Cape Town – From September, asset manager Investec will allow employees to take unlimited leave days – as long as they meet their deadline requirements.
Provided they dress appropriately for meetings and formal events, staff members will also be allowed to wear whatever they want to work.
Companies like Kronos and Netflix have already implemented such flexible benefits to improve workplace culture and boost employee morale.
The 2017 State of the American Workplace Report from Gallup showed that 53 percent of employees say it's "very important" to have a job that allows them greater work-life balance and personal well-being.
Investec employs about 10 000 people globally, with just over half located in South Africa. It basically comes down to the financial services firm rewarding employees in terms of output, and not the number of hours worked.
Speaking to 702, head of human resources at Investec SA Lesley-Anne Gatter said: “We want to engage with employees as adults who can really manage their time as they need to and in their own way.
“Rather, what we are after is high-performance. We are after output and we are after exceptional delivery.
“We want to actualise the trust we talk about, to uphold our values. When we make our environment better, we’ll get even more out of our high performers.
"Look, some people do like rules and they can stay with the same system – but we understand most people will migrate to the new structure.”
Citing Netflix research, Gatter said that in many instances a company’s strongest performers actually end up taking less leave than they are allowed. To avoid burnout, however, each employee has to take a minimum of 10 days' leave in each cycle.
“Prioritising well-being”, Investec will monitor employees 'performance after the new rules are introduced. The new perks will only be available to those who meet their targets.
There will be some degree of assessment when it comes to approving each leave application to avoid “work-free Fridays” becoming a trend.