American PTO in my experience is nuts. It's full of unwritten rules and conventions.
Give me a fixed amount of leave, which everyone is forced to take, so I know where we're at and don't have to play your guessing games.
Ask HN: Can you take more than 2 consecutive weeks of vacation?
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Re: Ask HN: Can you take more than 2 consecutive weeks of vacation?
#42There's a lot of "it depends" here. As both a former founder and early startup employee these are the things that come to mind— How far out did you discuss this with your employer? Were they aware of it when you joined? There's a pretty big difference if this is 6 months or two weeks away. Setting expectations go a long way here on both sides. What is the size of the business? People are more critical the smaller the…
This nonsense comes down to: Rule and Control. That's all it is. Employers think they're entitled to rule over the lives of their workers.
Absolute nonsense.
Re: Ask HN: Can you take more than 2 consecutive weeks of vacation?
#43it's an employee/employer relationship
what does your contract say?
it's that simple
(and if they don't respect the terms of their own contract then get out now)
Re: Ask HN: Can you take more than 2 consecutive weeks of vacation?
#44This is why unlimited PTO is stupid. You have to get permission for ANY time off. Lame.
Folks don’t ask me for permission for time off, they inform me. I ask if they’ve coordinated with their teammates, if that’s appropriate (sometimes it isn't, given a family event or the like, in which case managers and peers coordinate whatever is needed for the person to get leave with a clear conscience).
This is not my experience, having worked at "unlimited PTO" companies for my entire career. You end up with people on the team able to take radically different amounts of vacation depending on the current projects, who is engaged in the mission critical stuff, etc.
The absolute worst position to be in is on a critical but non-visible infrastructure piece, where nobody outside the immediate team notices your impact, until it falls over and takes the entire business with it while it's offline. You end up without flashy deliveries to leverage as political capital to advocate for yourself, yet still with the downsides of having difficulty justifying time away due to business risk.
Re: Ask HN: Can you take more than 2 consecutive weeks of vacation?
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is unbelievable nonsense. Your employees accrue PTO. If you can't handle them using their PTO, maybe you shouldn't have employees. If three consecutive weeks is a lot to ask, what would you do when that same employee gets hit by a bus and is dead for even longer? Oh right, you'd just replace them and the business would move on. OP, this is the real answer to your question. The business doesn't care about you or…
I don't think you want your boss to replace you when you go on vacation.
The point is that some arbitrary number of weeks of vacation isn't the business-destroying choice this founder makes it out to be. Use your PTO. You earned it.
Re: Ask HN: Can you take more than 2 consecutive weeks of vacation?
#46I have to take at least 2 consecutive weeks once every year. Switzerland.
Same in Finland. 4 weeks is preferred, but for good reason employer can split that, but must always provide at least 2 weeks in row. So for regular worker 5 weeks over the year. With at least 2 of them being consecutive.
Re: Ask HN: Can you take more than 2 consecutive weeks of vacation?
#47I can and I do (software engineer, not on call). But in the Netherlands this isn't too rare. Three weeks is fairly common during the summer holidays actually. As long as everyone is a bit flexible with planning to avoid certain key-employees from being absent at the same time, this is just possible.
Earlier this year I took five weeks of unpaid leave to redress the work/life balance. Not a problem either.
The alternative is that either I get burned out or I leave for an employer who is willing to let me take holidays if applied for in a timely manner. I can assure you that option one is one that costs employers a lot more than just accepting that employees are not always available.
Re: Ask HN: Can you take more than 2 consecutive weeks of vacation?
#48This is why unlimited PTO is stupid. You have to get permission for ANY time off. Lame.
Yep, unlimited PTO is a scam.
But, to make lemonade, I make sure to take 4-5 weeks of PTO per year, EVERY year. That way, it's actually a perk/advantageous over traditional PTO packages.
Re: Ask HN: Can you take more than 2 consecutive weeks of vacation?
#49I have to take at least 2 consecutive weeks once every year. Switzerland.
Yep, sometimes it’s a little annoying but reading here i’m not going to complain too lodly
Re: Ask HN: Can you take more than 2 consecutive weeks of vacation?
#50As a German, I find your question is strange. And a Bit pittyful. I hope you can stand the Peer pressure and care for your wellbeing! Greetings fromm Bavaria