Employee Training and Development 6th Edition by Raymond Noe

تمرين 3

In some companies your boss gives you as much vacation as you want whenever you want to take it. Open-ended vacation plans have gained in popularity especially among high-tech, professional services, and other white-collar employers. Employers are using these plans to help employees take time off. Some estimates are that less than forty percent of all employees use their vacation time. Intense and long work hours can lead to employee burnout, more errors, and lower quality products and services. Employees have no guaranteed amount or limit of vacation time but they do have to get approval.
At IBM employees inform their managers but take time off when they want it. Best Buy doesn't track the hour's employee's work. Instead it emphasizes a "results only work environment," where workers are measured on their performance and results. Netflix stopped tracking employee vacations to focus on what was accomplished instead of how many days or hours employees worked. Netflix has a strong performance culture. Employees work 24/7 including weekends often from home using their laptop computer or smartphone. Employees are taking about three to five weeks off a year more than in the past under the "no vacation policy." Employees are never questioned about how much vacation time they have taken because it is their personal choice. Also, they have to discuss when and how much time to take in order to balance the workload with their peers. Netflix employees do keep in touch using e-mail or phone when on vacation so their never is really any "down time." Hulu studied Netflix's vacation policy and decided not to copy it because their employees expressed concerns about doing away with taking vacation time. They were worried that there would be pressure to adopt their managers' work habits. For example, if they had a workaholic boss it would be difficult for them to ask for time off. Ryan LLC, a tax services company, uses open-ended vacations as part of a move to a flexible work policy to lower employee turnover. Motley Fool, the financial services company, found that most people take about four weeks off using its open-ended vacation policy. Motley Fool has a ritual that requires employees to be ready to take a vacation on short notice. At an employee meeting, one name is drawn from a hat. The employee chosen must go on vacation for two back-to-back weeks during the next month. When they return to work they have to tell their peers what they did during the time off.
What type of work is best suited for an open-ended vacation policy? For what types of jobs would it not work?