Sir Richard Branson made a bold announcement last week that he is allowing his personal staff to take as much holiday as they want, whenever they want.
The founder and chairman of Virgin Group is adopting an idea used by the media streaming company Netflix, whereby it is entirely up to the employee when holiday is taken, and for how long.
There is no need for these employees to ask for approval, or notify their superiors when they plan to return, provided their absence doesn’t have a negative effect on their work.
Writing on his blog, Sir Richard mentioned how he had introduced the initiative into his parent company in both the UK and US to combat ‘particularly draconian’ vacation policies.
He said the assumption being they will only do it when they feel a 100% comfortable that they and their team are up to date on every project and their absence will not in any way damage the business or their careers.
In the light of Sir Richard’s lenient holiday policy, MM took to the streets of Manchester to ask the following question:
Would you have the discipline to manage your own holiday time without having a negative impact on your work?
| Option | Result |
| Yes | 57% |
| No | 43% |
The majority of respondents who took part in MM’s poll felt they would be able to use flexible holiday leave responsibly, with 57% saying they would not abuse this system.
Dave Slessor, 46, from Fallowfield does not think his work habits would change at all.
The communications support worker for Manchester College, said: “I enjoy the role I have at my job. It is rewarding, and that’s why I go to work.”
Sophie Ogunyemi, a 20-year-old student living in Withington, is enthusiastic about the idea and believes it would benefit businesses.
She said: “I think the policy would have quite a positive effect on work, particularly if the holiday is unpaid.
“I would still be wanting to work to earn money, but there are times when you get so tired and just need a break that a holiday is going to be the right answer.
“Then coming back to work refreshed you are going to be more productive than you were before.”
REFRESHING: Sophie Ogunyemi thinks the policy would have a postive effect on productivity
Fallowfield based student Fraser Brooks, 20, said: “In an ideal world everyone would really enjoy the job they do so they wouldn’t be taking loads of time off.
“They’ll only take time off when they need it, so I feel it could be a good thing.”
Events manager Libby Ralph from Withington believes that finding the right balance between work and personal commitments is important.
“You have to care about the work that you do, but at the same time you’ve got to take your holidays,” the 26-year-old said.
“I would use the policy for the business’s benefit, but also for my benefit. I wouldn’t abuse it. I wouldn’t just go away and not come back.”
Class assistant Dominic Corbett, 37 from Hulme, said it would be impractical for many jobs to allow time off whenever an employee would like.
“I work in education with people who have special needs, and they need me when they need me. It’s a job done on someone else’s timescale,” he said.
“I need to meet their needs otherwise I am not doing my job. It’s not really a feasible option for my kind of profession.
“But then again, there are people in the management structure at my college where it probably would be feasible, so if anything it reinforces the two-tier system that we live in.”
EXPERIMENT: Ian Moss believes he has the self-discipline to use the system
Part-time artist Iain Purcell from Oldham made a similar argument.
“It’s only the new-style companies, high-end tech companies and super-mega-millionaires like Richard Branson who can afford to do it,” the 38-year-old said.
“There’s no way the rest of us could ever get into a position where we could just leave whenever we want.”
Kevin Granelli, 30, a chef from Newton Heath, definitely thought that unplanned holidays would not be practical in his profession.
“As a chef you work long hours and crazy shifts. If I wanted to go on holiday and just packed my bags without telling anybody it would cause a bit of an eruption,” he said.
“I think it’s a strange thing to do but I suppose he [Branson] is not where he is with the money he’s got for no reason, so he’ll have to see if it works or not.”
Withington based Ian Moss, 38, believes that he would have no trouble in taking only the amount of holiday that he really needs, but was unsure of the potential of the idea as a whole.
The software developer said: “You would have to let the policy run and see how much holiday people actually took. They might take four days, they might take 100 days.”
Manchester University student James Robb, currently living in Withington, was undecided about the effectiveness of the policy too.
“I think it probably would affect productivity, but Richard Branson is a pretty savvy guy and if he is doing this idea I reckon it’s because he’s probably done a lot of research into it,” said the 22-year-old.
“With our British mentality I’d imagine most people would possibly feel guilt-tripped into working quite a lot anyway. It’s hard to tell how it will play out.”
Insurance underwriter Helen Jones, 31 from Oldham, is also sceptical of the scheme.
She said: “You have to put a lot of trust in your employees to not take the mickey.
TOO TEMPTING: Katherine Delagardo says she would take advantage of the system
“I think it would have a negative impact on businesses as people would ultimately take advantage. They would take time off regardless of whether their job was done or not.”
A small percentage of participants openly admitted they would abuse an unmonitored holiday policy.
Former make-up artist, now full-time mother, Katherine Delagardo has no doubt of the effect such a scheme would have on workers.
The 22-year-old Manchester resident said: “Of course it would make you less productive. If you think you can take a holiday whenever you want you would just take advantage of it.
“I’d be going on holiday at least once a month. I’d be going everywhere.”
College graduate Raoni McKenzie, 19, also from Manchester, was similarly cynical about the idea.
“You’d just keep going on holidays whenever you can,” she said.
“When all of his [Branson] staff do that and there is no-one left to work, he’s going to be a bit stuck, won’t he?”
Image courtesy of Shinsuke Ikegame, with thanks.
