New Trend: The End of Vacation Days?

More employers offering 'unlimited' time off, but it's not as great as it sounds
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 25, 2013 12:34 PM CDT
New Trend: The End of Vacation Days?
   (Shutterstock)

More and more employers are jumping on a trend that, on its surface, sounds like a pretty good deal for workers: unlimited time off. The policy, which is especially prevalent in the hip offices of Silicon Valley, is simple: Instead of accumulating and spending vacation days, employees just take off whatever time they need. But critics don't think it's all it's cracked up to be, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Some are derisively calling it the "no vacation" policy.

That's because without specific guidelines, many workers are sheepish about taking any time off at all, and any time they don't take off is lost forever, rather than accumulated or eventually paid out. About 57% of Americans don't use all their vacation time each year, according to one study. At least one employer, however, has sought to correct for the problem: Evernote, which uses unlimited vacation, pays employees a $1,000 bonus for taking at least one week off. (More vacation stories.)

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