Have you heard of “precations?” Well, you’re among the large majority who hasn’t, but apparently it is a thing now.
No, not a trend yet, but a thing some company — a startup, who else — came up with, and then a mainstream publication wrote a story about it, and now everyone is scrambling to find another company, and maybe another company after that. And then, voila, a trend! Or valid enough that New York Times will do a “trend piece” on it.
If you don’t know what it is, here’s the gist of it: a tech company in Silicon Valley started giving new employees paid time off to take a vacation before they join their new job, as a perk to rejuvenate before starting the new job.
On paper, sounds like a great idea, and considering how little vacation Americans are taking, a great perk to attract the best talent. Some others have been mocking the concept as a way to get employees to work even more, as in “Yeah, have a great time! And when you get back here, work your ass off.”
The larger issue of vacations points to the sorry state of overworked Americans, and a slightly more nuanced discussion of it happened earlier this week on HuffPost Live, where yours truly was a guest, along with the CEO of Atlassian, the Silicon Valley-based software company that has an “unlimited vacations” policy and is also offering “precations” to new employees, as a way to recruit the best talent and retain them.
Watch the 15 minute segment below:
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