The "Unlimited Vacation Policy" is the latest dirty trick that Corporate America has come up with. The advantage of the "Unlimited Vacation Policy" for the corporation is:
1- Erases the financial liability in their books for "unused vacations".
2- When they lay you off, they wouldn't pay you anything for your otherwise "unused vacations"
3- employees get less vacation time in practice because they can only take it when they are "done with their assignments" which is totally subjective and may never happen. Moreover employees feel that they have been given a favor when they take it.
4- Employees worry that if they take vacations, they would get a lower performance review grade compared to the ones that do not request vacation and keep working. This would deter them from asking for it.
5- Manager's cronies get more vacation than others and there is no mechanism to regulate it.
6- It works as a good propaganda statement for HR for recruiting to say they have "Unlimited Vacation Policy".