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There are alternatives I listed, the choice is not between "unlimited time off" and "mandatory". "Unlimited time off" would probably stand beneath "use-it-or-lo

There are alternatives I listed, the choice is not between "unlimited time off" and "mandatory". "Unlimited time off" would probably stand beneath "use-it-or-lose-it" in my evaluation because with the latter I'd be able to collect my PTO balance upon resignation. >And without those plans, accrued time off is lucky to hit 2 weeks a year. I never had less than 20 days (4 weeks) PTO, not counting holidays and Christmas lockdown and since I did not bother to negotiate any special PTO, I believe thousands upon thousands of my coworkers had the same luck. >So I have to not be sick or have emergencies for 2 years straight to get what is normal in the EU? I believe if you took a SWE job for what the normal in EU you could have also negotiated 10 weeks of PTO on top of that. >It's easier to force mandatory vacation than go through all that. It might be easier that that, whatever that is, but it's not desirable for me. >Where are you where you can accumulate "months of time off"? In the last TNC where I worked, I cashed out over two months of PTO (it capped over 40 days, 380 hours or some strange number like that) when I resigned. >Every plan I've had had max accruals of anywhere from 14-28 days So? If PTO is so important to you just make it a condition of your employment, it's just money for the employer, take more PTO, take less other comp. It's as same as if it had been made mandatory except people who are not interested in long vacations can have cash instead.

johnnyanmac 3y ago
>I never had less than 20 days (4 weeks) PTO, not counting holidays and Christmas lockdown and since I did not bother to negotiate any special PTO, I believe thousands upon thousands of my coworkers had the same luck. I guess it's simply a problem of my industry if that's the case (you can probably guess it at this point). Or you found some extraordinary workforce, perhaps ones not based in the US. >If PTO is so important to you just make it a condition of your employment, I'd love for a $400k salary to be a condition too, but life is full of compromises. I simply haven't seen such deals in my industry, except for ones not based in the US, of course. I still have growth/networking plans for long term goals, so I'd rather not leave my industry just yet. however, my industry also has horrible work conditions in general, so even if I do have a long term exit plan, I'd love for others to not go through my cruddy benefits. So I'm still all for a union.
- pandaman 3y ago
  I am talking about my employment as a SWE in various private and public businesses in the US since it's the topic of this HN post. >I'd love for a $400k salary to be a condition too, but life is full of compromises. I simply haven't seen such deals in my industry, I am not sure what your industry is, but in this particular thread the discussion is about programmers, and why they need a union to force mandatory 4 weeks off on everyone. If your industry is so bad that you cannot even trade PTO for your cash compensation then you might be better with unions, I don't know what industry that is and, obviously, I am not employed there.

johnnyanmac 3y ago

>I never had less than 20 days (4 weeks) PTO, not counting holidays and Christmas lockdown and since I did not bother to negotiate any special PTO, I believe thousands upon thousands of my coworkers had the same luck. I guess it's simply a problem of my industry if that's the case (you can probably guess it at this point). Or you found some extraordinary workforce, perhaps ones not based in the US. >If PTO is so important to you just make it a condition of your employment, I'd love for a $400k salary to be a condition too, but life is full of compromises. I simply haven't seen such deals in my industry, except for ones not based in the US, of course. I still have growth/networking plans for long term goals, so I'd rather not leave my industry just yet. however, my industry also has horrible work conditions in general, so even if I do have a long term exit plan, I'd love for others to not go through my cruddy benefits. So I'm still all for a union.

pandaman 3y ago
I am talking about my employment as a SWE in various private and public businesses in the US since it's the topic of this HN post. >I'd love for a $400k salary to be a condition too, but life is full of compromises. I simply haven't seen such deals in my industry, I am not sure what your industry is, but in this particular thread the discussion is about programmers, and why they need a union to force mandatory 4 weeks off on everyone. If your industry is so bad that you cannot even trade PTO for your cash compensation then you might be better with unions, I don't know what industry that is and, obviously, I am not employed there.