Microsoft will no longer require US employees to formally record vacation thanks to a new Discretionary Time Off policy.

Microsoft is giving its United States employees unlimited time off. The announcement was made in an email to staff from Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft’s director of human resources, today in a memo seen by The Verge. The Company is calling its unlimited time off “Discretionary Time Off,” and it will apply to all salaried US employees.

“How, when and where we do our work has changed dramatically,” Hogan explains in the internal memo. “As we evolve, modernizing our holiday policy to a more flexible model was the natural next step.”

The changes will kick off on January 16, meaning that even new Microsoft employees will no longer have to wait to save up vacation time. The Company will offer 10 corporate holidays, leaves of absence, sick and mental heath time off, and time away for jury duty or bereavement alongside this new unlimited time off policy. Workers that have an unused holiday balance will get a one-time payout in April.

This policy will only apply to those working in the United States. Microsoft says federal and state wage and hour laws make it difficult to offer unlimited time off to hourly workers, and those outside the US will keep their current vacation benefits because of different laws and regulations in other countries.

Source of Information : The Verge