1% of employers offer unlimited paid vacation

More and more employers are getting wise to the wisdom of vacations.

The Society of Human Resource Management reports 1% of employers offering unlimited unrestricted vacation time. Those employers put the responsibility on you to choose how much time you take off and when you take it off.

Meanwhile, The San Francisco Chronicle  reported several months ago that Silicon Valley employers in particular are offering unlimited paid vacations to keep and attract top-flight talent. Companies like Netflix, Zynga, Xobni, SigFig, Hotel Tonight, and others are on board with this.

One company called Evernote even offers $1,000 if you’ll take a week off from work!

An unexpected problem with the model of unlimited paid vacation is that people don’t use it. They think their employer will notice that they’re not needed while they’re away and fire them. That’s a natural fear and not an entirely irrational one given the tough economy.

But the truth is that over time you create value based on what you can produce for your employer. Time off that refreshes you makes you better. Many people’s efficiency goes down if they work hard week after week and it never feels like there’s been a break.

So listen up, employers. It is in your self-interest to make sure employees can hit the reset button. If you don’t give them some downtime, if you work them to death, you won’t get the effort and loyalty you really want.