Unlimited holidays

Well, it stuck in my mind, so it must be worth a measly blog entry.

This is what someone advocated and says he delivers.  The tag line: "give your employees the no-strings-attached, unlimited vacation days they deserve or you'll soon be a dinosaur".

Indeed.

It's all about respecting your employees as the adults they are.  As long as they get their work done, there's no limit to the time off they can take.  Look at him.  He worked 100 hours last week, and right now he's sunning himself on the beach.  (As he types?  That's a little sad.)

Of course, he owns the company.  So that's what he may well do 14 hours every day for a week - anyway.  But he says it's a great motivator and a great recruitment tool.

He answers the skeptics who say "our employees feel pressured to never take off" with: "I assure you they're underestimating a positive work culture and are simply wrong. Also, I feel sorry for their workplace."

Well so do I.  I feel sorry for my workplace.  And a lot of others.  If you get your work done, you get more work.  And how is it judged what an acceptable amount of work is?  Like many, I find myself working back every week simply to get the work done; surveys suggest this situation is more common than not.

Hopefully it does motivate.  If that company has 750 applications for every position, there must be a commensurate pressure to perform.  And outperform.  And burn, maybe.

Gee, I'd like to be uncynical.  I do think it's a great idea.  But those who are likely to exploit the situation could well be winnowed out early in the process, and motivated by the 750 people waiting to fill their shoes.  Instead I think it's the employer that's prone to exploit the situation, unless the work is able to be clearly packaged into an allotted quota of time.  Sadly, in my experience, most workloads don't have that transparency.