Why Unlimited Time Off Makes Employees More Productive
Companies with set vacation policies often grapple to define what constitutes time off. With employees constantly attached to their smart phones, are they really taking time off? When they do in fact work throughout their designated time off, employees complain that it is because they feel obligated to. Or worse, if they do enjoy the time off without checking email or calling in to meetings, they return from their well-deserved vacation feeling guilty.
A solution that some employers are moving towards is the creation of an unlimited time off policy. The theory of unlimited time off allows employees to take as much vacation time as they need for whatever reason. A growing number of employers have adopted an unlimited time off policy, including model companies such as Hubspot, Accessiblity Partners, IBM, and Netflix. The policy abolishes the tradition of awarding employee’s with incremental time off based on the number of hours worked or how long they have been with the company. The financial-services company Motley Fool has gone even further and implemented a monthly ritual where all 250 employees puts their names into a hat and the person selected must take 2 consecutive weeks of vacation within the next month. It encourages employees to take time off and helps them realize that the company will not fall apart without them.
Employers are moving towards defining work as the results that are produced successfully, rather than the amount of time it takes to accomplish those results. The trending term for this new age way of thinking is “results-only” work environments, where employees are measured by the results they put out, rather than the time they put in. This policy helps to build employee engagement, which brings a host of benefits such as higher productivity, lower turnover, and more creative ideas. Not to mention, companies should want their employees to take vacations without feeling guilty, because as a recent Forbes article points out, vacations are good for business.
Employers will instantly see the benefit when there has been an increase in productivity. Employees work to provide results in an efficient manner and are able to enjoy their well-deserved vacations when they have completed their necessary work. Employees have an incentive to work harder while at work. If employees know they need to complete a project today, but are not restricted to that 8-hour time frame, and will be able to leave once it is completed, the project may be completed earlier. Employers who have an unlimited time off policy have a more relaxed, yet more productive workforce. Is this a policy that could work for your company?
SharedHR can help you create a vacation policy that is both compliant and builds employee engagement.
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