I'm disappointed about the "unlimited" flexible time off (FTO) which is not always fully approved by managers. In the end, the "flexible" policy seems to benefit the company more than the team members. I thought the "unlimited" FTO was one of the "nice" benefits at iHerb because the hiring team kept talking about it and said that the great thing about FTO is that it could be used as family needs required.
Here's my actual experience. I found out after requesting some leave that managers put a limit on how much FTO is actually approved, and in total amounts to two weeks in a year. At first I was a very surprised when I heard this and I even asked for clarification because HR even explained during on boarding that iHerb even gives LESS paid holidays (only 6) because we are "supposed" to use our (generous) "unlimited" FTO to supplement the holidays which matter to "us" as a way to be more flexible. But my manager, again, said that actually approvals are only for 2 weeks of allowed FTO leave because there are business needs. I was also put on the spot and asked, "You can understand that we can't have everyone taking whatever leave they want. There are business goals to accomplish. You can understand that, right?" I didn't want to seem like an out-of-line employee, so I let it be what it is. Other team members have shared that at times their full FTO request is not approved and only a portion is approved.
Still, this didn't seem right to be given two different messages between HR and managers. I went back to check the employee handbook and realized that the FTO policy at iHerb has a loophole to benefit the company more than the team member:
[Managers will approve or deny the request based on the business needs. Under this “Unlimited” program, no hours will be paid out upon termination.]
What I've been hearing is managers have their own KPIs to deliver a certain amount of projects and so it benefits the manager OWN performance target if they meet their their team goal of delivering more projects. Managers even tell team members that taking less FTO will also decide promotion chances. This is such terrible work life balance and culture to set because it can lead to burn out.
What's infuriating is that the loop hole with this FTO policy is that even if I don't take my time off to aim for a promotion there is still no pay-out for unused leave like a traditional PTO system. So, if I use my FTO up to my 2 weeks, I'll lose my chance at promotion. If I don't use my FTO to "try" to better my promotion chances, I won't get paid out for leave that I "should" have been eligible to use.
I actually really wish now that the paid leave policy was a normal PTO system because the current culture for leave is not beneficial to us team members. A traditional PTO system would be clearer and better for us because we would feel comfortable using the leave that we EARNED. It would be our RIGHT to take PTO or at least still be paid out for unused PTO if we personally decide to crunch through a performance review to aim for a promotion since that is a major factor for promotion here.
So far my experience of this FTO system here has been a underwhelming experience.
