Branson to grant employees unlimited leave

Visionary entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has announced that he will remove limits on the amount of vacation leave Virgin employees can take each year, saying he hopes it will boost morale, creativity, and productivity.

Branson claims that doing away with the company’s holiday policy and allowing staff members to take breaks when and as often as they wish will have long-term benefits for his business.

He was inspired after his daughter showed him a report about a similar strategy introduced by the video-streaming giant Netflix.

The policy has already been introduced in the UK and the US "where vacation policies can be particularly draconian". Mr Branson said he would encourage subsidiaries across the globe to follow suit, if the results are positive.

"We should focus on what people get done, not on how many hours or days worked. Just as we don't have a nine-to-five policy, we don't need a vacation policy" he wrote.