Catherwood LibraryILR School

Two Canadian tech companies have joined the trail blazed by large corporations such as Netflix, LinkedIn and Virgin Group: they’re offering their employees unlimited vacation time. Build Direct, an online home improvement company, and Miovision, a traffic management company, have introduced the discretionary vacation policies in order to show trust, encourage ownership, and measure output rather than hours. Miovision also implemented a minimum, requiring all employees to take at least three weeks of vacation a year. Companies are trying out unlimited vacation policies in order to provide workplaces with autonomy, rather than those built on fear that employees would escape work. However, unlimited vacation policies haven’t always succeeded, primarily due to employee unease. Kickstarter, the crowdfunding company, reversed its unrestricted policy because employees were uneasy over how much time was too much. Long-term employees at the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune were upset over the loss of value in previously accumulated vacation time, forcing the companies to curtail the policy after a few weeks.