Virgin Boss Richard Branson Offers Staff Unlimited Annual Leave

Writing on his website the entrepreneur said that every member of his 170 personal staff could:

“take off whenever they want for as long as they want”

He continued to state that staff would not need to ask for permission or give details as to the length of their break. He stated that the driver for the success of the initiative was that any leave taken would not cause any detriment to anyone or anything.

Explaining how he thought it was more important to focus on the work people get done as opposed to the time they are in the office, he continued:

“The assumption being that they are only going to do it when they feel 100% comfortable that they and their team are up to date on every project and that their absence will not in any way damage the business – or, for that matter, their careers!”

Explaining why he was taking such a surprising decision, the Virgin chief said he had been inspired by his daughter. According to the 2014 winner of the Business for Peace Award she had told him about a similar process that is in place at online TV company Netflix.

The Virgin policy has been introduced for Mr Branson’s staff in the United Kingdom as well as employees in the United States where he said:

“vacation policies can be particularly draconian”

The blog entry on the billionaire’s website has been taken from a book that Mr Branson will be launching later this year.