Unlimited Vacation - Thoughts?

I don't. Our vacation tops out at 4 weeks. I've been there 24 years and I get 4 weeks, the same as someone who's been there 5 years. It's been a constant complaint on surveys. A couple of years ago they instituted a policy that on your anniversary year, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc you get 1 extra week to use for that year only. Actually, they instituted it 4 years ago, the month after my 20th anniversary and I didn't get the week because I had my anniversary already. I don't know what I'd do w/ unlimited vacation time, I can barely take the time I have now so they would definitely be making out on the deal with me.

I'm big on security, so I'd probably take the job. The thought of being without a job physically makes me ill.

I would jump on unlimited vacation, use it when I wanted and not feel bad about it. Why would you feel obligated NOT to use the time you've already accrued?

I have never heard of unlimited vacation either. Hubby was an executive in several Fortune 500 companies, and none of them had such a thing. Seems extremely strange. So they would pay me to take every other week off if I wanted? I am trying to wrap my brain around "unlimited vacation."

I've never heard of that either. 4 years ago I went from a job that was mind numbing where I had 4 weeks/year and I rarely used all of it. Honestly, it isn't because I felt guilty but I really didn't go anywhere for very long. I would take days here and there and a couple of weeks off. I think I only ever used 3 weeks. When they laid me off, I got 4 weeks paid out but then went right into a pressure cooker job where they gave me only 3 weeks. It was a use it or lose it place and we didn't accrue. We were given all our leave on our anniversary date. You better believe I used every single day. In February I quit and am now at another job that I really like. I get 3 weeks but can roll over vacation and sick. I would have liked the 4 weeks but in the grand scheme of things, vacation isn't something that I would pass up a great job for. However, it sounds like this isn't your dream job BUT I would take security over the vacation. Take the job and keep looking for another one that fits you. You can always change. Don't feel guilty about taking it.

We just started the unlimited vacation policy this year. We had several meetings about it. Basically with manager approval, you take what you need. Since it's the first year, I'm still kind of keeping track of what I'm scheduling/taking and I'll probably wind up right around my 4 weeks I had before - maybe even a couple of extra days. My manager is always reminding us that we should be taking some time each quarter - even a day - just to recharge if we're planning a longer vacation later in the year. The studies they gave us showed that the employees who took more time off actually had higher review ratings and were more productive than the ones that didn't take as much.

there was a company (uk based i think) that offered it a few years ago - and it was a total flop because no one felt able to take vacation because they didn't want to let the team down and they felt guilty (in England its a legal requirement to give your employees 28 days paid holiday a year - that includes public holiday days like chrisms day, may bank holiday etc). The company has now reinstated formal holiday entitlement again.


www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47338096

It's super common in tech - not strange at all. Unlimited doesn't mean there are no boundaries - it generally still has to be scheduled in advance and possibly approved. If you're taking off so much time that you're not able to complete your core duties, that's going to be an issue. It's just a method to offer employees more flexibility and autonomy.

Unlimited vacation can be great or can totally suck - it completely depends on the culture of the company. In the early days of the concept, unlimited vacation was basically completely unmanaged at most companies. You probably still needed to notify in advance, but there were no monitoring or requirements. What was quickly discovered was - and this is so American, it hurts - employees took LESS time off because no one was sure how it would be perceived. No one wanted to risk taking more time and looking like a slacker. Some companies liked that, because woohoo, we get to sound like we have good benefits but our employees are working all the time - this is great! Other companies realized, hey, this is not the way we intended it to work, we WANT our employees to take time away to recharge and live their lives. 

I would shy away from any company that has unlimited vacation and does not share expectations around that. A company that's doing unlimited vacation well is going to have guidelines so staff doesn't worry about "am I taking too much time and it's going to hurt my career?" At my current company, for example, taking time off is strongly encouraged. Managers are expected to take at least a week off each quarter (in some cases, that may move around, but overall, they are to model taking regular time off), plus managers are responsible for ensuring their team members are doing the same. If anyone isn't on track to take a minimum of four weeks off a year, managers are to encourage them to schedule some time off. Taking more is fine too - our average vacation time off each year is just under 5 weeks. IMO, that's a healthy, well structured unlimited vacation policy. No one is worried about taking time, because it's modeled throughout the org, and people who don't take time aren't rewarded for it. 

