“We have a No-Vacation-Policy Policy!”

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/via https://money.cnn.com/2014/07/31/pf/vacation-days/index.html
You’ve probably seen variations on this theme by now. They might go by different names — “Unlimited PTO”, “Flexible Vacation”, etc. — but the underlying system tends to be somewhat the same. On top of the usual Bank Holidays, you get to take however much vacation you want, as long as your job gets done.
Straightforward, right? Well, actually not. As with most things, the devil is in the details. If you, or your company, is offering this as a benefit, ask yourself the following questions
  1. 1. How does this map to your team/company values?
    If everybody around you is burning themselves out working 7 days a week, any time off you take will might feel like a betrayal — both to them, and to you! That kind of high utilization and high stress environment not only precludes you from taking full advantage of the “unlimited vacation” policy, when you’re actually on the vacation, you’ll always be thinking about your work, the others who are still at work, etc.
    (I’m not saying this is a good thing, it’s just human nature…)
  2. 2. Are there guidelines? Have they been communicated?
    Do people understand when they can — and can’t! — take time off? That the middle of a critical sprint isn’t the best time to be heading to Hawaii? The key here is to get people to internalize that it is their personal responsibility to make sure that there are no loose-ends, and that this (lack of loose-ends) is what makes it possible for them to take time off.
  3. 3. Are there minimums? Do people know this?
    Are there any baselines at all? Do people know that they can take 2 weeks off at a time? Or 3? The point being that if you don’t say anything, people might — and probably will! — make assumptions based on their preconceptions. For example, they might assume “I can take only one week of vacation at a time”, or “This actually refers to personal-days, and not long vacations”, or some such.
    (Mind you, this might be what you actually want from people — yes, you’re evil .)
    The point here being that you want to convey some sense of what expect from people, just so that they’re not left high and dry. Me, I always tell everyone “I expect you to take at least 3 weeks a year, and of that at least 2 weeks should be in a single stretch”.
The bottom line is that communications is key. The guidelines, the minimums, and your values, all of these need to be internalized by everyone if you want your “unlimited vacation” policy to have any meaning whatsoever.

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