7 ms·

Unlimited vacation sounds nice, but from what little I read on it, it wasn't really unlimited. Rather, it seems to be based on what's acceptable at your workpla

Unlimited vacation sounds nice, but from what little I read on it, it wasn't really unlimited. Rather, it seems to be based on what's acceptable at your workplace and how much work you can get done. Hopefully someone with first-hand experience or more knowledge will elaborate a bit on this.

myhrvold 10y ago
Yes -- unlimited vacation is a perk of flexibility rather than number of days off. Since you're responsible for getting your work done, you can take any manner of time off provided that the results hold up. This past year, I prolly tallied anywhere from 4-6 weeks off, technically speaking. Unplugged though, a handful of days at most. (Otherwise, mostly on vacay but maybe a few hrs worth of work a day sprinkled in morning / evening.) Because I own my area of work + results though, during decent chunks of this time I still answer emails when I can, try to unblock people etc. So it means that I get to travel more and see other places, or work in other offices (would say 'remote' here but some are in places like NYC & Seattle so hardly remote in that sense of the word!) Then, when I am around town in San Francisco, I make a point to check in with people in person, often through the evenings. And work part of the time on Sat/Sun to unblock people if I need to review or provide someone else the context to do so. For my role I have made this work and love it, but this unlimited option is not for everyone. And there is a cap to how much you can realistically be away and still get things done.
- PaulRobinson 10y ago
  Your work/life balance sounds utterly horrific and I am glad I don't have "unlimited vacation" like this. I feel depressed just reading it.
- st3v3r 10y ago
  So how is that better? You're not actually getting days off. You're still having to work. So you're not getting the benefit of vacation.

myhrvold 10y ago

Yes -- unlimited vacation is a perk of flexibility rather than number of days off. Since you're responsible for getting your work done, you can take any manner of time off provided that the results hold up. This past year, I prolly tallied anywhere from 4-6 weeks off, technically speaking. Unplugged though, a handful of days at most. (Otherwise, mostly on vacay but maybe a few hrs worth of work a day sprinkled in morning / evening.) Because I own my area of work + results though, during decent chunks of this time I still answer emails when I can, try to unblock people etc. So it means that I get to travel more and see other places, or work in other offices (would say 'remote' here but some are in places like NYC & Seattle so hardly remote in that sense of the word!) Then, when I am around town in San Francisco, I make a point to check in with people in person, often through the evenings. And work part of the time on Sat/Sun to unblock people if I need to review or provide someone else the context to do so. For my role I have made this work and love it, but this unlimited option is not for everyone. And there is a cap to how much you can realistically be away and still get things done.

PaulRobinson 10y ago
Your work/life balance sounds utterly horrific and I am glad I don't have "unlimited vacation" like this. I feel depressed just reading it.
st3v3r 10y ago
So how is that better? You're not actually getting days off. You're still having to work. So you're not getting the benefit of vacation.