======= ======= ====== ====== ====== ===== ==== ====== ====== ===== ==== ======= ======= ====== ====== ====== ===== ==== ====== ====== ===== ====
Well, if you thought Richard Branson couldn’t get any cooler, what with his rogue entrepreneur attitude, awesome Viking looks, and being the inspiration for a character in the criminally underrated “Along Came Polly,” guess again. Mr. Branson has announced that Virgin’s employees will no longer be subject to any sort of vacation schedule, and instead will have unlimited leave at their own discretion.
This is pretty fucking bananas. I mean, it’s already ridiculous enough that many countries in Europe mandate at least a month of vacation for employees. Contrast that to the US, where vacations are essentially viewed as naughty privileges. Hell, remember that Cadillac commercial with Buck Compton from “Band of Brothers” that flat out said that taking fewer vacation days is what makes America great? We’re being brainwashed, people. American companies aren’t even legally required to grant employees the option of vacation days.
So who’s responsible for this? Well it turns out, good ol’ Ricky Branz was inspired by none other than our favorite status quo shaker-upper, Netflix, who has had this policy in place for years. Netflix claims that nothing but positive things have resulted from their policy, or rather, lack thereof.
Richard sums it up pretty well in his own words
“It is always interesting to note how often the adjectives ‘smart’ and ‘simple’ describe the cleverest of innovations – well, this is surely one of the simplest and smartest initiatives I have heard of in a long time.”
Image via Instagram
[via Virgin]
Respond
Is it paid leave though? If so, what does this company do, and where do I send my resume?
Definitely paid leave. He said he got the idea from Netflix. Basically he thinks people will be responsible and will only take off when they don’t think it will hurt the company or their co-workers. It’s not a terrible idea.
^This guy knows it all!
Studying up to pitch it to my CEO.
Definitely thought this was going to be about actual virgin employees getting unlimited vacation time because Mr Branson thought they needed to get laid.
He may be my favorite entrepreneur. He’s right up there with Musk.
I think it’s a pretty brilliant idea – Nobody’s boss wants to keep track of their vacation anyway. Lazy people would have no excuse for not getting promoted this way.. It’s office Darwinism