Microsoft Corp has said that it is shifting its vacation policy to give all its salaried US employees unlimited time off.?This new policy follows Microsoft already allowing more employees to?work from home permanently?and the company¡¯s one-time $1,500 pandemic bonus which was given to employees in 2021.
The changes start next week from January 16, and apply only to full-time employees in the US, according to a company spokesperson. The company has been considering the change for a few years in order to adapt to more flexible working schedules, as per Bloomberg.
The announcement was made in an email to employees from Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft¡¯s Chief People Officer, in a memo seen by The Verge. Microsoft is calling its unlimited time off ¡°Discretionary Time Off,¡± and it will apply to all salaried US employees.
¡°How, when, and where we do our jobs has dramatically changed,¡± explains Hogan in the internal memo. ¡°And as we¡¯ve transformed, modernizing our vacation policy to a more flexible model was a natural next step.¡±
Even new Microsoft employees don¡¯t need to wait to accrue vacation time anymore, The Verge report mentioned. Microsoft will offer 10 corporate holidays, leaves of absence, sick and mental health time off, and time away for jury duty or bereavement alongside this new unlimited time off policy. Employees that have an unused vacation balance will get a one-time payout in April.
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Hourly workers at Microsoft won¡¯t be offered unlimited time off, nor will employees outside the US. Microsoft says federal and state wage and hour laws make it difficult to offer unlimited time off to hourly workers, and those outside the US will keep their current vacation benefits because of different laws and regulations in other countries.
Microsoft isn¡¯t the first big tech company to adopt unlimited time off. Salesforce, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn, Oracle, and Netflix all offer similar unlimited time off policies for employees, as per The Verge report.?
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