Unlimited vacation time: dream or nightmare for human resource departments?

‘Unlimited vacation’ is coming into vogue in the U.S where 1% of businesses have already implemented the system (‘unlimited vacation’ is a shorthand version for a company policy that allows its employees free to manage his/her time with the sole proviso that the work objectives are accomplished). This new wave is hitting the headlines as the boss of Virgin; Richard Branson recently indicated that some of his employees were already working with this new policy and that he was looking to roll it out to other areas of the group. The businesses who have already adopted or are tempted to adopt this new policy argue that since technological advances have blurred the lines over working time then they might as well forget about using time as a measurement tool. What are the costs and benefits of this policy? Two subject matter specialists answered such questions from Planet Labor.