Microsoft employees to get unlimited vacation starting January 16

Starting January 16 Microsoft will offer its employees unlimited vacation time. However, the innovation, called discretionary leave, will apply only to employees in the U.S., while hourly employees cannot expect to take unlimited leave.

"How, when, and where we do our jobs has dramatically changed. And as we’ve transformed, modernizing our vacation policy to a more flexible model was a natural next step,” Hogan wrote in the internal memo that was seen by The Verge.

So, starting next Monday, the company's employees, even newly hired ones, will be able to take days off when they need it, without being limited to the contracted minimum. They will also not have to wait until they have accumulated the required number of days to take vacation. Along with the new policy, Microsoft will continue to provide 10 paid days off per year, as well as sick and days off for a variety of valid reasons, including jury duty and bereavement.

The only limitation in the new policy applies to the work process: if the extra time off does not affect an employee's work, there will be no claim. And employees who have unused leave balances will receive a lump sum payment in April.

As noted, the new policy applies only to salaried employees of the company. Hourly employees, on the other hand, will not be able to receive unlimited leave because of peculiarities in federal and state laws. Such leave will also not be available to employees outside the United States because of the laws of the countries in which they reside.

Microsoft is not the first or only technology company to offer unlimited vacation time to its employees. Salesforce, LinkedIn (which is also owned by Microsoft), Oracle, Netflix and many other companies have similar policies.

Microsoft has recently introduced another change to its HR policy that allows more employees to work from home on a full-time basis.