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We have an unlimited vacation policy at Adzerk and I try to lead by example by taking at least 2-3 weeks off a year (especially in the summer). We also try to e

by javery 12y ago

We have an unlimited vacation policy at Adzerk and I try to lead by example by taking at least 2-3 weeks off a year (especially in the summer). We also try to encourage everyone to take at least one solid week off a year and it seems to work pretty well. I think that's the real issue with unlimited policy - if the leaders don't take vacation no one else thinks they can.

CaveTech 12y ago
"At least 2 weeks off". Isn't 2 weeks the bare minimum?
- jonathanwallace 12y ago
  Not in the U.S. At a contract packaging / manufacturing company I worked at, you received only one week (5 business days) of vacation after your first full year of employment.
- jcadam 12y ago
  I'm also in the US, and I receive 15 days of combined vacation and sick leave. So one bad flu can wipe out your ability to take an extended vacation. Or, alternatively, you take only a day or two when the flu is at its worst, then come into the office to stare blankly at your screen and drool on your keyboard, whilst getting your colleagues sick. Yes, stupid policies tend to incentivize people to do stupid things.
  - maaku 12y ago
    You should have personal illness / sicktime in addition to vacation. If you don't ... that's sleazy.
- billmalarky 12y ago
  I literally just walked out of an HR meeting where they brought in a lawyer to discuss questions like this and no vacation time is not required by US law (our company has roughly 4 weeks of vacation a year). In NY there is a minimum of 5 sicks days per year for employers with 5 or more employees, but again that isn't technically vacation time.
butwhy 12y ago
I like how you imply that 2-3 weeks is a long time, plus longer than your colleagues. This makes an unlimited vacation policy completely pointless if you ask me.
- Igglyboo 12y ago
  2-3 weeks is a long time in the US. I get 10 days off a year, many people get less. Federally mandated vacation is also not a thing here.
  - orbifold 12y ago
    It escapes me why anyone would voluntarily move to the US to work.
danieldk 12y ago
Two or even three weeks seems very unhealthy to me: - You need a longer break to seriously disconnect: at least two weeks. - Around Christmas/New Year you probably want to be around family and friends: one week. - At least a week distributed over the year to do something fun with your kid, visit that distant friend, etc. Maybe it's because I come from Western Europe, where getting 5 weeks (25-30 days) off in total is pretty normal. But I cannot imagine not breaking yourself at some point with only two weeks of vacation. Also, as siblings say. This 'no upper limit' makes no sense. If you give e.g. 25 days people know that that's their right and are more likely to take it then 'it's unlimited, but all the good workers take only 2-3 weeks'.
- javery 12y ago
  I phrased it poorly - we get off the week around the holidays as the company closes down. I also take probably another week off for random days here or there.
  - arjie 12y ago
    You serve ads. That's necessarily high-availability, especially around Christmas, when people are trying to grab eyeballs. If the company closes down, who's making sure everything is all right? Or maybe your stuff is that reliable? That's pretty impressive.
    - javery 12y ago
      It is pretty reliable, but we also have alerts to let us know if there are problems and support staff work out times to be available.
- johnward 12y ago
  Some people in the US get no paid vacation at all and work on public holidays.
  - steveklabnik 12y ago
    Back when I used to work at a pizza shop, the only two days a year we were closed were Christmas and Thanksgiving. Easter day was a half-day. Nobody was allowed to request off New Years or the Super Bowl.
oakesm9 12y ago
Is 2-3 weeks off a normal amount of time in the US? I get 28 days off per year in the UK, which is around the standard amount.
- shawabawa3 12y ago
  > I get 28 days off per year in the UK, which is around the standard amount. 28 is the legal minimum in the UK, however that includes bank holidays. You probably actually have 36 including bank holidays
  - vonmoltke 12y ago
    It is also worth pointing out that the American posters are only referring to discretionary vacation time. Most US companies have eight or so fixed holidays in addition.
    - vidarh 12y ago
      In Europe we very rarely count public holidays in vacation time - you can generally assume that most of the numbers listed in this discussion from Europeans is discretionary vacation time that comes in addition to 8 (UK) to 15 (Finland) or so public holidays (though not all countries mandate time off or time in lieu for public holidays). I'm in the UK, and have 25 days discretionary holiday, plus 8 days of public holidays
- CalRobert 12y ago
  Outside tech (which is dripping with privilege) it's common to have 0-2 weeks of vacation in the US. There is no legal minimum, and I've had jobs offering 0, 1, and 2 weeks of vacation. In some cases you can take time off and simply not be paid for it.
  - organsnyder 12y ago
    Not only that, but many employers aren't required to offer maternity leave (let alone paternity leave). My wife has had to combine accrued vacation time, sick days, and unpaid leave just to get to six weeks of maternity leave.
yxhuvud 12y ago
How is taking 2-3 weeks off leading by example? Compare with the situation here in Sweden: 5 weeks of vacation is mandated by law, and it is very common to have an extra week or two in addition to that. Also, the employer is mandated to accept that the employee take four weeks of contiguous vacation during summer (these weeks are included in the above).
Ao7bei3s 12y ago
Reality check: over here in Germany, the legal minimum is 24 days per year. As a developer, you wouldn't take a contract below 28 days (but you also won't be offered one). 29-30 are common. My previous company allowed an additional ~5 days of unpaid leave, which many took. Sorry, but your 10-15 days are insane.
- coldcode 12y ago
  Contractors in the US generally get 0 days of paid vacation. You either work or you get paid nothing since the contracting agency only makes money if you work.
- CalRobert 12y ago
  Well yeah, it sucks. I thought that was the general consensus? I would have killed to move to Germany before I finally managed to get to Ireland.
javery 12y ago
We also close between Christmas Eve and January 2nd so that is a another week that is mandatory off for everyone. I meant 2-3 weeks in a row. Last year I took off 10 days to go to Europe, then another 2 weeks in the summer. Plus the random day off her and there and the week in December and I will probably have taken 4-5 weeks off total for the year.

