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Here's the dynamic: When you don't take all your allotted vacation, and someone else does, there's no possible claim that you were a harder or more dedicated wo

by geofft 6y ago

Here's the dynamic: When you don't take all your allotted vacation, and someone else does, there's no possible claim that you were a harder or more dedicated worker than they were. They did exactly what they were permitted to. And, therefore, I'm guessing that if you wanted to take your vacation, you wouldn't have too much trouble finding time to take it, and nobody would complain that you did. If there's unlimited vacation, and someone takes two weeks of vacation when the whole company tends to take one, and they were on vacation during a critical project, once time comes for performance reviews, people will say "I'm not sure how committed they are to the company" / "They don't have a great work ethic" / etc. etc. Because it was their choice to decide that two weeks was reasonable, it's easier to hold them responsible for the consequences of that choice. So, everyone feels like they need to take at most as much vacation as average, possibly less.

jakelazaroff 6y ago
One thing I've wondered is how the dynamic would work if you combined unlimited vacation with a minimum requirement. Would that be enough to foster a culture of taking the time you want/need and not worrying? Or would your minimum essentially become the expected amount, with any excess frowned upon?
- geofft 6y ago
  The thing about "unlimited vacation" policies is there's always a limit. Obviously it can't be 52 weeks. Probably it can't even be 10 weeks. So the question is where that unstated number is. If the number is the same for everyone, state it. Go ahead and say "Everyone gets 6 weeks vacation." If you don't feel comfortable saying that, then it wasn't unlimited at all, was it? If the number is different, i.e., junior employees can take less, politically-connected folks and people who figured out how to coast can take more, that's probably a bad thing for your company. At best, make additional vacation a defined promotion benefit.
  - jakelazaroff 6y ago
    That's fair. I guess the appeal to me as an employee is that I don't want to like count and ration my vacation days. As long as I can take the time I feel I want/need/deserve without worrying I don't care about making sure I'm maximizing my allowed vacation or even how it compares to other people. But maybe that's not feasible via policy or lack thereof, and having a set number of vacation days is the least worst way to do this thing.

by geofft 6y ago

jakelazaroff 6y ago

One thing I've wondered is how the dynamic would work if you combined unlimited vacation with a minimum requirement. Would that be enough to foster a culture of taking the time you want/need and not worrying? Or would your minimum essentially become the expected amount, with any excess frowned upon?

geofft 6y ago
The thing about "unlimited vacation" policies is there's always a limit. Obviously it can't be 52 weeks. Probably it can't even be 10 weeks. So the question is where that unstated number is. If the number is the same for everyone, state it. Go ahead and say "Everyone gets 6 weeks vacation." If you don't feel comfortable saying that, then it wasn't unlimited at all, was it? If the number is different, i.e., junior employees can take less, politically-connected folks and people who figured out how to coast can take more, that's probably a bad thing for your company. At best, make additional vacation a defined promotion benefit.
- jakelazaroff 6y ago
  That's fair. I guess the appeal to me as an employee is that I don't want to like count and ration my vacation days. As long as I can take the time I feel I want/need/deserve without worrying I don't care about making sure I'm maximizing my allowed vacation or even how it compares to other people. But maybe that's not feasible via policy or lack thereof, and having a set number of vacation days is the least worst way to do this thing.