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I read something somewhere once that claimed that employees with "unlimited time off" actually take less than the standard US average. It's nice to say "you ca

I read something somewhere once that claimed that employees with "unlimited time off" actually take less than the standard US average. It's nice to say "you can take time off whenever you feel you should", but in reality it's extremely difficult to create a culture where this is actually respected. I'd actually rather have the policy of "X weeks, but we're not actually looking that hard". That way I don't have to plan things down to the very last day, and rest easy knowing there some give, but also still feel entitled to take what's mine.

jandrewrogers 14y ago
What you say is true, and there a lot of reasons why. One of them is that companies that trust their employees enough to have unlimited time off also tend to give their employees substantial ownership of whatever they are working on. They want to make sure their "baby" is being taken care of properly and is looking good as a matter of personal pride. The cultural pressure is not to not take time off but to make sure what you own is as good as possible. In the case of my company, which also has unlimited time off, there is this same pattern of engineers that do not want to take vacation. Managers encourage (gently force?) people to take time off that are not taking at least a few weeks a year off on their own. The actual range of vacation taken at my company seems to be from about two weeks (that would be me) to about six weeks.
- jessriedel 14y ago
  Cultural pressure is certainly a plausible explanation, but so is the fact that the offering of unlimited time off simply correlates with employees who like their jobs.
- MattRogish 14y ago
  We offer unlimited time off and I, as the CTO, do keep track. But only to make sure folks are taking time off! I push people to GTFO - unplug, etc. I also have a sense during my weekly 1:1s, who is getting a little frazzled. I then encourage them to unplug for a bit. I think it works well. There's a bit of a meta-meme right now of "No managers!" which is pushback against "Command and Control" - which I whole-heartedly agree with. However, for hard-working "Type A" sorts of programmers, it's easy to get so focused that you don't take care of yourself, even as a responsible adult. I view my job as a gardener - tending to the care and feeding of folks that work with me. Every now and again a person needs a mental "weeding", and so a vacation is needed. :D
  - mkopinsky 14y ago
    I have a friend who works as an electrical engineer for the Israeli army. He told me that in some ways working for the military is better than working as a civilian, since a boss only cares about the work you, whereas your officer is responsible for you as a person, including your health and well-being.

jandrewrogers 14y ago

What you say is true, and there a lot of reasons why. One of them is that companies that trust their employees enough to have unlimited time off also tend to give their employees substantial ownership of whatever they are working on. They want to make sure their "baby" is being taken care of properly and is looking good as a matter of personal pride. The cultural pressure is not to not take time off but to make sure what you own is as good as possible. In the case of my company, which also has unlimited time off, there is this same pattern of engineers that do not want to take vacation. Managers encourage (gently force?) people to take time off that are not taking at least a few weeks a year off on their own. The actual range of vacation taken at my company seems to be from about two weeks (that would be me) to about six weeks.

jessriedel 14y ago
Cultural pressure is certainly a plausible explanation, but so is the fact that the offering of unlimited time off simply correlates with employees who like their jobs.
MattRogish 14y ago
We offer unlimited time off and I, as the CTO, do keep track. But only to make sure folks are taking time off! I push people to GTFO - unplug, etc. I also have a sense during my weekly 1:1s, who is getting a little frazzled. I then encourage them to unplug for a bit. I think it works well. There's a bit of a meta-meme right now of "No managers!" which is pushback against "Command and Control" - which I whole-heartedly agree with. However, for hard-working "Type A" sorts of programmers, it's easy to get so focused that you don't take care of yourself, even as a responsible adult. I view my job as a gardener - tending to the care and feeding of folks that work with me. Every now and again a person needs a mental "weeding", and so a vacation is needed. :D
- mkopinsky 14y ago
  I have a friend who works as an electrical engineer for the Israeli army. He told me that in some ways working for the military is better than working as a civilian, since a boss only cares about the work you, whereas your officer is responsible for you as a person, including your health and well-being.