Why a Compulsory Shut-Off from Work Is Necessary

It's no longer cool to say you work 24/7 with no time for family, books, or entertainment. Many companies are recognizing the value of time off: to be productive and creative, an absolute shut-off from work is warranted. While many were still joining the bandwagon in 2017, some companies were already doing it.

Evernote, based in Redwood City, California, gave employees $1,000 a year to spend on vacation, believing employees need to refresh their minds to realize their full potential — alongside an unlimited-vacation policy as long as work didn't suffer. A company whose motto is "Meet Evernote, your second brain" was putting its declutter-your-life philosophy into practice.

Daimler-Benz, the carmaker, ran a "Mail on Holiday" program that auto-deleted any email an employee received while on vacation. Employees returned to the inbox exactly as they left it. It is common to check official email on vacation — and one of the worst things to do with your time off. The world won't stop, and the company won't cease to exist, if it doesn't receive your response. Thumbs up to Benz.

FullContact, a contact-management platform based in Denver, Colorado, went further with its "paid-paid" vacation: employees received $7,500 a year to go on vacation — on the condition that they fully disconnect. No official calls, no emails, not even a slight trace of the office while on holiday.

Amgen, the biotechnology firm in Thousand Oaks, California, has long been known as a generous employer with extended paid vacation and company-wide shutdowns around holidays. And financial-services companies like Capital One in McLean, Virginia, were winning workplace rankings with robust vacation policies.

If you are one of the lucky few whose company offers a great holiday perk, we hope you are using it. If you aren't, make your own compulsory shut-off days. We only live once — and the life we remember at the end is the time spent on relationships, not behind a desk.

This article is a snapshot of employer vacation policies as reported in 2017; benefits change over time.