Sure, we do. They take advantage of the vacation policy just like the rest of us.
> Imagine an employee who takes this policy and chooses to live like a European with umpteen weeks off every year. What to do about that? Simply tie it back to performance and things become clear.
It's probably just my bad English that I don't get the nuance, but it sounds a little condescending.
Are the Europeans actually taking more time off due to being used to it? Is their performance judged more because of this, if they do? I can't really imagine anyone answering YES to that, but it just struck me as odd to include this.
That said, your model sounds very good (compared to what seems to be the American standard) :)
This section of the article was meant to speak directly to management who may be concerned about using this policy due to this particular possibility. The following text is attempting to answer their concerns. That is, don't worry so much about this. Rather, judge the results, as you should be anyway.