It's Time for U.S. Companies to Update their Ideas About Time Off

 

"When Netflix still had your typical vacation policy, employees asked an important question:

“We don’t track the time we spend working outside of the office—like

e-mails we answer from home and the work we do at night and on weekends—so why do we track the time we spend off the job?”

Management listened. They couldn’t deny the simple logic behind the question."

All too often I hear from people that they can't help or participate in this, that, or something else because they've used up their time off allotment for the year already... if only other companies would "get it" too. Of course many will think I'm sharing this because I am a travel professional, but it's NOT just about going on trips to rejuvenate yourself...often it's about being able to volunteer within the community, or to go camping as a mentor, to be able to spend a day here or they're working in a shelter or with Habitat or some other worthwhile organization, or just to recharge mentally and physically with the family at home. We don't live in the industrial age any longer... why do so many U.S. companies still have policies that date back to that era? My last employer had a policy requiring that at least one of the several weeks of vacation provided must be taken all at the same time to ensure time was taken for rejuvenating, while the rest was free to use in smaller segments as needed - that was a step in the right direction. Moving away from such regimented regulations would be so much better for employees everywhere.