4 ms·

Unlimited vacation comes down to placing the burden of taking time off on the employee. It's mostly there to deter employees from taking time off and to keep a

by foepys 10y ago

Unlimited vacation comes down to placing the burden of taking time off on the employee. It's mostly there to deter employees from taking time off and to keep a competitive environment. "X left for 30 days last year, Y only 15. Y seems to be more invested in their work." Don't let this fool you, it's more often a trap than it's not.

stefek99 10y ago
"deter employees from taking time off" How come? My understanding is - communicate with the team - know the release dates - be working in critical moments... Personally I would love to work 6 months a year or 3-4 days a week... To travel and to develop my side projects. Treating job as a way to pay bills in expensive city like London. Unless - my personal incentives are aligned with the company - very often it's not the case.
- loumf 10y ago
  Your understanding of what unlimited vacation means is not correct. It means: "more vacation than most jobs, probably" -- let's say about 5-6 weeks with stray days here and there.
  - kafkaesq 10y ago
    Well, that's what they want you to think it means. The reality is that it means something quite different. But either way -- just by calling it "unlimited vacation", they're f-ing with you from the very start.
- foepys 10y ago
  You need to ask yourself: Why does the company do this? Why does the company not grant everybody 50 vacation days by default and encourage employees to work more by paying out small bonuses (like $500) for not taking more than 50% of their vacation days? It's because they want the employees to not take any days off. Peer-pressure is insanely strong in those environments. You are supposed to feel bad to letting your colleagues do the work, while you voluntarily (!) take time off. Especially at start-ups there is always something for you to work on. As an employee it's easier to agree on like 25 vacation days/year beforehand because then it's in the contract and both parties can point to it when there are problems. If a colleague has a problem with someone taking more vacations days, it comes down to their own inability to negotiate more days for themselves; not to some "backstabber" leaving their colleague behind for some fun. As I said, there are cases where unlimited vacation days work out but I would say those are the lucky 1%.
  - aggieben 10y ago
    I've seen some employers keep an "unlimited vacation" policy with strongly-suggested (i.e., mandatory?) minimums like 3 weeks a year. Having minimums would probably help with this trap, although I can't really speak from experience on the matter.

by foepys 10y ago

stefek99 10y ago

"deter employees from taking time off" How come? My understanding is - communicate with the team - know the release dates - be working in critical moments... Personally I would love to work 6 months a year or 3-4 days a week... To travel and to develop my side projects. Treating job as a way to pay bills in expensive city like London. Unless - my personal incentives are aligned with the company - very often it's not the case.

loumf 10y ago
Your understanding of what unlimited vacation means is not correct. It means: "more vacation than most jobs, probably" -- let's say about 5-6 weeks with stray days here and there.
- kafkaesq 10y ago
  Well, that's what they want you to think it means. The reality is that it means something quite different. But either way -- just by calling it "unlimited vacation", they're f-ing with you from the very start.
foepys 10y ago
You need to ask yourself: Why does the company do this? Why does the company not grant everybody 50 vacation days by default and encourage employees to work more by paying out small bonuses (like $500) for not taking more than 50% of their vacation days? It's because they want the employees to not take any days off. Peer-pressure is insanely strong in those environments. You are supposed to feel bad to letting your colleagues do the work, while you voluntarily (!) take time off. Especially at start-ups there is always something for you to work on. As an employee it's easier to agree on like 25 vacation days/year beforehand because then it's in the contract and both parties can point to it when there are problems. If a colleague has a problem with someone taking more vacations days, it comes down to their own inability to negotiate more days for themselves; not to some "backstabber" leaving their colleague behind for some fun. As I said, there are cases where unlimited vacation days work out but I would say those are the lucky 1%.
- aggieben 10y ago
  I've seen some employers keep an "unlimited vacation" policy with strongly-suggested (i.e., mandatory?) minimums like 3 weeks a year. Having minimums would probably help with this trap, although I can't really speak from experience on the matter.