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My previous job had unlimited PTO and that team sucked mega-donkey balls. It worked despite the culture, here's how: - large vacation time was scheduled aroun

My previous job had unlimited PTO and that team sucked mega-donkey balls. It worked despite the culture, here's how: - large vacation time was scheduled around projects. The SPM gave large priority to devs over the business. Thus priorities were reduced to meet resources for that sprint (SCRUM). - We had a flexible work schedule so if you needed to be home because the guy fixing your water heater is coming at 3, we made that possible. The philosophy was that as long as you were meeting your targets, everything was peachy. - We had one guy who would occassionally go on two/three day breaks and not tell anyone - including the SPM. As a team, we just left him alone and if he can't finish his task, oh well, we didn't bail him out. - Ironically, most of us took fewer vacation days with unlimited PTO. You have the outliers who will gladly abuse it, but prior to my departure, I took a total of four weeks (20 days) of total vacation time. Most companies give that anyways. Simply put, as long as we gave a long enough notice and put things into the engineering calendar, no one gave a crap. A lot of our unlimited PTO success boils down to prioritizing resources and expectations with the business. This company is around 300 people, so not a small company by all means. We just ensured that we all gave appropriate notice. For me, my formula was 1 month advanced notice for every week I wanted to take, so three weeks off meant three months ahead.

ritchiea 12y ago
I don't think most companies in the US give 4 weeks PTO. Currently I am contracting but at my last full time gig standard was 1 week, I pushed at hire time and got 2. What are other people's experience with this?
- fataliss 12y ago
  I think the US standard is more around 15 days of PTO. That's what I get here. Plus the week between Christmas and New year that is for everybody.
- logfromblammo 12y ago
  When I started at this place, I had 10 days of vacation and about 8 sick days per year. Within the first 3 months, I had no more vacation, no more sick days, and just 15 days of PTO. Note the mathematical inequality. We were, of course, then required to use PTO days when the office was shuttered due to dangerous weather, and everyone got the flu because no one wanted to scuttle their own summer vacation plans by staying home sick in February. My experience is that American companies hate the idea that their employees might prefer to do anything at all other than to make more money for the company than it costs to pay out their benefits and wages. This is not a theoretical hate, but an actual, almost tangible hate. They are completely furious that their inefficient meat-robots continually whine about needing to eat, sleep, and eliminate wastes. Never mind wanting to actually leave the workplace. US companies emphatically do not offer 4 weeks PTO to new hires. You would be lucky to get that after 5 years of continuous employment with the same company. Your mileage, of course, may vary, especially if you are in a particularly labor-friendly job market. My personal experience, however, is that I have never been able to take a vacation longer than 9 continuous days, and those were often constrained by weekends and paid holidays, resulting in 4 days spent from PTO, and 5 days from weekends and holidays. I would be willing to put up with some of the negative aspects of having a union, if it could manage even as much as stopping my non-paycheck benefits from eroding a tiny bit every year. I have had enough.

ritchiea 12y ago

I don't think most companies in the US give 4 weeks PTO. Currently I am contracting but at my last full time gig standard was 1 week, I pushed at hire time and got 2. What are other people's experience with this?

fataliss 12y ago
I think the US standard is more around 15 days of PTO. That's what I get here. Plus the week between Christmas and New year that is for everybody.
logfromblammo 12y ago
When I started at this place, I had 10 days of vacation and about 8 sick days per year. Within the first 3 months, I had no more vacation, no more sick days, and just 15 days of PTO. Note the mathematical inequality. We were, of course, then required to use PTO days when the office was shuttered due to dangerous weather, and everyone got the flu because no one wanted to scuttle their own summer vacation plans by staying home sick in February. My experience is that American companies hate the idea that their employees might prefer to do anything at all other than to make more money for the company than it costs to pay out their benefits and wages. This is not a theoretical hate, but an actual, almost tangible hate. They are completely furious that their inefficient meat-robots continually whine about needing to eat, sleep, and eliminate wastes. Never mind wanting to actually leave the workplace. US companies emphatically do not offer 4 weeks PTO to new hires. You would be lucky to get that after 5 years of continuous employment with the same company. Your mileage, of course, may vary, especially if you are in a particularly labor-friendly job market. My personal experience, however, is that I have never been able to take a vacation longer than 9 continuous days, and those were often constrained by weekends and paid holidays, resulting in 4 days spent from PTO, and 5 days from weekends and holidays. I would be willing to put up with some of the negative aspects of having a union, if it could manage even as much as stopping my non-paycheck benefits from eroding a tiny bit every year. I have had enough.