This Company With 43,000 Employees Offer Unlimited Holidays For Senior Staff! How Will This Work?

Goldman Sachs, in a recent announcement said that it has removed any cap on the paid leave under the new “flexible vacation” plans.

This plan is essentially designed to promote “rest and recharge”.

However, this is for those who are in the upper echelon. For those who are working at junior positions, the holidays will be fixed in number.

In the past, the bank has been accused to overwork the younger staff.

The bank said that previously, with at least one week of consecutive days off, the bank said workers would be required to spend at least three weeks on leave annually from next year.

The firm wrote in the global memo that the bank is committed to provide people with differentiated benefits and offerings to support wellbeing and resilience.

The company said that they continue to take care of their people at every stage of their careers and also focus on the experience of their partners and managing directors.

They said that “We are pleased to announce enhancements and changes to our global vacation programme designed to further support time off to rest and recharge.”

Though offered very a handful of employers, the work policy is gaining traction in the job market.

Companies like LinkedIn, Bumble and Netflix offer this perk. Citigroup has offered junior workers in Malaga eight hour days with no weekend work for half of the $100,000 starting salary offered for the same roles in London and New York.

Goldman’s “Flexible Vacation” Plan Can Be Counter Productive

Claire McCartney, who works for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) as an inclusion and resourcing adviser said that the initiative might as well be a way to “empower” employees and “may help to attract and retain talent” but it is not immune to misuse.

Since anything and everything in the world which has scope of use and utility also has a scope for abuse.

She said that this policy must be carefully managed as it is “open to abuse”.

She added that there are chances of counter productivity of the policy as this would also mean that some people would take less leave which could lead to stress and burnout.

She said that there are chances that this move would not be taken well by those who are working at the lower rungs as it may not seem fair. It could sow the seeds of resentment in certain employees.

Burnout At Junior Level

People picked from their graduate recruitment scheme said that they shall quit if the gruelling working conditions do not improve.

An internal survey among 13 employees showed they averaged 95 hours of work a week and slept just five hours a night.

While 77% said they had been victims of workplace abuse, while everyone said that the work hours have negatively affected their relationships with friends and family

Working conditions were described as “inhumane” and “abusive” in the survey, which was seen by the BBC.

At the time, a spokeswoman for the bank told the BBC it was “listening to their concerns and taking multiple steps to address them”.

The bank also said that is planning to automate certain tasks for junior staff and has reinforced its “Saturday Exception” policy. This would mean that that employees cannot work from 9 pm on Friday to 9am on Sunday except in certain circumstances.