uh…um… could I have the day off please?

I recently saw a post on LinkedIn about vacation policies that was originally posted on Twitter about a blog article on Hubspot. (Don’t you love how that all works?)

In it’s blog,  ”MadMen Inspires HubSpot’s New Vacation Policy“ Hubspot features its ultra-liberal vacation policy* in the light of the past 50 years of policies.  The crux of the post is that their employees now get to take vacation when they want.  No paper work, no forms to fill out, no tracking, etc…

RemoteLink has, since its inception had an open vacation policy – or non-policy for its full-time salaried employees.  It appears that this is now forward thinking.

Here’s how it works.  We (the company) hire creative, responsible, highly dedicated, highly competent people (usually with well-rounded interests outside of work). We pay them the agreed upon wage. They work to support themselves by supporting the company they work for and the friends they work with. For the most part employees gauge when / how much time off they need based on personal need or work to be completed in a certain time frame.

What goes into gauging time off?  Well, my (the employee) responsibilities to deliver quality projects on time. Delivering quality projects on time keeps my company (did you hear that? MY company.) afloat, keeps bread on my table, keeps my creative juices flowing.  Delivering quality projects on time also contributes to my co-workers’ /friends’ keeping their jobs, food on their tables, a place for them to contribute.

I did see a comment on the above blog indicating that this policy only creates an uncomfortable situation of asking for time off, being pressured into not taking time off and comparing perceived amounts of time off among co-workers.  Most of this is small mindedness.  Sure, it happens (small mindedness) but you just move on because the urge to create and contribute is what drives highly creative, responsible, dedicated, competent people.

*The idea is certainly influenced by Netflix’s Reference Guide on their “Freedom & Responsibility” Culture (I have included the slide share because it is really interesting.)

RemoteLink, Inc. has been in business since 1995 and is a SugarCRM Gold Partner, Google Apps Partner… specializing in Cloud Computing Solutions.