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USA. When I was at Sociable Labs, unlimited vacation worked out pretty well for me. I took around 4-5 weeks most years. Typically a week or less at a time, alth
by nfriedly 9y ago
USA. When I was at Sociable Labs, unlimited vacation worked out pretty well for me. I took around 4-5 weeks most years. Typically a week or less at a time, although I'd do a 2 weeks around Christmas and I think I took one 2-week trip during the summer.
Some of my colleagues weren't very proactive about it, so after a couple of years, the manager started assigning folks a week off here and there if they hadn't taken much vacation recently. I think something like this is a good idea.
I'm now at Tanium, and they have unlimited / self-directed vacation, but I've only been around for a few months, so I've only taken a day or two off.
They told me that most folks take 4~5 weeks a year here also, and I have seen a couple colleagues take vacations where they were wholly unreachable for a week or more.
My first job out of high school did not have unlimited vacation, but I took the month of August off (unpaid) my second year there - that was nice.
- maxxxxx 9y ago"I have seen a couple colleagues take vacations where they were wholly unreachable for a week or more" Is that unusual? When I am on vacation I never check my E-mail. They could send a text but that never happens.
- nfriedly 9y agoI've seen it both ways. I think the "wholly unreachable" version is more common, but I've definitely seen people take "work-cations".
- exolymph 9y agoI think the higher up in the org you are, or the more you serve as a bottleneck for productivity (e.g. because of unique skills), then the harder it is to take a truly 100% off vacation. The terminal example is a CEO — I'm sure most CEOs would cut a vacation short if a real crisis came up. That said, it has to be an actual crisis. If coworkers are bugging you about routine stuff on vacation, that's a bad work environment.
- maxxxxx 9y agoIf you are not ever able to take vacation because you are so important that's a sign for bad organization. In reality sometimes people are off for months because of sickness and I have never seen this being a real problem. People pick up quickly.
- megaman22 9y agoIf you're on vacation, you're on vacation, in my book. If I'm taking a real vacation, I'm going to be somewhere way out in the sticks where there isn't even any cell service, sitting on a lake catching trout, in a foreign country backpacking with no laptop, or sipping tropical drinks on the beach in the sun. In none of those cases am I going to be able to do anything useful even if you did get ahold of me.
- Gustomaximus 9y agoThis is my rule. I leave an out of office that says I'm not checking email but am available on phone number XYZ. When it comes to making a phone call people become a lot more realistic on what is 'urgent'