A Welsh production company has taken the decision to give its staff unlimited annual leave as a way of rewarding hard work and "treating staff like adults." Cardiff-based EatSleepMedia has decided to follow the lead of big companies like LinkedIn, Netflix, and Dropbox with the idea.
It is a concept that has been traditionally popular in America where holiday entitlement doesn't tend to be as generous as it is in the UK. Employees are given no set number of holiday days per year meaning they can, in theory, take as much or as little holiday as they like.
Netflix, which has been ranked by Forbes as one of the best employers in the world, was one of the first to offer unlimited holiday to its staff with the company saying they wanted the focus to be on the on the quantity and quality of the work output rather than the number of hours or days worked. Take-up in the UK has been low but Alex Feeney, co-founder and director of operations at EatSleepMedia, has explained why they think it will work for their company. He said: "The concept of unlimited holiday has been around for a while so it’s not a new thing for us to try. Many have gone before us. Some are happy with it, others have decided it's not for them. One of the reasons why we have decided to have a look at it is for simplicity. Now no-one has to worry about how many days they’ve got left and whether or not they need two keep a few spare in case of emergencies. No-one should worry about taking time for a doctor or dentist appointment."
