无限时产假的一个大问题

    上周二，Netflix公司一项史无前例的举动获得无数赞誉：这家视频网站宣布，在子女出生后一年内，员工可享有无限制的产假和陪产假。

    Netflix 公司确实值得表扬，这项家庭照顾假政策让那可怜的政府法规相形见绌。在美国，只有12%的员工能够享有带薪家庭假。而联合国的调查显示，仅有三个国家不保障产假期间妇女的薪水，其中就包括美国。

    但近年来，随着各公司纷纷推出诱人福利来争夺顶尖人才，“无限制”这个词开始越来越多地涌现，它们通常与休假等词联系起来，其效果却好坏参半。

    Netflix 是公认的第一批推出无限制休假政策的大公司之一，百思买、Evernote和维珍集团随后纷纷效仿。这种政策的理由是，只要员工能够完成任务，他们想休假多少天都可以。

    唯一的问题在于，当员工拥有这种开放式选择后，他们通常会感到疑惑。首先，人们很难判断休息多久才合适。此外，还有人害怕因为休假而无法参加重要的会议和项目，而这会导致他们错失晋升和提拔的机会。

    2004年起，Netflix 不再记录员工的休假时间，开始“关注人们做了什么，而不是工作了多少小时多少天”。Netflix 发言人上周三接受《财富》采访时表示，公司不计算休假天数。《华尔街日报》在2011年报道称，Netflix 发言人估计公司员工每年会休假3至5周，比以前要多。发言人还补充道，员工不上班时也会通过电子邮件和电话保持联系。他说：“大家时刻待命。”

    这听起来不太像是休假。

    去年9月，维珍集团创始人理查德·布兰森发布博文，宣布公司将实行无限制休假政策，他希望员工能尽量休假，不过根据他的推想，“员工只有在百分之百相信自己和团队能跟上每个项目的进度，他们的缺席无论如何都不会影响公司——以及自身职业发展的情况下才会休假。”

    真是毫无压力！祝你旅途愉快！

    Tribune Publishing的员工十分愤怒，因为公司在11月提供了无限制的带薪休假，却在实行仅仅8天后就取消了这项政策。首席执行官杰克·格里芬表示，因为它使得“公司内部产生了困惑和担心”。

    休假旅游与产假和陪产假当然不一样。员工在小孩出生以后，更愿意把休闲时光用来恢复身体、与孩子培养感情，而不是躺在海滩上或是在欧洲城市中畅游。不过无限制提供这种假期却会给员工带来许多不确定感。对员工来说，休假更像是接受某人的恩惠，而不是获得有权享受的福利。

    全美妇女和家庭联盟副主席薇琪·萨勃表示：“一段长度既定的假期，可以创造一种更加有形的期待和标准。无限制休假政策看起来有点乱。”

    在理想的情况下，新晋父母们可以自行决定要花多少时间投入到私人生活中，不过要是认为这样的假期能够安心度过，那可大错特错了。员工会担心错过太多会议，返回工作后要回复堆积如山的电子邮件，还怕和其他有孩子出生、但休假更少的员工进行对比。新父母们以前也许从没有想过，但如今得精确计算出自己需要多少天来适应为人父母的新角色，并向老板证明自己的决定是合情合理的。

    因为这种宽松的政策，Netflix 应当受到表扬。新父母的确应该获得比现在更多的带薪休假时间。不过如果一家公司要推行这样慷慨的政策，他们也应当向员工提供精确的指导。

    萨勃表示：“问题的关键是员工利用这些假期时是否感到自在，”需要有“一种公司文化来让他们相信，这样休假不会影响他们的职业发展。”

    Netflix 公司发言人表示，公布这一政策之前，公司已经与员工进行过沟通。她说，该公司向经理层提供了各种有助于他们与员工开展讨论的工具，而公司领导也会在帮助经理和员工适应政策方面“扮演积极的角色”。

    萨勃表示，至少，Netflix 公司明确表达了“一种认可员工应同时享有私人生活和职业生活的文化理想。就他们愿意采取措施来缓和两者之间的冲突这个意义而言，这项新政有望成为一项新标准。”（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    审校：任文科

    Netflix received grand praise on Tuesday for what appears to be an unprecedented move: the video streaming site announced that it will offer employees unlimited maternity and paternity leave in the year following the birth or adoption of a child.

