Microsoft has announced that many US employees will now be provided with unlimited paid-time off.
According to an internal memo from Kathleen Hogan, chief people officer at Microsoft, salaried US workers will have “Discretionary Time Off” starting Jan. 16.
Although this new policy will only impact some workers in the US, it’s a stark move in the shift to better workplace conditions.
“How, when, and where we do our jobs has dramatically changed,” Hogan wrote in the email. “And as we’ve transformed, modernizing our vacation policy to a more flexible model was a natural next step.”
On top of the new policy, which will no longer see employees having to accrue their vacation days, workers will receive 10 corporate holidays, leaves of absence, sick days and bereavement.
Microsoft cites federal and state labor laws as the reason for hourly and out-of-US employees not being extended the new benefits.
Despite the company’s embrace of flexibility from seemingly all corners of their operations, the exclusion of hourly-wage employees may become a point of contention as the war for talent rages on.
