Dive Brief:
-
Unlimited vacation time received some very good press when a few pioneering companies (Netflix, LinkedIn and others) announced they would offer such an unusual benefit. But the bloom may be off the rose, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
-
The Chronicle reports that early research indicates unlimited is rarely used in any large measure. In addition, when employees leave or are fired or laid off, they won't get any accrued pay for unused vacation time because "unlimited" is the same as no one earning time off, compared to more traditional leave policies.
-
In fact, there are some employers who have dropped the unlimited vacation time perk. Plus, it's hard enough to encourage U.S. employees to take their full vacation in the first place.
Dive Insight:
Bettina Deynes, vice president of human resources and diversity at SHRM, told the Chronicle that unlimited vacation time has an appeal, until you get into the details. "People always think unlimited vacation is such a wonderful thing, but when you really study the impact, you see that on average, people aren’t really much better off than the ones who don’t have it," she told the Chronicle.
American corporations offering unlimited paid time off went from 2% to 4% in the past year, according to SHRM. But most of that growth came from startups and tech companies, who have a tougher talent battle than other employers.
As it stands, employers in traditional industries will probably not be moving to the unlimited vacation model because most have trouble getting their workers to take off two or three weeks as it is.