“…it’s not really ‘unlimited’ though, is it?” Turns out, it was…

In December 2021 Chris made the surprising announcement that he would be trialing ‘Unlimited Paid Holidays’. For the most part, none of us had ever heard of Unlimited Holidays and it seemed the most popular response to follow was “but it’s not really ‘unlimited’ though, is it?” Turns out, it was…

When asked about where the idea for unlimited holidays had come from, Chris explained that lots of companies, particularly in ‘Big Tech’ (an industry that we draw a lot of our inspiration from) had successfully been operating an unlimited holidays policy for some time. 

“It felt like a natural step for us and our focus on employee wellbeing. I personally do my best work and come up with creative ideas when I feel well rested. So, it was a ‘no brainer’ as far as I’m concerned”
Chris Marrow – Lead Director

“…we knew that we couldn’t base our judgement on other businesses experiences, because we believe we are unique.”

Generally, our research suggested that there was an almost equal amount of pro’s and con’s to this, but we knew that we couldn’t base our judgement on other businesses experiences, because we believe we are unique. Sure, a lot of the unique style we have comes from us being a small, incredibly tight nit team and we will always be ‘tight nit’ but we are confident that we won’t always be ‘small’. So, with that in mind we had to consider how this policy would grow with us. 

“…For us as individuals it couldn’t have been better, but how could this even work from a business perspective?”
When we had the first discussion about unlimited holidays back in December 2021 we definitely had reservations. Having researched what it is and how it worked, the success stories and the drawbacks, it was clear that for us as individuals it couldn’t have been better, but how could this even work from a business perspective?

Client perception was obviously an important consideration for us and we understood that there may 

be a few ‘raised eyebrows’. Overall, the team were always confident that we could deliver the same exceptional level of service to our clients. Reflecting on the last 12 months we believe that our work has actually improved with the additional and more flexible time off. The whole team said they felt more productive and more in control of their workload in general but particularly in the lead up to a period of annual leave, everyone wanted to ensure that their work was done and if any cover was required it was arranged and full handover given.  

Initially discussions had focussed on advanced requests for leave dependant on the length of leave. Notice of leave durations were outlined but In reality, during the trial period this wasn’t enforced and there were no adverse effects on the team or business as a result. This is testament to the team and the control they have over their workload and their overall productivity. 

“…is it worth taking a day off for’? For us the answer is Yes!”

The team were able to co-ordinate the time off they needed themselves, based on their own trusted judgements and considerations to the needs of the business. 

Unlimited Holiday’s took the fear out of requesting holidays that each of us has experienced in our careers. It has taken the stress out of stretching traditional annual leave entitlements. Not having to think ‘is it worth taking a day off for’? For us the answer is Yes! Unlimited Holiday’s enabled the team to take spontaneous days off with family or just to fill up their cup. This benefitted the whole team’s wellbeing. 

Not missing out on ‘life’ because of work

We don’t ever want any member of our team to feel that they’ve missed out on an important life event or experience because they had to work instead. This year unlimited holidays allowed Aga to take a month-long trip to Poland to spend time with family and friends, Emily to ‘finally’ attend her sisters rearranged wedding without fear of using all her holiday entitlement all in one go, and Lisa to spend lots of time off with her little boy Jude. Chris even took the first two-week holiday since he got married back in 2013, he enjoyed it so much he took a second two-week holiday off later in the year! 

But how many days off did we actually take? We had a little fun with this and made it into a leader board at the end of the year! It wasn’t a competition, but we know the level of interest we’ve had from our businesses and industry contacts, so we thought we would share this with everyone: 

Interested in finding out more? Feel free to contact Chris who is more than happy to talk about our experience.