Working It

The radical unlimited vacation experiment


Listen Later

Trusting your staff to take as much time off as they need to rest and avoid burnout sounds like the ultimate post-pandemic workplace reset, but what would it be like in reality?In this episode, Isabel talks to Amy Cowpe of Charlie HR, a human resources software company based in the UK, about its radical unlimited vacation experiment. What happens when you give people the freedom to make their own choices? The experiment (spoiler alert) didn’t work - but not for the reasons you might expect. Even so, some big-name companies, including Netflix, have long had a ‘no vacation’ policy. How do they make it work? Isabel also talks about the history of paid holidays - her own grandmother had just one day off a month as a live-in maid for a rich English family in the 1930s (yes, it was a bit like Downton Abbey). 


We would love to hear from you: email us at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter or email her direct at [email protected]


Mentioned in the podcast:

Charlie HR’s blog about its unlimited vacation experiment: https://www.charliehr.com/blog/we-tried-unlimited-holiday-heres-everything-that-went-wrong/

Pilita Clark in the FT on why unlimited time off means more time at work: https://www.ft.com/content/ca935b70-bf14-11e7-9836-b25f8adaa111

Psychoanalyst Josh Cohen’s long read in FT Magazine on how to avoid burnout (feat. Herbert Freudenberger’s work that coined the term ‘burnout’ in 1974): https://www.ft.com/content/ea0ea4cc-0320-11e9-9d01-cd4d49afbbe3   


Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Renée Kaplan. Assistant producer is Persis Love. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Produced by Novel.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Working ItBy Financial Times

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

37 ratings


More shows like Working It

View all
HBR IdeaCast by Harvard Business Review

HBR IdeaCast

177 Listeners

 by Financial Times

57 Listeners

Political Fix by Financial Times

Political Fix

150 Listeners

FT Tech Tonic by Financial Times

FT Tech Tonic

103 Listeners

Life and Art from FT Weekend by Financial Times

Life and Art from FT Weekend

199 Listeners

Eat Sleep Work Repeat - better workplace culture by brucedaisley.com

Eat Sleep Work Repeat - better workplace culture

302 Listeners

Squiggly Careers by The Squiggly Career

Squiggly Careers

63 Listeners

Behind the Money by Financial Times

Behind the Money

225 Listeners

Inside the Strategy Room by McKinsey & Company

Inside the Strategy Room

171 Listeners

FT News Briefing by Financial Times

FT News Briefing

686 Listeners

The Rachman Review by Financial Times

The Rachman Review

137 Listeners

Coaching Real Leaders by Harvard Business Review / Muriel Wilkins

Coaching Real Leaders

652 Listeners

Bloomberg Daybreak: Europe Edition by Bloomberg

Bloomberg Daybreak: Europe Edition

2 Listeners

HBR On Leadership by Harvard Business Review

HBR On Leadership

152 Listeners

Unhedged by Financial Times & Pushkin Industries

Unhedged

149 Listeners

Untold: Power for Sale by Financial Times

Untold: Power for Sale

133 Listeners

The Economics Show by Financial Times

The Economics Show

127 Listeners