Will it soon be a “best practice” to let employees choose how much vacation, personal leave, and sick leave to take? If it is, there’s a place where you’ll find out about it.
In our last issue, we talked about Best Buy’s ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) program, which allows employees to decide where and when to work, as long as they get the work done. Best Buy reports substantial productivity gains, and employees seem to like it as well. Of course, Best Buy still requires its employees to be on the job pretty steadily. Today, let’s look at a company that doesn’t even require that.
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The company is The Martin Agency, an advertising firm in Richmond, Virginia. They offer unlimited time off, according to the website dailyprogress.com. Time off can apply to vacation, personal leave, or sick time, and the benefit is available to about 150 middle and senior level managers. Martin does have rules in place to ensure that adequate coverage is maintained, but the comaony simply doesn’t track vacation time. Does it work? Management says that it has “rarely been disappointed.”
Surprisingly, perhaps, most Martin managers report that they take less time than they would have taken under a stricter system. But they do get to take time when they need it.
Will Unlimited Time Off Soon Be a Best Practice?
Is unlimited time off the next best practice for HR? We wouldn’t bet on it. But we do know every HR manager needs to stay abreast of best practices.
It’s pretty hard to do it by yourself (try a Google search on “HR management best practices” — we got 26 million hits), but there is a way to let BLR’s editors do it for you. That way is called Best Practices in HR.
Your Own HR Think Tank
Best Practices in HR is your own “think tank,” a twice-monthly newsletter with the pros and cons of HR’s most innovative practices. Its mission: to help you achieve success and avoid costly experiments.
Pros and cons of best practices from across the nation, distilled and delivered to you about every 14 days: They’re in BLR’s innovative case study newsletter, Best Practices in HR. Click to learn more
What Best Practices in HR delivers is case studies … each covers the practical inside story on how the country’s most innovative companies are using best human resource practices to improve morale, productivity, and retention. The case studies give you the inside data and conclusions on what other companies have tried—what’s worked for them, and what hasn’t.
For example, CMP Technologies recommends its “Bin There, Dump That” spring cleanup program for HR records. VistaPrint describes its “Everyone Is a Talent Scout” program that is bringing in 50 percent of new hires from employee referrals. And a survey of several companies shows that 71 percent of Gen Y women (ages 18years to 29 years) intend to stay in the workforce after having children, but watch out—in controlling their lives, they want to be “ringmasters, not jugglers.”
If you’d like to see if Best Practices in HR is right for you, on a complimentary basis, you can sample two issues … a full month’s service. … at no cost or risk. Click the link below and we’ll be happy to arrange it for you.
Best Practices Distilled and Delivered!
You’ll find them in BLR’s twice-monthly newsletter, Best Practices in HR, your private “HR Think Tank,” packed with practical case studies, and tried-and-true tips from across the nation. Try 2 issues on us! Click here for info.