so i work at One Kings Lane, which has an unlimited vacation policy. First, i should say that they the true to their word--i have actually seen people take four

so i work at One Kings Lane, which has an unlimited vacation policy. First, i should say that they the true to their word--i have actually seen people take four and five week holidays. Still, the usual seems to be two weeks, which it seems the devs take maybe two of these each year (perhaps more, not really sure). At OKL, i suspect the policy is just an extension of their "ok, we are all adults here, so just act in the company's best interest at all times--we don't want to work in a soviet tractor factory, we assume you don't either" (my own words, if we had an employee handbook, i imagine it would say something like that). at other shops, i have heard that the motivation for unlimited vacation is a little less wholesome. The idea is that use it to recruit, then once in the door, the manager can of course limit the employee's holiday because his approval is required. So there's very little to lose, and a lot to gain; when the employee is terminated (resigns, fired) the company does not have to pay out their unused vacation, which is often not a small amount (eg, i suspect a lot of people carry around 2 weeks).