by javery 12y ago

CaveTech 12y ago

"At least 2 weeks off". Isn't 2 weeks the bare minimum?

jonathanwallace 12y ago
Not in the U.S. At a contract packaging / manufacturing company I worked at, you received only one week (5 business days) of vacation after your first full year of employment.
jcadam 12y ago
I'm also in the US, and I receive 15 days of combined vacation and sick leave. So one bad flu can wipe out your ability to take an extended vacation. Or, alternatively, you take only a day or two when the flu is at its worst, then come into the office to stare blankly at your screen and drool on your keyboard, whilst getting your colleagues sick. Yes, stupid policies tend to incentivize people to do stupid things.
- maaku 12y ago
  You should have personal illness / sicktime in addition to vacation. If you don't ... that's sleazy.
billmalarky 12y ago
I literally just walked out of an HR meeting where they brought in a lawyer to discuss questions like this and no vacation time is not required by US law (our company has roughly 4 weeks of vacation a year). In NY there is a minimum of 5 sicks days per year for employers with 5 or more employees, but again that isn't technically vacation time.

butwhy 12y ago

I like how you imply that 2-3 weeks is a long time, plus longer than your colleagues. This makes an unlimited vacation policy completely pointless if you ask me.

Igglyboo 12y ago
2-3 weeks is a long time in the US. I get 10 days off a year, many people get less. Federally mandated vacation is also not a thing here.
- orbifold 12y ago
  It escapes me why anyone would voluntarily move to the US to work.

danieldk 12y ago

Two or even three weeks seems very unhealthy to me: - You need a longer break to seriously disconnect: at least two weeks. - Around Christmas/New Year you probably want to be around family and friends: one week. - At least a week distributed over the year to do something fun with your kid, visit that distant friend, etc. Maybe it's because I come from Western Europe, where getting 5 weeks (25-30 days) off in total is pretty normal. But I cannot imagine not breaking yourself at some point with only two weeks of vacation. Also, as siblings say. This 'no upper limit' makes no sense. If you give e.g. 25 days people know that that's their right and are more likely to take it then 'it's unlimited, but all the good workers take only 2-3 weeks'.

javery 12y ago
I phrased it poorly - we get off the week around the holidays as the company closes down. I also take probably another week off for random days here or there.
- arjie 12y ago
  You serve ads. That's necessarily high-availability, especially around Christmas, when people are trying to grab eyeballs. If the company closes down, who's making sure everything is all right? Or maybe your stuff is that reliable? That's pretty impressive.
  - javery 12y ago
    It is pretty reliable, but we also have alerts to let us know if there are problems and support staff work out times to be available.
johnward 12y ago
Some people in the US get no paid vacation at all and work on public holidays.
- steveklabnik 12y ago
  Back when I used to work at a pizza shop, the only two days a year we were closed were Christmas and Thanksgiving. Easter day was a half-day. Nobody was allowed to request off New Years or the Super Bowl.

oakesm9 12y ago

Is 2-3 weeks off a normal amount of time in the US? I get 28 days off per year in the UK, which is around the standard amount.

shawabawa3 12y ago
> I get 28 days off per year in the UK, which is around the standard amount. 28 is the legal minimum in the UK, however that includes bank holidays. You probably actually have 36 including bank holidays
- vonmoltke 12y ago
  It is also worth pointing out that the American posters are only referring to discretionary vacation time. Most US companies have eight or so fixed holidays in addition.
  - vidarh 12y ago
    In Europe we very rarely count public holidays in vacation time - you can generally assume that most of the numbers listed in this discussion from Europeans is discretionary vacation time that comes in addition to 8 (UK) to 15 (Finland) or so public holidays (though not all countries mandate time off or time in lieu for public holidays). I'm in the UK, and have 25 days discretionary holiday, plus 8 days of public holidays
CalRobert 12y ago
Outside tech (which is dripping with privilege) it's common to have 0-2 weeks of vacation in the US. There is no legal minimum, and I've had jobs offering 0, 1, and 2 weeks of vacation. In some cases you can take time off and simply not be paid for it.
- organsnyder 12y ago
  Not only that, but many employers aren't required to offer maternity leave (let alone paternity leave). My wife has had to combine accrued vacation time, sick days, and unpaid leave just to get to six weeks of maternity leave.

yxhuvud 12y ago

How is taking 2-3 weeks off leading by example? Compare with the situation here in Sweden: 5 weeks of vacation is mandated by law, and it is very common to have an extra week or two in addition to that. Also, the employer is mandated to accept that the employee take four weeks of contiguous vacation during summer (these weeks are included in the above).

Ao7bei3s 12y ago

Reality check: over here in Germany, the legal minimum is 24 days per year. As a developer, you wouldn't take a contract below 28 days (but you also won't be offered one). 29-30 are common. My previous company allowed an additional ~5 days of unpaid leave, which many took. Sorry, but your 10-15 days are insane.

coldcode 12y ago
Contractors in the US generally get 0 days of paid vacation. You either work or you get paid nothing since the contracting agency only makes money if you work.
CalRobert 12y ago
Well yeah, it sucks. I thought that was the general consensus? I would have killed to move to Germany before I finally managed to get to Ireland.

javery 12y ago

We also close between Christmas Eve and January 2nd so that is a another week that is mandatory off for everyone. I meant 2-3 weeks in a row. Last year I took off 10 days to go to Europe, then another 2 weeks in the summer. Plus the random day off her and there and the week in December and I will probably have taken 4-5 weeks off total for the year.