illustrate some policies that some companies use to answer the calling for when your employee asks for time away from work. 

Traditionally, many folks grew up maybe seeing one or both sets of parents working and feeling the gratitude of time off during the holidays and that 1 or 2 weeks during the summer to take family vacation. However, the bottom line has been a harder token to bear in recent times and some companies hold tight to those “unproductive days” when staff is light and demands are still in place.

In a recent ABC News article, Francine Lederer – a clinical psychologist, said “most people have better life perspective and are more motivated to achieve their goals after a vacation.”  Companies need to use vacation time as a way to avoid burnout, improving performance levels, manage stress, and allow the employee to come back fresh to the work environment. 

In a 2013 study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, they found the following:

• Only 23% of U.S. companies offer no time off or have no paid vacations and holidays.
• The average American worker received 10 days of paid time off per year where in contrast, European workers get at least 20 days and some as much as 30.
• Hourly workers statistics varied. The lower 1/4 only gets 4 days of vacation pay but the top 1/4 received close to 14. 

Unlimited days off?

Surprisingly, however, more and more companies are looking at time off as a perk and not a limitation to employment. Unlimited time-off is becoming more and more popular with both small and large businesses. Take these companies for example:

• Hubspot 
• Netflix
• ZenDesk
• Motley Fool
• Evernote
• NerdWallet

At these companies, workers are encouraged to take time off. Some companies even purchase a plane ticket anywhere in the U.S. to help out. Feeling deprived yet?

However, this type of perk takes some getting adjusted to. For instance, if the time off is unlimited and no one is counting – who’s to know how often someone takes off from work? This can obviously only work if the business has a process in place for this type of productivity and process. 

For companies like Netflix, they love it. “There is also no clothing policy at Netflix, but no one comes to work naked,” says the company handbook. “Lesson: you don’t need policies for everything.”

According to benefits expert Bruce Elliott at the Society for Human Resource Management, “unlimited vacation policy can help a firm with recruiting, boost employee morale, and even increase productivity.”

Business managment: Some glaring pitfalls

We’re not advocating an unlimited vacation time for your place of work. However, you might be in an industry where these types of perks are recruiting tools for employers to lure talented staff from employers sticking to a more traditional benefit package. 

Yet, there can be problems to be aware of as well.

Management can find the absences to be disruptive to work flow patterns, especially in the retail and service industry. Customers can find empty cash registers and long lines a trigger to shop somewhere else if this were the case. 

Additionally, when staff terminate employment, there is no built up vacation days to pay back for unused days. If employees productivity levels fall below acceptable levels, they could lose their jobs because of too much time taken off. Some employees not adjusting to this style of vacation time could be so paranoid of leaving for the coast, that they take too little time.

Motley Fool has a creative way of resolving their vacation time preferences on the company calendar. The lottery. Where “

the winner required to take a two-week vacation. In June, the winner was Trogdon. The only rules are, they have to be taken within 30 days, and you can’t have any contact with the office.”

What company policies do you have for your type of business and will unlimited time-off be in your plans any time soon?

Sources:

• http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/02/us/unlimited-vacation/
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2013/06/25/the-best-reason-ever-to-take-a-two-week-vacation/
• https://gusto.com/blog/paid-vacation-time-how-do-you-stack-up/
• https://luxa.us/wp-content/uploads/no-vacation-update-2013-05.pdf 

LUXA Enterprises specializes in hrm services, outsource accounting, and payroll services . We match up with ideal candidates for services by allowing small to mid-size businesses increase focus on their growth through outsourcing. If you want to know how we can help you, contact us today!