This Tech Company Pays Its Employees Thousands Of Dollars To Take Vacation, Unplug

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A tech company in Denver is among a growing number of businesses not only offering paid vacations but offering employees a bonus to unplug.

"We actually strongly that people are far too connected," says Bart Lorang, the founder and CEO of FullContact.

"So, our policy is something called paid-paid vacation," he said. "We pay them an additional $7,500 to take a vacation and go off the grid."

Lorang says it takes about three days to "digitally detox."

"And they realize, they sort of wake up and realize, 'Hey, there's my wife, there's my husband, and there are my kids,' " he explained.

But there is a catch.

Employees must take a minimum of three-weeks off and can't check work emails.

"It was hard at first, I have to admit," said Jessica Nolan, who checks her phone every few minutes at work and using this work perk forced her to cut the cord.

"It's a really important exercise to kind of force yourself to know that no one's gonna die if you're out," she said.

Robert Ozeran, an attorney in Van Nuys, says he's all for going on vacation but leaving it all behind isn't as easy as it sounds.

"I think that would cause me to stress out and I want to relax. I don't want to be searching for my phone," he said.

But companies say recharged employees are actually more productive employees.