Newsflash
Tech companies don’t want to hear about health care, 401(k), and life insurance. “Those are commodity benefits,” says Vincent Antonelli, a senior benefits consultant with Towers Watson.
Enticing top tech talent to your company just became more interesting and competitive. Most employees would be happy with two weeks vacation and basic healthcare coverage. Yet now, in an effort to attract the best talent many tech companies are now offering unlimited vacation to their list of new and unusual perks. Other perks? Errand running, organic catered lunches, yoga classes, on-site doctors, flexible work hours and telecommuting.
Unlimited vacation is not new and not just for start-ups. Until recently this perk flew well below the radar.
But now?
- Netflix started their unlimited vacation policy in 2004 and now has over 2,200 employees.
- Other companies “in the news” with unlimited vacation policies? BestBuy, Evernote, Zynga, Red Front Events, HubSpot, Motley Fool and NerdWallet.
- Evernote employees not only enjoy unlimited vacation, they get a $1000.00 vacation stipend when they take a week or more off, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Benefits expert Bruce Elliott at the Society for Human Resource Management, estimates only around 1% of companies have limitless vacation. But Elliott sees it growing, especially among start-ups and tech firms.
Should you consider offering unlimited vacation at your firm?
“The policy is working well,” says Carol Ward, Director of Human Resources at Janrain.
“Many technology companies have generous sick-time/time-off policies to be competitive. Unlimited Vacation or Flex Time [Janrain’s version] is an extension of that trend. There have been some downsides. We had to rewrite parts of our policy and we needed attorneys to ensure we were in compliance at all levels,” adds Ward.
Scott Carr, President and CEO of Modria, emphasizes unlimited vacation only makes sense when integrated as a part of a robust broader strategy. “You have to have time off with objectives met. The trick of unlimited vacation is a strong objective management system in place. You track clearly defined objectives weekly and monthly. ” The harsh reality? “If someone is not meeting the objectives regardless of how much time off they’ve taken, you can let them go.”
Formerly nomadic Jeff K., a new hire at Symphony Commerce was attracted by Symphony Commerce’s Unlimited Vacation policy, particularly “the ability to plan for events in the future without limitations.” K anticipates the policy will impact productivity, but not substantially. He concurs with Carr on the importance of planning. “Setting appropriate goals ahead of time, coordinating time off ahead of time with management and then with the larger team will factor into how the team will meet deliverables.”
Ward agrees with both Carr and K; stating succinctly, “Productivity is measured in one word – results. When it comes to scheduling time off, it is up to the managers to manage work load and deliverables,” but cautions, “make sure you have guidelines in place.”
Regardless of your decision to jump on the unlimited vacation perk policy bandwagon or not…. know that the perk exists. Especially now, when the best candidates are receiving multiple offers, it takes more than a commodity bennies approach when it comes to attracting, landing and retaining top tech talent.
Maybe Stan Ridgeway was just a visionary ahead of his time, rather than a joker when he crooned on his Partyball album “I Wanna Be a Boss…”
“I wanna take a two week vacation 26 times a year (add ’em up).”
If your company cannot offer top candidates unlimited vacation you’ll need to build a VERY strong case about your company, the people, the technology, the uniqueness of the opportunity and more. Want help crafting your “pitch”? Contact me at Dorigan & Associates.
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Connie Dorigan, Founder and Director of Recruiting, sees the food processing industry as the link between good living and good people. She’s the west coast’s most experienced and trusted food processing recruiter. She also provides Executive and Career Coaching and lots of free job search tools. Once you’ve connected with Connie, you’ll always be connected.
© 2018 Connie Dorigan. All rights reserved.
This is a general interest article and does not constitute specific or legal advice.
