No More Annual Leave? Companies Introduce ‘Honour System’ for Employee Holidays

Running out of annual leave could soon be a thing of the past, with a number of leading companies choosing to abolish the standard process and allow employees to take unlimited holidays. Virgin's Richard Branson has become the latest employer to introduce a policy of unlimited time off for salaried employees, allowing staff to take as many holiday days as they would like in any given year. Branson revealed the move in his blog this week, following in the footsteps of streaming company Netflix who have already adopted the revolutionary approach. "The policy permits all salaried staff to take off whenever they want for as long as they want. There is no need to ask for prior approval and neither the employees themselves nor their managers are asked or expected to keep track of their days away from the office," he said. "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 a hundred 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!" Netflix explained that their reasoning behind the change was:  "We should focus on what people get done, not on how many hours or days worked. Just as we don’t have a nine-to-five policy, we don’t need a vacation policy."