unlimited 1 : lacking any controls : unrestricted 2 : boundless, infinite 3 : not bounded by exceptions : undefined.

It also bears remembering that the conventional limit placed on paid vacation is its duration and its point in time, so lifting those two limitations would indeed make the vacation unlimited in the conventional and contextual meaning of the word, even if the unlimited vacation isn’t unconditional.

So yes, the folks in sales, marketing, and the legal profession have all done their share to water down the word “unlimited,” but I think for most people in normal usage “unlimited” still means “not limited.” There is a plethora of other unique words I literally worry about more. The enormity of this noisome problem is staggering.

In my (admittedly limited) experience, the more leeway a company gives its employees for a bit of goofing off, the better work they get. Lots of Silicon Valley companies know that, and even the University of Rochester Computing Center did back in the 70’s. “Goofing off” not only reduces stress, it can lead to innovation and good ideas.

It takes a certain kind of employee not to abuse that, of course. In the lab where I worked, there were a couple of people who couldn’t handle it, which eventually ruined it for the rest of us.

To me, the question is, how do you encourage people to be the kind of employees who can benefit both themselves and their company through a good balance of seriousness and fun?

On a similar note, I’m looking forward to hearing how it goes with our friend Peter’s company, which just instituted a policy of unlimited paid vacation time….

I guess the question it really raises is whether remuneration means the wage-earner ought to render 100% serious, efficient work, or whether a certain amount of goofing off can be tolerated. And in this case, it’s goofing off that got the university some media spotlight.

Granted, the date on this paper (7 April 2011) is off by six days, probably because someone mis-read a European-style, handwritten “1” for a “7”. (Note that I have used the European system of punctuation outside of quotes in that last sentence, acknowledging it as logical, if painful.)