Job Ad Red Flags: “Unlimited Vacation”

Nothing makes my spidey sense tingle in a job ad quite like the phrase “unlimited vacation.”

It’s one of those transparently ridiculous perks. Like how free sodas in the office are an amazing perk. Or how long meetings are fun if there’s “free” pizza.

Obviously, the vacation is not unlimited. So why say that it is?

There are certainly companies out there that have the best intentions for their employees. But stating that you have an unlimited vacation policy and leaving it at that is frankly irresponsible.

“I took 3 months off from my job last year because my employer has an unlimited vacation plan!” — No One

The Myth Of The Unlimited Vacation Policy

Again, I don’t believe every company that has such a policy is nefarious, but the end result is the same. As a Hacker News commenter points out:

It's a means of weaponising ambiguity into guilt. Everyone knows it's not unlimited, because you can't take 3 months off. But because there's no boundary, the real limit has to be found by stressfully, riskily probing it.

pjc50

I think a much better policy is a minimum vacation policy, with unlimited discretionary days on top.

We require a minimum of [high number] vacation days are taken by each employee, and we allow unlimited additional vacation days beyond that.

Now that is a true perk.