LinkedIn is the latest employer to offer what’s known as “discretionary time off,” or “DTO”. The social networking site’s approximately 6,000 U.S. employees are now able to take as much time off as they want every year. Well…not exactly.
There are limits to the new policy. Employees cannot use this DTO to create an alternative work schedule, such as three or four-day workweeks. They can’t take six months off. This open-ended vacation policy basically means that employees no longer have a minimum or maximum amount of vacation time, however, employees must figure out how much time to take off without overloading their or colleagues‘ work schedules while remaining loyal to their work duties.
This policy is one of many innovative guidelines LinkedIn has put into place, along with free lunches, open workspaces and ping-pong tables for employees. Their intention is to help employees to stay engaged, reduce employee burnout, and empower employees, in turn increasing results, employee engagement, and loyalty.
It isn’t just their policies that make them one of the most attractive employers. Every policy they have in place falls back into the hands of the managers, and how they interact with employees. Training your managers in employee relationships is a must for companies who want to build employee engagement and loyalty.