Dream Big: Amdocs announces "Vacation without Limits"!
Our new vacation program introduces a greater focus on wellbeing and opportunities for growth, and a new approach to productivity and value, based on mutual trust.
Yariv Hasar explains why "unlimited vacation" will help create the best environment for people to thrive.
Prioritizing creating value over work hours
2022 will see a brand-new reality at Amdocs, as we roll out our unlimited vacation program – “Vacation without Limits”. The basics are straightforward: our employees are free to take as much time off as they choose, as long as it’s fully coordinated with their manager. It’s the next natural step of our people-centric journey, and living proof of our “Make it amazing” brand: we are shifting the business focus from effort and quantity (working hours) to results and amazing outcomes.
Unlimited vacation time is about mutual trust
Two years ago, I was an avid advocate for a one-day work from home policy, which we introduced at Amdocs in 2020. The general concern in the industry was that the hybrid work model could potentially throw off working procedures and drive down results. Nowadays, following the new reality created by the pandemic, it’s plain to see that working from home did not damage performance or diminish success rates. We want our employees to know that we trust them to manage their work life appropriately, to deliver on our joint commitments for the business, and to create the teamwork that will allow them to take time off when needed. Our new vacation program is another step we’ve taken to enhance this mutual trust.
A new vacation program for a new world
There’s a real sense of urgency across several industries about employees not taking advantage of their vacation days. Working from home, and the fact that travel opportunities were seriously limited in the past two years, have caused fewer people to go on planned, extended vacations. But we are also aware of the crucial need to rest and recharge. The new status quo where everyone is “always on” while working from home, has blurred necessary boundaries, and we are seeing new forms of exhaustion affecting motivation and productivity.
“We want to fight burnout and promote the wellbeing of our teams for the long term. And with this new program, we removed any financial concerns about the implications of taking proper time to recharge. I call it recharging without charge!”
Increasing accountability across the board
Our managers are key to making this a success as they are the ones responsible for their employees’ wellbeing, and we are providing them with the necessary tools to help them manage this program.
“Vacation without Limits” gives us more means to take care of our people, so we can allow them to become more autonomous in managing their work life.
Preparing for the future
People-centricity is about putting your peoples’ needs first – but it can also drive our ability to attract new talent. According to Gallup's It's the Manager, 53% of employees say greater work-life balance is very important to them when considering a job, 63% of millennials would change jobs for flextime, and if given the choice between a small raise and remote work, most workers would choose to work from home.
Looking at the multitude of countries where Amdocs is present, we also realize unlimited vacation time is not the norm across the globe, and so we feel we can make a difference here. “Vacation without Limits” is a global program that will be implemented wherever possible, in a phased approach, across all our locations around the world by the end of 2022.
Unlimited vacation time. Unlimited choices
The basis for this program is simple and powerful – we want to create the best environment for our people to thrive. And at the end of the day, deciding how and when to take vacationis a personal choice. A vacation can mean different things to different people (and we have over 29,000 of them at Amdocs, and growing!). I for one, intend on setting an example. There’s a pile of books by my bed I’ve been waiting to read, and new recipes I want to try out, so I’m more than ready to switch off, disconnect and recharge.
