Have As Much Time Off As You Want

I beg your pardon?

I must have heard wrong………no……..if you work for Virgin or Netflix, you’re blessed with unlimited holiday.

I’d love to say that I pointed this out to my boss, but sadly no. He’s annoyingly one step ahead and e-mailed me this news with a footnote that under no circumstances is this going to happen here!!

But seriously, how could an organisation possibly function when all of its’ workforce is on a beach sunning itself?

Well of course, that simply couldn’t be allowed to happen, these giant companies wouldn’t be so giant in next to no time, but here’s the interesting thing…..

In our years of employee research, one prominent theme that has come through from open text questions in staff surveys, is the value employees place on being given empowerment and autonomy in their work, the ability to get the job done in their own way, and this is, in my opinion, the basis on which these rather radical changes in holiday entitlement have come about.

The onus of taking time off, albeit and hour or so, or weeks on end, is down to the individual. Sure, take the time off, but you better be sure it’s not to the detriment of who you work for. Business must still function effectively and to the corporate standards expected, otherwise, we’ve all got no job!

It’s not for all organisations, it’ll work better in some companies than others, for sure, but having worked a job share in the past, this is where it would work really well – “I’ll work all of this week if you work all of next and we both get a whole week off without touching our normal holiday entitlement.”

And here, is where the likes of Virgin and Netflix are probably expecting, if it isn’t already happening for them, employee engagement and organisational productivity to soar.

I love my job, sometimes, I don’t think I could work any harder, or give anymore, but I’ll tell you, if I had the chance to take the odd two hour lunch break, or the odd early finish, or four weeks off in one go, knowing that the company I work for can cope with me not there and all is well, I’d find not just a few extra ounces of productivity, but bucket loads and in a snap, and be more than happy to cover for colleagues when they want their time off too.

To me…….it’s NOT a mad, bad or fad idea. Unlimited time off = increased employee engagement, motivation, productivity, better team working and happy employees.

So………., where’s my holiday form?……….

The Survey Initiative are experts in employee research, if you’d like to know more about how you can increase employee engagement levels where you work, give us a call on +44 (0) 1255 850051 or complete our online web form.