Could an unlimited holiday allowance ever work in lettings
A radical new idea or a threat to our traditional way of working in the UK I'm talking about the latest personnel and welfare approach being adopted by Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson.
He is scrapping the company's holiday allowance policy. If you think he's forbidding staff to take annual leave, think again. He is actually encouraging staff to take as much leave as they want, when they want and without any warning.
Branson got the idea from American video streaming company Netflix, who introduced a similar strategy with success in 2010. For now the idea is still in its infancy and is confined to Virgin in the UK but could this change to employment benefits eventually spread to other businesses
The catalyst for such a drastic change was advances in technology that see staff working remotely at all times during the day, enabled by smart phones, tablets and Wi-Fi. Branson figures that managers can't accurately track just how many hours employees are putting in due to remote working and this, therefore, undermines the traditional set holiday allowances. Could the same be said for property managers and negotiators who might respond to 10 emails at home of an evening, or who get ahead by putting in two hours on a Sunday night
Let's play devil's advocate. In lettings and in property in general, staff work to targets. What if negotiators who had met their month's target in the first week took the rest of the month off How about an employee who conducted a run of late-night appraisals and check-outs deciding not to work mornings for a fortnight The idea that staff would be trusted to manage their personal workload and their effort into team projects seems counter-productive but it's actually designed to boost productivity, moral and company loyalty.
While the idea in principle is good, it leaves me wondering if it could ever work in property, especially in lettings where the unpredictable nature of job means problems arise on an hour-by-hour basis, with a quiet department turning into a frantic, overworked one in less than a day. And where would the idea leave partners and business owners who want to grow their business and maximise every employee's working hour by chasing new business and improving customer service Perhaps Sir Branson should open his own lettings-management business and see if his new liberal approach to holiday would work in a property setting.
* Simon Duce is the managing director of the ARPM Group, national outsourced lettings and property management service provider.
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