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That notion of paying workers a minimum salary of $70k seemed like a good idea at the time

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by YankeeFan, Jul 31, 2015.

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  1. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Occupy doesn't see the trap, probably because none of them has ever held a job, and if they did, they are not the type to worry about using all the time afforded to them:


     
    YankeeFan, Aug 5, 2015
    #61
  2. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    My wife's company has the same policy and very few people actually use much of their vacation time. When they do use it, they often work while on "vacation." She's been on maternity leave for the past 11 weeks and has often been asked to join conference calls, craft emails to clients or do research. This her last week of leave, but she may as well be back to work already.
     
    bigpern23, Aug 5, 2015
    #62
  3. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    That's what I was thinking. There are some people desperately pushing the narrative that "workcations" are a thing now, with all these employees willfully going to vacation destinations with their laptops so they never have to "unplug."

    That's not a "vacation." That's a "liberal telework policy."
     
    MisterCreosote, Aug 5, 2015
    #63
    bigpern23 likes this.
  4. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    This is the way a lot of people who are entrepreneurial or work independently are or who work for small, nimble companies are. The flip side is that a lot of C level people in large corporations work that way, too. They don't look at everything they do as a time clock that needs to get punched. And in fact, they typically work a ton of hours.

    If you know what needs to be done, and you were hired because you are good, and your employer has faith in your ability and your work ethic, that kind of work environment favors a lot of people -- and a lot of employers, too. The idea is to hire people you think are really good and then trust them to do their job without micromanaging their time. It can be very mutually beneficial. It's not about how many vacation days you get or when you take a personal day. It's about using your judgment to be on the job when it is absolutely necessary for logistical reasons and make sure deadlines get met -- regardless of what it takes. For people who look at their work that way, it's not about when they did it or how they did it. ... it's simply about the results they were hired to achieve. Get results, and who cares?

    Within that kind of working environment, it could mean having to work at night or work a weekend when it is necessary. You need to be the kind of person who just does it. But it also means that when you need to take off a Wednesday for something personal or you want your vacation to be 12 days instead of 10, you just do that too. Nobody is tallying up a scorecard. As long as you are excellent at what you do. ... and you get results. ... everyone should be happy.

    In the end, people like that tend to actually work really hard. They work all kinds of untraditional hours, in fact, because they are just focused on the task at hand, not on their hours. If you have an employee like that (although it is hard to build a large organization around employees like that because you never really know until they are on the job), yeah, you are going to be happy to let them take as much time off as they need or to work untraditionally -- as long as it doesn't impact your business negatively. On net, you get way more out of people like that than you might lose because they took some personal time.
     
    The Big Ragu, Aug 5, 2015
    #64
    Donny in his element likes this.
  5. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    Agreed. A company that sets its vacation policy at four weeks will have a majority of its employees use four weeks of vacation. A company with "unlimited" vacation will have employees who always feel like they should be working otherwise they'll look like slackers compared to that one guy who didn't use any vacation this year.

    It used to be good PR to set the "unlimited vacation" policy. Looks like Netflix is the first major company to start seeing a backlash as research is starting to show real data that people are actually working more under this type of policy.
     
    bigpern23, Aug 5, 2015
    #65
  6. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    Netflix's policy is for parental leave, not vacation.

    The backlash is no different than the backlash parents face for taking a few hours off to take their kid to the doctor. Or the backlash I face when my kid is sick and I have to take a day off because he's NOT ALLOWED into his day care. It's just amplified by a degree of thousands.
     
    MisterCreosote, Aug 5, 2015
    #66
  7. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    Oops, yes, I misspoke. The conversation had turned toward vacation, and I lumped Netflix in with that. But the basic premise remains the same. The "unlimited parental leave" or "unlimited vacation" policy is a PR sham that actually forces employees back to work earlier than a designated leave or vacation policy.
     
    bigpern23, Aug 5, 2015
    #67
  8. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    Mothers get a year off in Canada. They can get up to 65 weeks if they are sick with their pregnancy.
     
    JC, Aug 5, 2015
    #68
  9. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    As for backlash against parents, I know that feeling all too well. At a previous stop, my employer was pretty soulless about me taking a morning off every two months or so while I was dealing with a difficult custody battle for my son (which, thankfully, was decided in my favor).
     
    bigpern23, Aug 5, 2015
    #69
  10. Amy

    Amy Well-Known Member

    A move from a fixed day to unlimited vacation policy also has financial impacts to employees and the employer. Departing employees will no longer get paid for unused vacations. The company gets a financial benefit because it no longer has to record a liability on its books for unused vacation.
     
    Amy, Aug 5, 2015
    #70
  11. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    At my old shop, once Jan. 1 rolled around, you got "X" amount of weeks. Period. If you leave the company on Jan. 2, you are owed "X" amount of vacation time dollars.

    At my current shop, you accrue vacation throughout the year. You leave the company on Jan. 2, you haven't accrued anything, and you get nothing.
     
    BTExpress, Aug 5, 2015
    #71
  12. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    TheSportsPredictor, Dec 1, 2015
    #72
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