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That can be mitigated by making people take 2 consecutive weeks off every year, which many banks do. (It’s also considered an anti-fraud measure.)

by JackFr 5y ago

lawn 5y ago
Is that supposed to be a lot? Here in Sweden people usually take ~4 weeks or more consecutively during the summer vacation.
- fancyfish 5y ago
  In most companies in the USA, 2 consecutive weeks off is longer than normal. Not unusual to have a total of 2-4 weeks vacation to use each year.
  - jseban 5y ago
    Sounds great to me, as a Swede I hate being forced to take 4 weeks consecutive vacation. Would love to instead have 2-4 weeks spread out through the year. It's a stressful burden for me as a single person who's life naturally revolves mostly around their job, to suddenly invent a new life for myself for 5 weeks. I just end up bored and restless, wasting time, even if I travel 4 weeks is just too long. 1 week at a time is perfect really Edit: And you have to take those weeks in the summer as well, you can't take 4 consecutive weeks in fall, winter or spring. So it's really inflexible. If you want to go hunting in fall, and skiing in March, tough luck, in Sweden everyone "needs" to take all their vacation in the summer for some unknown reason.
    - lawn 5y ago
      It really depends on the place you work, I don't need to take my vacation during the summer for instance.
      - jseban 5y ago
        Yes but like the comment says, it's the norm so you'd be lucky if you don't have to do it and most likely it will not be possible. It's like you have to retire every year and go through that difficult transition to a jobless person. Many people just end up drinking too much.
    - sharpneli 5y ago
      It’s the same in Finland. I’d hazard a guess that the reason behind it is that without it being forced people would be subtly pressed not to have the vacation.
- jrochkind1 5y ago
  In the US, taking 4 consecutive weeks off is literally unheard of, a lot of people don't even have 4 weeks to take off in a non-consecutive way. Even taking 2 weeks off consecutively, it would not be unusual to require "special" permission for. Yes, it's terrible.
  - gmadsen 5y ago
    I don't know about that. Many people I currently work with take a month vacation to visit India.
    - diordiderot 5y ago
      BLS says half of employees get 10 days off, meaning half get less...
    - francisofascii 5y ago
      True, but not every year, usually. And they don't take any other vacation to save up for that trip.
    - jrochkind1 5y ago
      OK, very few people I know get 4 weeks vacation at all, including myself, and of those even fewer could take it all at once without pre-negotiating that with their boss, it would be considered unusual. But we know different people! I don't know a lot of people with six figure engineering jobs. Apparently here's what the US Bureau of Labor Statistics last said about it: > One reason for this is that American companies offer fewer vacation days. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 76 percent of private industry workers (who make up 84.7 percent of all workers) receive paid vacation days. After one year of employment, these workers were granted 10 days of paid vacation, on average. > This number grows modestly as years of tenure with an employer increase. In 2017, the average worker with five years of experience at a company was given 15 days of paid vacation and the average worker with 20 years of experience was given 20 paid vacation days. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/heres-how-many-paid-vacation-days-the-typical-american-worker-gets-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/heres-how-many-paid-vacation...
betaby 5y ago
In USA/Canada boss just going to call you during your vacations, because it's an emergency. So those task won't be understood and will continue to be seen as an exception.
- mabbo 5y ago
  Depends where you work I guess. Even at Amazon, when I left work I left behind all ways to communicate and my bosses respected that. Nearly a decade there and never did a boss try to reach me on vacation.
  - JackFr 5y ago
    Also been my experience doing technology in big banks for 20 years. Barring extraordinary circumstances, if you need to call someone who's on vacation that's an indicator of a broken process and unnecessary operational risk. (I've also seen a person who believed he was indispensable and thought because of that he could behave like an asshole. Very satisfying to see him get fired.)
- bradleyjg 5y ago
  That was my experience when I worked for a law firm, it’s not my experience at a tech company. Maybe time to look for a new employer.
  - terminalcommand 5y ago
    Were you a lawyer before and then switched to coding? Or did you accept an in-house role? I am a third year junior associate at a law firm, it would interest me how you transitioned.
    - bradleyjg 5y ago
      I left tech when the dotcom bubble collapsed because obviously tech was over. Then came crawling back during the legal recession following the housing collapse. Mistakes were made.
scottLobster 5y ago
Only 2 weeks? I work on a program at a Fortune 500 that is VERY reliant on tribal knowledge. Critical people take 2 week vacations at least once a year, we just grit our teeth and do our best to fill the gaps until the given SME returns. At the end of the day the company has to be willing to make the investment in adequate documentation and training backups. The only time I've ever seen that happen is when people leave permanently, and of course it only happens AFTER they leave permanently. Documentation and training are cost centers, after all /s

