The Benefits of Unlimited Vacation Policy
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Why do companies implement unlimited vacation policy? A few factors could be at play. For starters, according to G&A partners, over 400 million days of paid time off go unused in the US every year.
To counter this phenomenon, some organizations have created campaigns to encourage employees to take advantage of their vacation days. On the other hand, some companies, big and small, have chosen to opt for something more radical: an unlimited vacation policy. In today’s article, we’ll examine the benefits of this sort of radical HR policy.
How To Make Unlimited Vacation Policy Work For Your Organization
When new hires come in, or even before they sign their employment contracts, they read through the organization’s vacation policy. Every single element in an employment contract can contribute to employee satisfaction and retention. However, Paid Time Off is usually a large part of the overall compensation package.
Another alarming trend is the rate at which employees are calling in sick. In some organizations, sick days outnumber requested paid time off. That is rather startling. There seems to be a problem.
In general, employees look forward to their time off, as limited or as extensive as it may be. On the one hand, it’s understood that employers need some control over their employees’ time. However, an unlimited vacation policy can resolve some of the issues and stresses related to asking for time off. Let us take a look at these benefits now.
Remove the Stress of Asking for Time Off With Vacation Tracker
To begin, it’s still necessary for an organization to have visibility over their employee’s time off. Traditionally, a lot of organizations have opted for using Excel spreadsheets to track employee leave. However, unlimited leave for all employees might make the request process rather heavy.
Moreover, asking for time off is often considered a tedious activity. It sometimes involves a difficult conversation or some administrative paperwork to draw up a formal request.
Vacation Tracker provides a holistic solution to these issues. It’s a Slack-integrated complete leave management tool. It removes the necessity for spreadsheets. Requests for time off can be made online, through Slack. The entire request and approval process takes less than a minute. It’s the perfect tool for any organization trying to implement an unlimited vacation policy.
What’s more, companies can try it free of any charges, for 7 days. The trial offer is available to all new customers. If you’re already using Slack, there is essentially no reason to not give Vacation Tracker a try!
Reduce Administrative Costs For Your Organization
Typically, organizations have three types of time off. The first is paid time off, or paid vacation time, also called PTO. The second is sick days, of which organizations typically allocate five days. The last type of paid time off is the Personal Day, of which employees may have two or three.
Now, imagine keeping track of all of these potential days off through an Excel sheet. It would take an HR person a long time, and even then, human error is pretty much guaranteed.
With a solution like Vacation Tracker, Administrators can set up different Leave Types, and set a daily limit for each Leave Type individually. In fact, on Vacation Tracker, up to 25 custom Leave Types can be set up. Furthermore, for every Leave Type, Administrators have the option of leaving the limit open, so that transitioning to an unlimited vacation policy can be done easily. It’s an effortless way to implement an unlimited vacation policy, while reducing the overall administrative costs of monitoring days off.
Create A Culture Of Responsibility and Accountability
As a manager, you are probably well aware of the difficulty of creating a great team culture. Another benefit of an unlimited vacation policy is that it fosters a culture of responsibility and accountability.
In fact, an unlimited vacation policy means that employees determine when they need to take time off. They plan it in advance and everyone on their team is informed well in advance. It’s transparent and puts the workers in control of their vacation schedules.
It goes without saying that it involves trust and the ability of employees to make the right decisions for the great good of the team. Yet, it also requires a robust management system to ensure that leaves are properly planned and tracked.
Finally, with this type of policy in place, there are fewer made-up reasons for taking leave or sick days. Team members return to their jobs more energized and ready to work!
Reduce Stress and Improve Morale
Indeed, when employees are free to leave whenever they want, they go to work with renewed energy. In turn, this leads to improved productivity.
When employees don’t have to wait almost an entire year to take more time off, they are less stressed. They are no longer feeling the pressure of work.
Sometimes, performance or productivity tends to dwindle when employees are yearning for another holiday. Indeed, employees feel more relaxed if vacations can be taken anytime.
As a result, this type of policy leads to fewer burnouts. There are also fewer surprise absences. Besides, as every manager knows, a planned leave is better than a surprise leave on your team.
With so many potential benefits, maybe it’s time to consider implementing an unlimited vacation policy in your organization?
Kristina Ousmanova
Kristina recently left behind fast-paced life of Human Resource Business Consulting to freelance as a Content Writer. A regular Vacation Tracker contributor, she can be found working remotely from her home in Montreal, usually while eating a variety of snacks.
