Netflix “Unlimited Employee Vacation Policy” Works. Here’s Why!

Netflix employees are some of the luckiest in the nation and here's the reason why.  Can you even imagine what unlimited vacation would mean to you?  To me, it would make me work harder because I wouldn't want to lose a job where your employer trusts that you will do the right thing and reward you for doing it.  It would be one of those jobs that you never want to lose.  But it would take someone who does the right thing when no one is watching, someone who is self motivated and can also self monitor.

I LOVE this guy's thinking!!!  In a recent interview he said "Netflix gauges success by focusing on what employees get done, not on how many days they worked."

Hastings says he learned what not to do from the last place he started.  He said the last place was exciting and innovative in the first few years and bureaucratic and painful in the last few.  He sold the company and then had time to reflect on what went wrong.  The problem he said was that they tried to systematize everything and set up perfect procedures.  At first they thought that was a good thing, but it killed freedom and responsibility.

The problem he sees right now is this: The pressure some employees feel to hang onto one's job in a bad economy, and smaller staffs at some organizations, have caused many workers to push themselves to burnout mode. Now, there is a growing focus on employees regaining a work-life balance.