For most managers, tracking workers’ vacations is a thankless and frequently frustrating exercise. If you don’t stay on top of it and actively manage the process, you may end up with half your staff panicking around Thanksgiving when they discover they’ll lose all the time they don’t take before the year runs out.

IBM, a visionary company when it comes to workforce practices, has a better idea: Let workers take vacation whenever they want for as long as they want, just as long as they get their work done.

A recent story in The New York Times titled “At IBM, a Vacation Anytime, or Maybe None”  says that “[IBM] does not keep track of who takes how much time or when, does not dole out choice vacation times by seniority and does not let people carry days off from year to year.

Instead, for the past few years, employees at all levels have made informal arrangements with their direct supervisors, guided mainly by their ability to get their work done on time. Many people post their vacation plans on electronic calendars that colleagues can view online, and they leave word about how they can be reached in a pinch.”

This notion of a flexible work schedule, where workers are empowered to decide when and how they get their work done, is picking up steam. More and more companies, like Best Buy, realize that the old command-and-control management systems just don’t work all that well in our hyper-connected 21st century workplace.

One interesting point in the Times story: Despite the ultra-flexible work arrangement, most IBM employees don’t take off all the days they have coming each year. But the story also says this: “IBM officials said they have no idea whether workers take more or fewer days off now than before, and have not studied the policy’s effect on efficiency. But they point to employee surveys showing that the self-directed work and vacation policy is one of the top three reasons workers choose to stay there.”

The modern workplace demands a modern approach to management. Giving workers more flexibility, as IBM and Best Buy have found out, not only keeps productivity high, but it also helps retain talent and keep people happy. More important, it treats them like adults. And isn’t that the best way to manage people?