July 3, 2023
By Bríd Price
What does an unlimited holiday policy mean?
In theory, an ‘unlimited holiday’ policy means that employees are entitled to take as many paid days off work as they want.
In the UK, full-time workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks’ paid holidays (28 days annually). Although employers are unable to offer their employees less annual leave than the statutory minimum, they can offer more. This is sometimes described as an enhanced holiday entitlement.
How could my organisation benefit from offering unlimited holiday?
Offering unlimited holidays can be an effective tool to attract talent, can help staff achieve a better work-life balance, and can decrease levels of work-related stress. It can also afford staff more freedom and flexibility in their personal and professional lives.
However, before introducing an unlimited holiday policy, employers should consider whether they should impose certain levels of constraints (e.g. a cap on the number of consecutive days off), or make unlimited holiday conditional on certain performance targets being met.
What problems can arise?
By providing unlimited holiday, employers may be faced with the problem of seeing some employees taking a significant number of days’ holiday, whilst other take far fewer than they might have done under a capped holiday policy. This could create an imbalance where more pressure is placed on those who take fewer days’ holiday, thus risking burnout, damaging staff morale and risking the employer breaching its duty of care towards some staff.
Our top legal tips for doing it effectively
If you need any help with drafting an annual leave policy, please contact a member of our employment team, Bríd Price on 02920 829 113 or bprice@darwingray.com for a free initial chat to see how we can help you.
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