Yahoo won't force its employees to take unpaid time off during the coming holiday season, but will still require its workers to use up all their vacation days.

The clarification comes after staff rallied on company forums against the measure, according to Yahoo blogger Jeremy Zawodny.

30 Sep 2006

Yahoo last week sent out and email to employees to inform them about a mandatory vacation this December. It stated that: "the expectation is that nearly all US Yahoos will participate in the office closure by utilizing their vacation time, personal floaters, or taking unpaid time off."

The email made its way to the Valleywag blog, where Yahoo was portrayed as a "Scrooge". It also sparked speculation that the measure was a desperate attempt by Yahoo to save money to cover up a disappointing earnings growth.

The clarification from Yahoo's management however indicates that the measure is intended to make sure that employees use up all their vacation days more than force the Yahoo workforce to take unpaid leave.

Buying back unused vacation days would cost the company more money. There's a fine line between not having to spend money and saving additional funds.

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