A company that just says "we have unlimited vacation" and leaves it at that - I would not want to be there. Research shows that on average, employees will take less than two weeks off per year. That's dysfunctional and not a company that values the well-being of its staff. 

OP, if you like the company, stay and use your time as you would have. If their attitude to unlimited vacation turns out to be unhealthy, find a new job and leave. You'll not be in a worse state than now, really, and if it works out well, you'll have avoided unnecessary upheaval in your life. I will say, as a random third party, your tone sounds like you're already done with them and you're unlikely to be happy staying, regardless of the vacation situation. 

Just so I am following, you do not want to take the job, because you don't feel that you can actually take the 7 weeks vacation each year that you have 'earned' being at the same company? So you instead will take another job at a different company that only offers you 2-4 weeks vacation per year?

If you like this job, I would take it, and just see what happens with vacation. Take 4 weeks per year. Or 7 weeks per year. If it doesn't work out, then look for another job. I'm not sure why you would preemptively not take this job.

edited: my work does not offer unlimited vacation time, though many bay area companies do. I wish mine did. I work super efficiently (like oddly efficiently) and I would probably take a lot of time off! Right now I get 5 weeks I think, I do think 7 weeks is about the perfect amount.

I haven’t heard of unlimited time off, but I confess this American fear of taking time off perplexes me. It sounds so stressful! I had earned 6 weeks of annual vacation at my last company. It was use it or lose it and everyone used all the vacation to which they were entitled. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone not taking their vacation time.

I would really think about how many people are going to be out looking for jobs now and in the near future.
I don't know your field, so it could be more specific and not have a large number of people applying, but there are so many people who are losing their jobs now due to many factors from the pandemic, and just the overall change in areas of employment.

Keep in mind what health insurance costs. It's amazing that your current employer will pick up the cost of Cobra for as long as they do. But shop for health insurance a bit, just to see what it will cost if you lose it or if a new job doesn't have quite the quality of insurance you have now.

We pay over 12K a year with a 6 K deductible. We are self employed. But when people find out how much it can actually cost to get health insurance, they are often shocked! I would have a hard time leaving a secure position with secure benefits right now.

Also - we seldom go on vacation (last actual vaca was in 2018 for 6 days) and work 7 days a week. DH has had only had 2 days since then when he didn't actually work. One day his back was so bad he physically could not stand. The second was a real no-work day! So the concept of taking weeks off is just a foreign concept to me, and that colors my take on this! LOL

Just as a note, the unlimited PTO is becoming trendy. While there may be some nefarious reason in your company's case, it is usually a good policy for most employees in the long run. Its those who get caught in the transition who might be unhappy. Its a win for the company because from a financial perspective, they don't have to track and carry over vacation accruals from year to year. Even in companies that don't allow carry-over from year to year, there are always exceptions that have to be accounted for in the financials. Its a win for most employees because they don't have to worry about accruing time or running out of time. For new employees, they don't have to work up to decent levels of vacation over time, which is especially important to attract employees who may already be established and are used to larger amounts of time off. The ones who lose out are those who were expecting to leave the company with a big PTO payout at some point, but that is typically a pretty small percentage of employees.

I would make sure that you won’t lose your severance if you turn the job down. I believe that in my company, if we turn down a job, it voids our package.
Stacy

That's a sign of a bad manager or a lack of adequate backups/coverage. He would probably do the same thing if she had 3 weeks of vacation time, and it would make it hard for her to use it all. That would be really frustrating.

That just sounds like an asshole boss, not the fault of unlimited vacation. I doubt he'd do it differently if they had a set number of vacation days.