9 ms·

I think you did read too much into it. He's saying that even when you have a liberal vacation policy at a startup, and even when you encourage people to take ad

by kyllo 14y ago

I think you did read too much into it. He's saying that even when you have a liberal vacation policy at a startup, and even when you encourage people to take advantage of it, they still don't take vacation because the type of people who do startups are workaholics. So if you're going to work there, you should take a couple weeks off before you start, because you probably aren't going to want to afterward. Telling a workaholic at a startup, "you can take as much vacation as you want" is really telling them, "take as little vacation as you need." A vacation for a workaholic is like a pitstop for a racecar driver. But if you give people a set number of vacation days per month or year, and refuse to roll them over, aka "use it or lose it" policy, then you will see them start taking vacation. (This part is my observation, not the OP's)

derefr 14y ago
> But if you give people a set number of vacation days per month or year, and refuse to roll them over, aka "use it or lose it" policy, then you will see them start taking vacation. (This part is my observation, not the OP's) I would say that, for getting true workaholics to take time off, even that's too lax. Enforced paid leave for all employees might be a better solution. For that matter, if it won't kill the company, try closing the office for a month each year. :)
- kyllo 14y ago
  The finance/banking industry has this. Investment bankers are usually required to take 2 consecutive weeks off every year. The reasoning behind it is, it is much harder to cover up fraud if you are forced to be away from the office for two entire weeks, because they can audit your books while you're gone.
  - hga 14y ago
    Not so much that they can audit your books, but that any scheme you're running that requires constant intervention will fail and be detected by e.g. the books just not balancing at the end of the week. I seem to remember hearing this policy goes all the way down to bank tellers.

by kyllo 14y ago

derefr 14y ago

> But if you give people a set number of vacation days per month or year, and refuse to roll them over, aka "use it or lose it" policy, then you will see them start taking vacation. (This part is my observation, not the OP's) I would say that, for getting true workaholics to take time off, even that's too lax. Enforced paid leave for all employees might be a better solution. For that matter, if it won't kill the company, try closing the office for a month each year. :)

kyllo 14y ago
The finance/banking industry has this. Investment bankers are usually required to take 2 consecutive weeks off every year. The reasoning behind it is, it is much harder to cover up fraud if you are forced to be away from the office for two entire weeks, because they can audit your books while you're gone.
- hga 14y ago
  Not so much that they can audit your books, but that any scheme you're running that requires constant intervention will fail and be detected by e.g. the books just not balancing at the end of the week. I seem to remember hearing this policy goes all the way down to bank tellers.