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This article was taken from the April issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
Ditch staff holidays
On January 1 this year, HubSpot, an internet-marketing company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, abolished the idea of employee holidays. Until then, each employee was entitled to three weeks' holiday per year, which had to be booked in advance. But, says CEO Brian Halligan, that felt like a throwback to the days of "working from nine to five in the office. Now people often work in the evenings and over weekends, using their BlackBerrys, and it seemed ridiculous not to acknowledge that."
HubSpot employees can now take time off whenever they like and they are thrilled with the idea. "We show we trust them and demonstrate they are more like [self-employed] business people than employees," says Halligan. "And if they get the work done and are able to take three months off, so much the better."
Performance reviews will show if anyone is really shirking and Halligan will be assessing the scheme at the end of the year. "My only worry," he says, "is that people won't have taken enough time out of the office."
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
