据英国《每日邮报》9月23日报道，英国维珍航空的老板理查德·布兰森近日提出，应该让员工自由休假，想休假多长休多长。
布兰森说，维珍在英国和美国的办公室已经开始执行这个计划。如果奏效，他会鼓励所有子公司也跟着执行。他指出，这个计划是基于这样一个假设，即员工在认为不影响他们自己和公司运行的前提下请假。
布兰森说，他是在看到一篇关于Netflix是如何不去追踪员工的休假时间后首次决定尝试该计划的。他回忆女儿曾告诉自己：“我有一个朋友，他的公司就是这么做的……他们明显在士气、创造力和生产力方面都达到了顶峰。”
布兰森事实上不是第一个公开提倡该计划的亿万富翁，谷歌联合创始人拉里·佩奇此前就倡导过。（严玉洁）
Billionaire businessman Richard Branson has just given his office staff a big reason to celebrate: they can now take as much vacation as they like.
Employees at Branson’s Virgin Group can take unlimited vacation whenever they want, provided they work at one of the main offices in New York, London, Geneva or Sydney.
For now, the new policy will apply to roughly 160 employees.
Branson said Virgin subsidiaries would be encouraged to follow suit if the experiment is successful.
“Take a holiday whenever you want. Take as much holiday as you want. We’re not going to keep a check on how much holiday you take,” he said in a CNN interview.
Companies in which Virgin owns a stake, including Virgin Galactic and Virgin America, employ as many as 40,000 people.
However, the apparent giveaway may not be as generous at it seems.
The lack of a formal policy can leave some people feeling pressured to take less time off, rather than more.
Branson, who is also the author of ‘The Virgin Way,’ said in a blog post that he assumes staff will only take time off when they’re up to date with their work, and feel their absence won’t damage the business or their careers.
Branson said he was inspired by Netflix, which gives its employees unlimited holiday time.
“Treat people as human beings, give them that flexibility and I don’t think they’ll abuse it. And they’ll get the job done,” Branson told CNN during a segment set to air on Erin Burnett OutFront later this week.
Vacation like a duchess at Chatsworth
Vacation policies are at the center of a debate about work-life balance as more employees routinely work late into the night on their smartphones.
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has called for a three-day work week. In return, workers would have to complete 11-hour days and stay on the job until age 70 or 75.
Policies on working time and vacation vary widely around the world.
European nations typically guarantee workers more down time than the U.S.
“The amount of holidays people are given in the States is dreadful,” the British-born Branson told CNN. “How can you find time to get to know your children if you’re working with very very little holiday time?”