Flexible vacation days: our commitment to employees’ well-being

At Codacy, teams and individuals are encouraged to manage their own time. We want to build an environment of trust that empowers people to manage their schedules how they choose, while still setting ambitious goals and creating value. 

Naturally, we don’t measure performance by cumulative worked hours. Here at Codacy, we value the quality of our work, the focus we put on our customers, and our employees’ work-life balance. Flexible vacation days came as a natural result of this approach.

Flexible or unlimited paid time off has become one of the most popular benefits in the modern workplace. Keep reading to understand how we implemented this policy at Codacy.

A different approach to work and performance 

Measuring employee performance in terms of accomplishments and work well done, rather than hours worked, contributes to a culture where employees can enjoy their time off and have a better work-life balance.

One of the lessons we learned in the past 8 years was to give employees flexibility, both in location and schedule. Our goal is to have a healthy workforce that feels safe and encouraged to take vacations when they want to. Whether it’s a 2-week family vacation in French Polynesia, a long weekend in their home country, or simply having a day off to reset.

At Codacy, we have a flexible vacation days policy built with an ownership mentality. We want our employees to think like owners and consider what’s best for themselves and the company. By treating people like responsible adults, they’ll behave that way.

From our experience, if a company upholds values around employee happiness, well-being, and appreciation as a motivator for high-quality work, employees will, in turn, value the mission and success of the company. There is a culture of mutual respect and trust, boosting productivity and morale.

Advantages of flexible vacation days

• Efficient time management;
• Increased productivity;
• More and better communication with the team;
• Better work-life balance.

Our minimum leave policy

Some evidence suggests that flexible or unlimited vacation days can lead to people taking less time off overall. However, we feel this is more a consequence of unclear expectations and processes than a flaw in the policy itself. 

To make things clear, we have a minimum leave policy. Since Codacy is based in Lisbon, we’ll ensure that our employees take the 22 days they’re legally entitled to in Portugal. The difference is that if they want to take more, we encourage and support them.

We know there are no perfect policies, especially with an internationally distributed team. However, the core principle of flexible vacation days is to offer everyone at Codacy the maximum autonomy, flexibility, and trust possible to do their best work in their environment of choice. We can do this also because managers and leadership establish concrete goals and open lines of communication with everyone.

When people have this type of freedom, they can go above and beyond in their role, bring great success to the company, and have a better balance in their work and personal lives. It’s a win-win situation.

Other types of time off at Codacy

Our vacations days are separate from:

• Birthdays! We considered them a day off, independently of the vacation days. Plus, if your birthday falls on the weekend, you’ll have your day off on the following Monday. 
• We observe Lisbon’s public holidays. Plus, when a public holiday falls on the weekend, the day off is taken the following Monday (this is a particular Codacy policy, it’s not observed in Portugal).
• Sick days, for when you’re feeling unwell so that you can rest and recover.
• Others (this includes medical appointments, parental leave, bereavement leave, childcare, and services that are only open during the working period).

We also offer one offline day a week, but that’s a story for another time 😉