Posted on 09/25/2014 6:15:01 AM PDT by markomalley
Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Group, has told 170 staff working for its head office that they can take as much annual leave as they like, providing it will not damage the business.
“Flexible working has revolutionised how, where and when we all do our jobs,” Sir Richard said on his website. “So if working nine to five no longer applies, then why should strict annual leave (vacation) policies?”
Sir Richard said he was inspired by Netflix, the US based video streaming service which has a similar policy on not tracking staff holidays. The company reported that staff morale, creativity and productivity had all risen since the “non policy” was introduced.
The blurring of the boundaries between work life and home life caused by advances in mobile technology meant that companies were “no longer able to accurately track employees’ total time on the job,” Sir Richard said, adding that there was no need for his staff to ask for prior approval before taking time off.
“It is left to the employee alone to decide if and when he or she feels like taking a few hours, a day, a week or a month off, the assumption being that they are only going to do it when they feel 100 per cent comfortable that they and their team are up to date on every project and that their absence will not in any way damage the business – or, for that matter, their careers,” he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
They must be taking their cue from Obama.
Au contraire. This is a private business innovating as a way to attract and keep good staff. If they were taking a cue from Obama, they would be union organizing to get government to force all businesses to do this.
And who determines that, Sir Richard?
Yeah... right! Take as much time as you need, we won’t be watching you... too closely.
Out of sheer fear they will never take anytime off for fear of the next ‘reduction in force’.
This is an interesting concept. On the one hand, I suspect he has a group of professionals who will not take any extra vacation. That is probably a large chunk of his staff. He probably also has some lazy grifters who will abuse this policy. When they do, he should fire them, but that likely will result in lawsuits. It should be interesting to see how this works out.
and if you’re not missed, then you will be on permanent unpaid leave
Exactly. It’s to find out who they’d miss and who they wouldn’t miss.
Oh yes, and keep in touch with your phone or other device at all times.
often true for you...
Ironically, for many professional (at least Americans), this means more work, not less. It means logging on to the work computer at night after dinner, or checking your work email from your phone, and weekend work. If you have a staff with a good work ethic -- that is key -- these policies will increase productivity.
That means if you want to stay home, the guy next to you has to pick up the slack... won’t work for long.
Maybe it’s like one of my old employers who floated the promise of 5 years of stock options and gave me a raise just before the big layoffs (including me)...
Looks good on paper.
“Take all the time you want. Don’t come back.”
But if you take too much, we’ll fire you.
I work even on my days off. It’s just part of the job.
This has become very hot in Silicon Valley and is almost a requirement for companies to recruit the best people.
It was implanted at my company about a year ago and has gone well, I think. I was skeptical at first.
It sure does cut down on the costs of having systems and policies in place to track and monitor vacation hours. It also prevents the problem of unused vacation accrued liability piling up as people do not use their vacation. I don’t know how or if companies now accrue for potential future vacation time.
Maybe Branson has gone insane and will turn his company into one of those “pay what you like” hippie businesses that always go belly-up.
Free music downloads from Virgin Music, free rides on Virgin Air and free rides into space.... pay what you feel like...
He’d be broke in weeks. lol
Well Apple and U2 discovered a new way to distribute music, just push it out to everyone’s itunes folder, no refusal weekend style.
lol
force feed the masses
I saw a U2 commercial.. new album?... the song sounded just like the old songs.
As soon as my vacation bucket reaches 2X my yearly accrued hours, it stops accumulating vacation. Demoralizing to not be able to take vacation since all the slackers have to take theirs first (in two-week strings!) then you lose future vacation time since you can’t take time off.
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