Unlimited leave: freedom, not an empty office

Employees decide for themselves how many leave days they take: it is a growing trend which is making headway with modern companies. Yet, many have expressed doubt at the notion of unlimited leave. How does such a situation actually work, in practice?

Unlimited leave: does it benefit the company?

Although the concept is growing in popularity, many companies remain skeptical about giving their employees limitless leave days. This is due to the fact that when you stop exercising control over your employees’ leave days, it is likely that you will need to employ more people. Many companies gather that they could do without such a situation.

The biggest argument in favor of such a system is that, on average, the increased freedom causes employees’ productivity to increase as well. Those who oppose unlimited leave argue that this often does not weigh up to the possibility that employees might abuse the privileges afforded in a ‘free leave environment’. On the other hand, Bynder, a software company which allows their employees to decide their number of leave days themselves, has pointed out that such misuse does not really happen. In practice, these employees definitely do take the responsibility seriously.

Unlimited leave… and then?

Imagine: as a company, you decide to abandon the idea of a limited number of leave days. This is definitely a possibility for you, and perhaps it would do the working environment much good – on the condition that you impose some sort of system. This can be accomplished efficiently and easily with a comprehensive leave registration system as well as clear arrangements.

An example: you establish a system where per day, a maximum of three employees may be absent. Should this number be exceeded, it will no longer be possible for co-workers to request leave on that same day. Furthermore, you let employees submit their request two weeks in advance when it concerns a leave request longer than a half day. The registration system allows you to immediately see the capacity utilization of the company during the time period in question. This will enable you to determine whether the request can be accepted, and prevent from winding up with an empty office. What’s more, employees can easily see what is going on for themselves, saving you time and energy otherwise spent on explanations!

Would you like to know more about the cloud-based leave registration system of Leavedays.com? Feel free to contact us!

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