I personally would hate to lose unlimited vacations, or more specifically what Atlassian provides. I like the freedom of not worrying about how much vacation I have available. It allows me to take random days off or take a long planned vacation.
I agree with the use of “unlimited” and “untracked” or maybe “flexible” would be better terms. I personally only had good experiences with what Atlassian does, and it required me to change my attitude toward time off for the better, as I am now accept that I should take time off, to both reward myself and to unwind or detach from work.
I think “unlimited” is a weird term. There are limits, because as an employee, you were hired to do a job. I think the proper term someone used was “untracked” which is more accurate. Internally the benefit is called “vacay your way”, which is really framing it as a very flexible vacation policy… which it truly is. As I posted earlier, it is really what you make of it, and those who do not use it loses it.
"Unlimited" is deceptive advertising in action, plain and simple. Not weird, but a sort of deception that's now de rigeur in the industry. "Unlimited" should really be interpreted as "zero", but "more than zero if management approves". Paid leave, on the other hand, has actual substance.
Atlassian does not have an “unlimited vacation” policy per se, but it has a “flexible, non-accrual, discretionary vacation policy” called “vacay your way.” Like unlimited it does not set an annual limit, but there are policies around how it is used, key being (a) it should be coordinated with manager (and your team) (b) no more than 30 consecutive days. Otherwise people are encouraged and do take random days off, go on planned one, two, three or four week vacations.
Prior to working here, all the places I had worked allowed me to accrue vacation, which I rarely used and cashed out when I left the company. For me, at the time, I thought it was fine. But when I joined Atlassian, i was looking for better work life balance, and I found it versus prior employers. I was very well aware that I need to use may vacation, because there is no cash equivalent. In fact, I tell all my coworkers to take vacation frequently even if you just stay home and play games all day… often times they are reluctant (American work habits are quite unhealthy). So in the years since joining, I have taken far more vacations per year without any impediment or scrutiny. My managers (had quite a few over the years) never questioned it and it took a while for me (personally) to get used to just taking breaks and going on vacations or just staying home… again, bad American habit of overworking and thinking I need to carry more than my load at work.
At Atlassian, my understanding is any employee can take off two consecutive weeks, and will talk to the manager if they want to take off more. Many employees take sporadic days off throughout the year for whatever reason, for kids, health, needing to just get away. I personally never had a problem in asking for or receiving vacation. The problem I usually see is people choosing to not take time off, and that leads to burnout.
As noted, Americans often do not take much vacation, and this is why there is a lot of discussion about accrual and cashing out. I think the program allows people to just take time off anytime for big or small reasons and not worry about counting the time off. It is very much about the freedom from worrying about if you have time to take, and the flexibility in taking it when you need it.
In the past 12 months, I have taken over 30 days off (probably closer to 40) without anyone batting an eyelash. Those days off were both planned vacations and random days off due to being sick, tired or some other person reason. I never needed to ask for the time off.
It looks quite generous by American standards (maybe on par with european), and I would say I was never able to take this much time off at other employers, unless I did not use it one year and had it roll over to the next.
In addition to vacation time, Atlassian does provide other generous leave:
During COVID we also have a nice benefit for all employees globally to take up to a month off due to stress of the pandemic, no approvals needed.
I have seen friends and coworkers use the generous parental/maternity leave which is very generous for Americans. I don’t know all the details, not having a kid born while working here, but it is something like maternal (child bearer) is 26 weeks, parental (spouse) is 20 weeks, both at 100% base pay.
We also have have paid leave to care for a family member for 7 weeks at 100% base pay. Something I also have not needed (thankfully) but know others have needed.
So I honestly do not understand all the scrutiny over Atlassian vacation and leave policies. It is not quite “unlimited vacation”, it is “vacay your way” and it is pretty fair and flexible.
I get the OP had their own unique circumstances, but it does not reflect my own experience (obviously) and of those I work or socialize with at Atlassian. I sympathize for them and wish them and their spouse the best.
