Today was a Fasting Day!
Last night I had dinner with my friend Guy and as part of a wide ranging conversation including, work, children, marriage, blogs and cold showers we also talked about holidays. The concept of holidays is clearly a middle class concept. Very rich people don't take holidays because that's how they became rich and the poorest don't take holidays because they can't. All of us in the middle count our days to make sure we are using just the right amount. However this may be changing.
Companies in the US (especially in the tech sector in California) are increasingly giving employees "unlimited" holiday time. I must say that although, it initially sounds like a great bonus I think it probably creates anxiety for lot of people. Nobody really thinks that if they worked 3 months and then took 9 months off that the company would honour that commitment. So if these companies are serious about wanting their employees to feel "liberated" they should give them a range: You can take between 0 and 3 months holiday for example. It seems that this is borne out by initial studies on the effect of these policies. Employees with unlimited holidays take less than those with a fixed amount.
In the end companies are counting on people's guilt to stop them from taking too much time off. I don't think guilt is a positive emotion (even if I have occasionally used it as part of my educational artillery). Instead of unlimited holiday I 'd would like to see companies disconnect pay and hours. Why are some jobs payed on the basis of hours worked while others (usually more intellectual) are based on an output basis? If you pay people on the basis of their hours you are devaluing their work, they are payed for being there rather than for their achievements or contributions. It is never
motivating to be paid on an hourly basis.
Last night I had dinner with my friend Guy and as part of a wide ranging conversation including, work, children, marriage, blogs and cold showers we also talked about holidays. The concept of holidays is clearly a middle class concept. Very rich people don't take holidays because that's how they became rich and the poorest don't take holidays because they can't. All of us in the middle count our days to make sure we are using just the right amount. However this may be changing.
Companies in the US (especially in the tech sector in California) are increasingly giving employees "unlimited" holiday time. I must say that although, it initially sounds like a great bonus I think it probably creates anxiety for lot of people. Nobody really thinks that if they worked 3 months and then took 9 months off that the company would honour that commitment. So if these companies are serious about wanting their employees to feel "liberated" they should give them a range: You can take between 0 and 3 months holiday for example. It seems that this is borne out by initial studies on the effect of these policies. Employees with unlimited holidays take less than those with a fixed amount.
In the end companies are counting on people's guilt to stop them from taking too much time off. I don't think guilt is a positive emotion (even if I have occasionally used it as part of my educational artillery). Instead of unlimited holiday I 'd would like to see companies disconnect pay and hours. Why are some jobs payed on the basis of hours worked while others (usually more intellectual) are based on an output basis? If you pay people on the basis of their hours you are devaluing their work, they are payed for being there rather than for their achievements or contributions. It is never
motivating to be paid on an hourly basis.
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