That can be mitigated by making people take 2 consecutive weeks off every year, which many banks do. (It’s also considered an anti-fraud measure.)

by JackFr 5y ago

That can be mitigated by making people take 2 consecutive weeks off every year, which many banks do. (It’s also considered an anti-fraud measure.)

lawn 5y ago

Is that supposed to be a lot? Here in Sweden people usually take ~4 weeks or more consecutively during the summer vacation.

fancyfish 5y ago
In most companies in the USA, 2 consecutive weeks off is longer than normal. Not unusual to have a total of 2-4 weeks vacation to use each year.
- jseban 5y ago
  Sounds great to me, as a Swede I hate being forced to take 4 weeks consecutive vacation. Would love to instead have 2-4 weeks spread out through the year. It's a stressful burden for me as a single person who's life naturally revolves mostly around their job, to suddenly invent a new life for myself for 5 weeks. I just end up bored and restless, wasting time, even if I travel 4 weeks is just too long. 1 week at a time is perfect really Edit: And you have to take those weeks in the summer as well, you can't take 4 consecutive weeks in fall, winter or spring. So it's really inflexible. If you want to go hunting in fall, and skiing in March, tough luck, in Sweden everyone "needs" to take all their vacation in the summer for some unknown reason.
  - lawn 5y ago
    It really depends on the place you work, I don't need to take my vacation during the summer for instance.
    - jseban 5y ago
      Yes but like the comment says, it's the norm so you'd be lucky if you don't have to do it and most likely it will not be possible. It's like you have to retire every year and go through that difficult transition to a jobless person. Many people just end up drinking too much.
  - sharpneli 5y ago
    It’s the same in Finland. I’d hazard a guess that the reason behind it is that without it being forced people would be subtly pressed not to have the vacation.
jrochkind1 5y ago
In the US, taking 4 consecutive weeks off is literally unheard of, a lot of people don't even have 4 weeks to take off in a non-consecutive way. Even taking 2 weeks off consecutively, it would not be unusual to require "special" permission for. Yes, it's terrible.
- gmadsen 5y ago
  I don't know about that. Many people I currently work with take a month vacation to visit India.
  - diordiderot 5y ago
    BLS says half of employees get 10 days off, meaning half get less...
  - francisofascii 5y ago
    True, but not every year, usually. And they don't take any other vacation to save up for that trip.
  - jrochkind1 5y ago
    OK, very few people I know get 4 weeks vacation at all, including myself, and of those even fewer could take it all at once without pre-negotiating that with their boss, it would be considered unusual. But we know different people! I don't know a lot of people with six figure engineering jobs. Apparently here's what the US Bureau of Labor Statistics last said about it: > One reason for this is that American companies offer fewer vacation days. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 76 percent of private industry workers (who make up 84.7 percent of all workers) receive paid vacation days. After one year of employment, these workers were granted 10 days of paid vacation, on average. > This number grows modestly as years of tenure with an employer increase. In 2017, the average worker with five years of experience at a company was given 15 days of paid vacation and the average worker with 20 years of experience was given 20 paid vacation days. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/heres-how-many-paid-vacation-days-the-typical-american-worker-gets-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/heres-how-many-paid-vacation...

betaby 5y ago

In USA/Canada boss just going to call you during your vacations, because it's an emergency. So those task won't be understood and will continue to be seen as an exception.

mabbo 5y ago
Depends where you work I guess. Even at Amazon, when I left work I left behind all ways to communicate and my bosses respected that. Nearly a decade there and never did a boss try to reach me on vacation.
- JackFr 5y ago
  Also been my experience doing technology in big banks for 20 years. Barring extraordinary circumstances, if you need to call someone who's on vacation that's an indicator of a broken process and unnecessary operational risk. (I've also seen a person who believed he was indispensable and thought because of that he could behave like an asshole. Very satisfying to see him get fired.)
bradleyjg 5y ago
That was my experience when I worked for a law firm, it’s not my experience at a tech company. Maybe time to look for a new employer.
- terminalcommand 5y ago
  Were you a lawyer before and then switched to coding? Or did you accept an in-house role? I am a third year junior associate at a law firm, it would interest me how you transitioned.
  - bradleyjg 5y ago
    I left tech when the dotcom bubble collapsed because obviously tech was over. Then came crawling back during the legal recession following the housing collapse. Mistakes were made.

scottLobster 5y ago

Only 2 weeks? I work on a program at a Fortune 500 that is VERY reliant on tribal knowledge. Critical people take 2 week vacations at least once a year, we just grit our teeth and do our best to fill the gaps until the given SME returns. At the end of the day the company has to be willing to make the investment in adequate documentation and training backups. The only time I've ever seen that happen is when people leave permanently, and of course it only happens AFTER they leave permanently. Documentation and training are cost centers, after all /s