Global translation company, Jonckers, will launch a program of unlimited paid vacation days for its employees, including those in Belgium, starting in March of this year.
In line with the new program, all 172 employees of the company will be able to take paid time off whenever they like. At the very least, they are obliged to take 20 paid days of vacation, Nieuwsblad explains.
"We already implemented the unlimited vacation system in our Czech office in January," said Jonckers' Chief Executive Officer, Geo Janssens.
"The idea is that from now until June all employees in the 10 countries where we operate can benefit from it," Janssens added.
The aim of the program is to improve employee well-being at work, to address long-term absences but also to attract a talented workforce.
Specifically, Jonckers is looking for developers for translation software that is based on artificial intelligence. People with the skills to work on these sorts of projects are difficult to find and sometimes demand up to €400,000 per year.
"We cannot [offer such a wage], but we can attract and retain these highly sought after profiles by offering them more [considerate] benefits," Janssens explains.
Unlimited paid vacation is not an entirely new phenomenon. Since 2016, for example, employees of the Antwerp communication agency Marbles have an unlimited number of vacation days. At Marbles, in 2019, all 15 colleagues in total took 397 vacation days- an average of 26.5 vacation days per person.
"An unlimited number of vacation days means that I no longer have to count vacation days, no more" stress "if I have to stay home for a sick child or to be at the school gate in time," said Marbles' Chief Operating Officer, Tim Berghmans, on the company website.
Evie McCullough
The Brussels Times
