Ask HN: Can I start a tech company with mandatory 2 month yearly sabbaticals?

There are businesses that are seasonal. They make the majority of their money at certain points of the year. Companies that are in the vacation industry are very busy during the summer. Retail companies make most of their money towards the end of the year. I'm sure there are plenty more. If you can create a business servicing those sectors you might be able to give people time off during the slow times.

My experience has been that the more we get the more we want. So after a while we stop appreciating what we have and expect more. I bet, after a bit, long sabbaticals are bound to be unappreciated. The last place I worked at had amazing benefits and lots of time off. Yet people would bitch about it not being enough. So I would make long sabbaticals a reward for the individuals rather than an expected benefit for it to continue its intended impact.

Ok I would encourage you to Ask other engineers if they feel like taking 2 months off would affect their focus on a long term project.

Reacclimating to work after a long weekend is hard for some people. 60 days off can be mentally jarring for others.

Startups move quickly. Coming back and finding out what’s going in the company, the people, this all adds complexity.

Finally, not everyone is an engineer making $320k and suggesting 2 months off. Some people genuinely enjoy work and don’t want to take more time off. What works for you as an engineer might not be what others in sales, product, marketing and operations want.

I might feel like I do better work high it doesn’t mean I’m going to subject my team to a mandatory daily edible.

All that said if you end up starting a company and are taking 2 months off in cycles - there will be people who don’t do this and will wonder “where is our boss / when are they going to show up?”

I actually think this isn't a bad idea...

The original meaning of sabbatical was for labourers to take one whole year off after working for seven straight years.

Maybe you should offer something closer to that definition?

Of course, after a year off, it might be hard for the employee to mentally go back and do the same thing for another seven years, but don't forget, as a company you've done without them for 12 months, so it may not be too big a deal if they do decide to leave.

Essentially, you'd be ensuring that MOST of your employees will stay with you for a seven year tenure, which is much higher than most companies would average for their employees.

I'm not good at public maths but I think you'll be paying employees 14% higher than the market rate based on the 1 year paid sabbatical at the end — but don't forget, if the employee leaves after 3 or 4 years, you don't have to pay that 14%.

EDIT: If I were doing this I would probably pay the extra 14% to a trust account each month, which would then be paid out as a salary during the 12 month sabbatical (so their actual salary may be slightly lower than their final year's salary, as they'll have probably received raises during their seven years of employment). The advantage to the employee of doing it his way, is they'll rest assured their salary received during their sabbatical is guaranteed, even if the company gets shut down.