While working for a company that allows unlimited vacation days may seem like a dream come true, it actually results in less days off.
Human psychology works in a strange way, and no one wants to be the guy who took advantage of the most vacation days.
Mathias Meyer, of Berlin tech company Travic CI, said in a blog post that while he thought his company offering unlimited days would result in more days off, the result was just the opposite.
Here's an excerpt from his post:
When people are uncertain about how many days it's okay to take off, you'll see curious things happen. People will hesitate to take a vacation day as they don't want to seem like that person who's taking the most vacation days. It's a race to the bottom instead of a race toward a rested and happy team.
...
What you will do is push people to the edge of burnout and unhappiness. They'll eventually leave your company. ... This almost happened in ours, we pushed someone too far. They pulled the cord eventually, and we asked them to take off as much time as they need. We're sorry for this mistake, [and] we're thankful this person is still with us.
The way people act towards vacation days depends on the culture, reports NY Mag, citing that most Americans don't use all of their allotted vacation days anyway.
