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Bullshit. Vacation [1] IS the answer for burnout. Long vacations are even more ok for burnout. Sabbaticals are the most ok. Guess what a doctor would recommend

Bullshit. Vacation [1] IS the answer for burnout. Long vacations are even more ok for burnout. Sabbaticals are the most ok. Guess what a doctor would recommend you do if you're having health issues from burnout? If there's chronic burnout in your company/org then indeed, no amount of vacation will fix that. But neither would flexible work hours or mental health support. [1] Vacation means complete and total disconnect from work or work related activities. That goes beyond not checking work emails. I'm talking no leetcode or learning some new JS framework.

suzzer99 5y ago
Agreed. We need European-style month-long vacations in the US. And sabbaticals every few years. Also we should start looking at 36 and 32-hour workweeks. We're 20x more productive than 40 years ago, yet still work the same hours or more for pay increases that barely keep up with inflation.
- dopidopHN 5y ago
  As a European living in the US since a decade. It starts to impact my mental health. I went from 8 weeks / years to 4 or 5. Currently 3. Ha. I cannot recharge the same way ( meaning : travel for weeks at a time, or chill hard for 2 weeks in a row ) It’s flexible all right. But I feel like I’m always working somehow. Work is near, lurking. I’m nursing a nice little depression that I feel a road trip would cure easily. Too bad I need to keep my last week of vacation for Christmas week.
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    Mind sharing where exactly in Europe is 8 weeks vacation the norm? In Austria it's 5 weeks for everyone but law and that's what most tech companies will give you as well.
    - shell0x 5y ago
      I don't think there are 8 weeks, but 6 weeks? Spain has 30 days vacation if I'm not mistaken.
      - dopidopHN 5y ago
        Yeah I’ve redone the Math in a sibling comment. 1) it was 7 and some change. Not 8w 2 ) due to a special arrangement with my employer.
    - dopidopHN 5y ago
      I’m French. 5 weeks is the minimum. Then we work 40h/week but legally we should do 35h. So that give us a extra week. Those 6 weeks are the norm. But it become increasingly common to ask for another week as a perk it you are a skill worker. I my last French job I had weird hours and overtime in the weekend because of the industry I was in. It’s leads 7 and some changes weeks. So, not 8.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - shell0x 5y ago
    That sounds really bad man. I'm originally from Germany,but lived previously in Asia(Singapore/Hong Kong), New Zealand and now Australia. I never got less than 3 weeks vacation. The US is a good environment to innovate, but it's mostly good for companies and not people.
kaycebasques 5y ago
I'm 3 months into a sabbatical / gap year [1]. Feels great. The water is fine. Come on in! [1] https://kayce.basqu.es/sabbatical/prologue https://kayce.basqu.es/sabbatical/prologue
11235813213455 5y ago
For me a vacation, it's every day, every time I take my bike, go in the nature, it's something short and intense. I don't need to cut off several week from a job, take a plane to an exotic island. No, not only for environmental reasons, but I don't need it, just working less every day will be more efficient for me when I need to regenerate
thrower123 5y ago
One week of vacation is just not worth bothering with. It's not enough time to even disengage before you turn around and come back.
lazyant 5y ago
Yes, and let's stress _long_ vacations. We need our brains to disconnect and we need at least 4 days to a week to start feeling "on vacation" [citation needed], so anythin less than say two weeks or whatever (milage may vary) and you just came from work or are worrying about going back to work. Last time I went on vacation I forgot for a moment where I worked :-)
wccrawford 5y ago
I will agree that a sufficiently long vacation is an answer to burnout. It'll never prevent burnout, though, and having "job satisfaction" will, as many of the other commands are saying. It's not a either-or situation. You should have both.

suzzer99 5y ago

Agreed. We need European-style month-long vacations in the US. And sabbaticals every few years. Also we should start looking at 36 and 32-hour workweeks. We're 20x more productive than 40 years ago, yet still work the same hours or more for pay increases that barely keep up with inflation.

dopidopHN 5y ago
As a European living in the US since a decade. It starts to impact my mental health. I went from 8 weeks / years to 4 or 5. Currently 3. Ha. I cannot recharge the same way ( meaning : travel for weeks at a time, or chill hard for 2 weeks in a row ) It’s flexible all right. But I feel like I’m always working somehow. Work is near, lurking. I’m nursing a nice little depression that I feel a road trip would cure easily. Too bad I need to keep my last week of vacation for Christmas week.
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  Mind sharing where exactly in Europe is 8 weeks vacation the norm? In Austria it's 5 weeks for everyone but law and that's what most tech companies will give you as well.
  - shell0x 5y ago
    I don't think there are 8 weeks, but 6 weeks? Spain has 30 days vacation if I'm not mistaken.
    - dopidopHN 5y ago
      Yeah I’ve redone the Math in a sibling comment. 1) it was 7 and some change. Not 8w 2 ) due to a special arrangement with my employer.
  - dopidopHN 5y ago
    I’m French. 5 weeks is the minimum. Then we work 40h/week but legally we should do 35h. So that give us a extra week. Those 6 weeks are the norm. But it become increasingly common to ask for another week as a perk it you are a skill worker. I my last French job I had weird hours and overtime in the weekend because of the industry I was in. It’s leads 7 and some changes weeks. So, not 8.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- shell0x 5y ago
  That sounds really bad man. I'm originally from Germany,but lived previously in Asia(Singapore/Hong Kong), New Zealand and now Australia. I never got less than 3 weeks vacation. The US is a good environment to innovate, but it's mostly good for companies and not people.

kaycebasques 5y ago

I'm 3 months into a sabbatical / gap year [1]. Feels great. The water is fine. Come on in! [1] https://kayce.basqu.es/sabbatical/prologue https://kayce.basqu.es/sabbatical/prologue

11235813213455 5y ago

For me a vacation, it's every day, every time I take my bike, go in the nature, it's something short and intense. I don't need to cut off several week from a job, take a plane to an exotic island. No, not only for environmental reasons, but I don't need it, just working less every day will be more efficient for me when I need to regenerate

thrower123 5y ago

One week of vacation is just not worth bothering with. It's not enough time to even disengage before you turn around and come back.

lazyant 5y ago

Yes, and let's stress _long_ vacations. We need our brains to disconnect and we need at least 4 days to a week to start feeling "on vacation" [citation needed], so anythin less than say two weeks or whatever (milage may vary) and you just came from work or are worrying about going back to work. Last time I went on vacation I forgot for a moment where I worked :-)

wccrawford 5y ago

I will agree that a sufficiently long vacation is an answer to burnout. It'll never prevent burnout, though, and having "job satisfaction" will, as many of the other commands are saying. It's not a either-or situation. You should have both.