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I'm not buying that they're doing it out of the generosity of the business. Otherwise why not just offer a generous number of days vacation in the benefits pack

by warent 6y ago

I'm not buying that they're doing it out of the generosity of the business. Otherwise why not just offer a generous number of days vacation in the benefits package? They're making it unlimited because they're counting on people using less than average vacation time so the business can save money while maintaining a good image.

WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
It's mostly for exerting peer pressure and having to pay nothing out if someone leaves (versus paying out their PTO). Unlimited vacation is a scam, next time a company tries that, mark off the entire calendar for the rest of the year.
biztos 6y ago
I think the "unlimited" thing started as just trying to get the vacation time off the books as a liability, and treating it as "no time off" happened for cultural reasons. Ugly and hostile reasons, but still cultural -- I don't think there was ever an evil cabal of CEO's rubbing their hands over the thought of engineers working 50 weeks a year.
- danaris 6y ago
  That's how a lot of these things work: There's (almost) never an actual conspiracy of people meeting in secret to orchestrate the terrible things that have been done to our society. It's just that given the way our version of capitalism has been set up for the last few decades, the incentives are structured such that already-rich people can get themselves even more money by finding more and more legal-if-shady ways to squeeze everyone else.
jedberg 6y ago
It fits the culture of freedom and responsibility. You have the freedom to take off whenever you want, as long as you meet your responsibilities. It happens to have a nice side effect of saving the company a bunch of money, but at least in the case of Netflix, that money goes into your salary.
arcticbull 6y ago
I worked at an unlimited-vacation-time company for years, and I loved it. I would easily take 5-6 weeks off per year. I worked my ass off when I was there, and so there was no issue. In the same way you count on your employer to provide you pay every two weeks, you should be able to count on them to provide you with the amount of vacation time you need to be both happy and productive. If they fail in either of these duties, it's time to quit. Yes, I'm sure some companies "hope you take less time off than would otherwise happen" but that's really short-sighted of them, as the question isn't how long you're in the office, it's how much are you getting done relative to your goals. A company that can't see that likely has other issues IMO. More likely, they would rather avoid paying you out accrued PTO on your last day.

by warent 6y ago

WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago

It's mostly for exerting peer pressure and having to pay nothing out if someone leaves (versus paying out their PTO). Unlimited vacation is a scam, next time a company tries that, mark off the entire calendar for the rest of the year.

biztos 6y ago

I think the "unlimited" thing started as just trying to get the vacation time off the books as a liability, and treating it as "no time off" happened for cultural reasons. Ugly and hostile reasons, but still cultural -- I don't think there was ever an evil cabal of CEO's rubbing their hands over the thought of engineers working 50 weeks a year.

danaris 6y ago
That's how a lot of these things work: There's (almost) never an actual conspiracy of people meeting in secret to orchestrate the terrible things that have been done to our society. It's just that given the way our version of capitalism has been set up for the last few decades, the incentives are structured such that already-rich people can get themselves even more money by finding more and more legal-if-shady ways to squeeze everyone else.

jedberg 6y ago

It fits the culture of freedom and responsibility. You have the freedom to take off whenever you want, as long as you meet your responsibilities. It happens to have a nice side effect of saving the company a bunch of money, but at least in the case of Netflix, that money goes into your salary.

arcticbull 6y ago

I worked at an unlimited-vacation-time company for years, and I loved it. I would easily take 5-6 weeks off per year. I worked my ass off when I was there, and so there was no issue. In the same way you count on your employer to provide you pay every two weeks, you should be able to count on them to provide you with the amount of vacation time you need to be both happy and productive. If they fail in either of these duties, it's time to quit. Yes, I'm sure some companies "hope you take less time off than would otherwise happen" but that's really short-sighted of them, as the question isn't how long you're in the office, it's how much are you getting done relative to your goals. A company that can't see that likely has other issues IMO. More likely, they would rather avoid paying you out accrued PTO on your last day.