The announcement was made in an email to employees from Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft’s chief people officer, today in a memo seen by The Verge.“And as we’ve transformed, modernizing our vacation policy to a more flexible model was a natural next step.”The changes will start on January 16th and mean even new Microsoft employees don’t need to wait to accrue vacation time anymore.Microsoft will offer 10 corporate holidays, leaves of absence, sick and mental heath time off, and time away for jury duty or bereavement alongside this new unlimited time off policy.Microsoft says federal and state wage and hour laws make it difficult to offer unlimited time off to hourly workers, and those outside the US will keep their current vacation benefits because of different laws and regulations in other countries.The new policy follows Microsoft allowing more employees to work from home permanently and the company’s $1,500 pandemic bonus for employees."