    Netflix certainly deserves credit for introducing a family leave policy that eclipses the nation’s rather pathetic norms. Just 12% of all workers receive paid family leave nationally, and the United States is one of hree nations surveyed by the United Nations that doesn’t guarantee women pay during their maternity leave.

    But in recent years, as companies compete for top talent by dangling plush benefits packages, the word “unlimited” has cropped up more and more, most often in relation to vacation days and with decidedly mixed results.

    Netflix has been recognized as one of the first major companies to implement unlimited vacation days; other companies like Best Buy, Evernote, and Virgin Group have followed suit, reasoning that so long as employees get their work done, the number of days they take off doesn’t matter.

    The only problem is that when workers are presented such an open-ended option, they are often left confused. For starters, it’s hard to determine how much time off is appropriate to take. Then of course there’s the fear that taking time off will mean missing out on important meetings and projects—absences that could scuttle opportunities for advancement or promotions.

    Netflix stopped keeping track of employees’ vacations in 2004 to “focus on what people get done, not on how many hours or days” they work. A Netflix spokesperson told Fortune on Wednesday that the company doesn’t count vacation days. In 2011, a Netflix spokesperson estimated that Netflix employees were taking three to five weeks off annually—more than they had in the past, according to The Wall Street Journal. He also said that workers keep in touch via email or phone when they’re out. “People are on all the time,” he said.

    That doesn’t sound like much of a vacation.

    In announcing Virgin Group’s unlimited vacation policy in September, founder Richard Branson said in a blog post that he wants his employees to take as much time off as necessary, but he said he assumes “they are only going to do it when they feel a hundred percent comfortable that they and their team are up to date on every project and that their absence will not in any way damage the business—or, for that matter, their careers!”

    No pressure! Bon Voyage!

    Employees at Tribune Publishing were so outraged by the company’s decision in November to offer unlimited PTO that it rescinded the new policy just eight days after introducing it. It had caused “confusion and concern within the company,” CEO Jack Griffin said.

    Taking time off for vacation and going on a maternity or paternity leave are no doubt different; workers are more likely to set aside quality time to recover from childbirth or bond with a new child than they are to lay on a beach or tour a European city. But an unlimited offering puts a great deal of uncertainty on employees. For workers, taking time off becomes more like taking someone up on a favor rather than accepting a benefit you are entitled to.

    “Having a set amount of time crates a more tangible expectation or norm. Unlimited policies can seem amorphous,” says Vicki Shabo, vice president at the National Partnership for Women & Families.

    In an ideal world, new parents would decide how many days to take off in the vacuum of their own personal lives, but it’s silly to assume that such a safe space exists; it’s tainted by concerns about missing too many meetings, returning to too many unanswered emails, and it prompts comparisons to other new parents who missed fewer days following their child’s birth. As if new moms and dads didn’t have on their minds, they’re now under pressure to calculate the exact number of days they’ll need to adapt to parenthood and then justify that decision to their employer.

    Netflix should be commended for its ample policy. New parents should receive more paid time off than they’re currently getting. But if a company is going to be so generous, it should offer precise guidance to employees.

    “Where the rubber meets the road is whether people feel comfortable using the time they’re given,” Shabo says. There needs to be “a cultural expectation that they can use the time without their career track being penalized.”

    A Netflix spokesperson said the company communicated the new policy with employees before it posted it publicly. The company is providing managers with tools to help discuss the policy with employees, and its leaders will “take an active role” to help managers and employees adapt, she said.

    At the very least, Netflix has articulated “a cultural aspiration that acknowledges that people have personal lives and professional lives,” Shabo says. “To the extent that they can ameliorate the clash between the two, then the new the policy purports to stand out as a new standard.”