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Ok, so how would "forced time off" be the middle ground between unlimited time off and tracked time off. Isn't "forced time off" just tracked time off but they

Ok, so how would "forced time off" be the middle ground between unlimited time off and tracked time off. Isn't "forced time off" just tracked time off but they require you to take it? The only problem it solves is burned out employees, and I would argue that it doesn't even fix that problem. The reason is that you can't force people to take their minds off work, even if you force them to not physically be at work.

freeone3000 8y ago
It could be done as a minimum vacation policy, instead of a maximum vacation? As in, you must take this many days off, but if you need more they're available?
- bigiain 8y ago
  I've seen it done as a "maximum accrued vacation time" policy. Once you got 30 days accrued, you had to book enough time off to reduce it to less than 30 days within the next three months. Everybody hated that too. Being forced to take time off when you didn't particularly want to, and not being able to "save up" enough vacation for a really good ling trip away... And, of course, those rules were regularly "bent" when it suited management, but rigidly enforced otherwise... (We typically accrue 20 days per year here in .au, so that pretty much means after 18 months, if you haven't taken any vacation at all yet, you need to take at least a week off in the next three months, and a week off every three months thereafter.)
- zhdc1 8y ago
  That's how it works at my current employer. We're required to take all but X number of days per year. Supervisors are allowed to generously authorize paid work from home as well.
stmfreak 8y ago
Sometimes key employees need to be reminded to schedule a real get away vacation. It should be part of the Managment 101 mentioned in the article. This seems like a non problem to me.
kochikame 8y ago
Japan kind of has this. Golden Week in May, Obon in the summer and New Year's leave are all mandatory days off for the vast majority of employees. These are the peak leisure travel times for Japanese people, because everything is closed. As Japanese workers are famous for not using all their paid leave, and if they do it is in half days here, this is a nationally mandated way to make sure that everyone gets at least a few days off a year.

freeone3000 8y ago

It could be done as a minimum vacation policy, instead of a maximum vacation? As in, you must take this many days off, but if you need more they're available?

bigiain 8y ago
I've seen it done as a "maximum accrued vacation time" policy. Once you got 30 days accrued, you had to book enough time off to reduce it to less than 30 days within the next three months. Everybody hated that too. Being forced to take time off when you didn't particularly want to, and not being able to "save up" enough vacation for a really good ling trip away... And, of course, those rules were regularly "bent" when it suited management, but rigidly enforced otherwise... (We typically accrue 20 days per year here in .au, so that pretty much means after 18 months, if you haven't taken any vacation at all yet, you need to take at least a week off in the next three months, and a week off every three months thereafter.)
zhdc1 8y ago
That's how it works at my current employer. We're required to take all but X number of days per year. Supervisors are allowed to generously authorize paid work from home as well.

stmfreak 8y ago

Sometimes key employees need to be reminded to schedule a real get away vacation. It should be part of the Managment 101 mentioned in the article. This seems like a non problem to me.

kochikame 8y ago

Japan kind of has this. Golden Week in May, Obon in the summer and New Year's leave are all mandatory days off for the vast majority of employees. These are the peak leisure travel times for Japanese people, because everything is closed. As Japanese workers are famous for not using all their paid leave, and if they do it is in half days here, this is a nationally mandated way to make sure that everyone gets at least a few days off a year.