Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Basecamp Employee Handbook

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–238 of 238 posts

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#231

Post by rdslw »

mahyarm wrote: post #190
rdslw wrote: post #160

I find this discussion of "benefits" fascinating. In Europe, standard in IT companies (Central Europe, mind you), is: * 25 fullt paid days (or more) of vacation every year (no need to call it a sabatical and limit it to once a three years), not including national holidays etc. * one year of (or more) paid maternity leave (or more), while second parent gets few weeks (two at my country) * free gym membership (so I can…

Other than the vacation and parental leave time spans, which is mostly gov't law in many cases and not the company, that is pretty close to what it is in the USA.

Quite the opposite.

1. dozens comments here from USA guys, treating basecamp benefits as superb.

2. it's paid by the company in the Europe, not the govt.

3. you seems to quitly skim over thing like unpaid sick leave in USA. It's paid in europe. This alone is a huge difference. or am I wrong and this is paid in US?

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#232

Post by rdslw »

apexalpha wrote: post #216
rdslw wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is, but not that much as you think. Adjusted for PPP it's only 30% cheaper here.

My health insurance is €90 a month for full coverage. Only missing Dental. I don't think the PPP difference is that much.

I don't think that your insurance covers things like MRI. Does it? The one I wrote about does. Dental too, but missing dental, like missing optic is the thing I dont understand. I want to be healthy, except my eyes and teeth ;)

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#233

Post by tptacek »

piqufoh wrote: post #225
tptacek wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Grow up.

So I should have spent more time adding that comment; it wasn't intended to be negative. I honestly believe that a company who can adjust their corporate guidelines that quickly is something to be admired, and the fact that they're doing it on such an important topic is excellent news.

I'm sorry. I'm taking out a frustration about this whole comment thread on your comment.

Again, I think Basecamp is being transparent and forthright about something that most companies are terribly opaque about, and it bothers me to see people cheering as they get less transparent so as not to trigger message board haters.

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#234

Post by rdslw »

dginsburg wrote: post #174
rdslw wrote: post #160

I find this discussion of "benefits" fascinating. In Europe, standard in IT companies (Central Europe, mind you), is: * 25 fullt paid days (or more) of vacation every year (no need to call it a sabatical and limit it to once a three years), not including national holidays etc. * one year of (or more) paid maternity leave (or more), while second parent gets few weeks (two at my country) * free gym membership (so I can…

Yeah, benefits are generally poor in the US compared to Europe. Salaries tend to be higher and taxes tend to be lower in the US. It's American culture to value those more.

Taxation in USA is quite high (worldwide) and you can easily find place in Europe with lower taxes. Tax heavens excluded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#235

Post by mahyarm »

rdslw wrote: post #231
mahyarm wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than the vacation and parental leave time spans, which is mostly gov't law in many cases and not the company, that is pretty close to what it is in the USA.

Quite the opposite. 1. dozens comments here from USA guys, treating basecamp benefits as superb. 2. it's paid by the company in the Europe, not the govt. 3. you seems to quitly skim over thing like unpaid sick leave in USA. It's paid in europe. This alone is a huge difference. or am I wrong and this is paid in US?

I was comparing to a typical SV tech company benefits package. I'm pretty sure your central european benefits package isn't standard for the rest of the country either.

Sick leave is usually just taking a day off and in practice nobody really cares. If your really sick then it gets covered by your disability insurance, which is pretty close to that %XX of your wage coverage.

What is your income level there?

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#236

Post by mahyarm »

rdslw wrote: post #232
apexalpha wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My health insurance is €90 a month for full coverage. Only missing Dental. I don't think the PPP difference is that much.

I don't think that your insurance covers things like MRI. Does it? The one I wrote about does. Dental too, but missing dental, like missing optic is the thing I dont understand. I want to be healthy, except my eyes and teeth ;)

Vision 'insurance' doesn't offer much other than an eye exam and some glasses, so it has little value. You'd be using your medical insurance otherwise. They have dental coverage.

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#237

Post by rdslw »

mahyarm wrote: post #235
rdslw wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite the opposite. 1. dozens comments here from USA guys, treating basecamp benefits as superb. 2. it's paid by the company in the Europe, not the govt. 3. you seems to quitly skim over thing like unpaid sick leave in USA. It's paid in europe. This alone is a huge difference. or am I wrong and this is paid in US?

I was comparing to a typical SV tech company benefits package. I'm pretty sure your central european benefits package isn't standard for the rest of the country either. Sick leave is usually just taking a day off and in practice nobody really cares. If your really sick then it gets covered by your disability insurance, which is pretty close to that %XX of your wage coverage. What is your income level there?

Definitely is not 'nobody really cares'.

Adding vacation time (which is standard not only in IT) of 5 weeks plus average sicktime (let's assume two weeks in a year) that's a big paid difference.

And as to the basecamp package being typical in SV: I concluded from many posts in this conversation differently.

PPP adjusted for cost of living, I suspect 20% lower on average than yours. Taking into account healthcare (priv and public), pensions, education (here is free and much better objectively: https://blog.hackerrank.com/which-country-would-win-in-the-p... but also feel free to google OECD reports for EU/USA gap if you don't like hackerrank) and of course that year of paid maternity leave you skimmed over ;-) yeah it's much "different" here.

p.s. There was also a great discussion on HN about CA standard of housing and costs (rents, houses etc) two months ago. Conclusion: insane, unless you're DINK.

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#238

Post by TheSmoke »

piqufoh wrote: post #24

Under parental leave; > You may also choose to take an additional 8 weeks leave unpaid. Note that this does not guarantee your employment. We're simply keeping your job open for an additional 8 weeks, unless your position becomes redundant. Is it just me, or does that sound a little harsh? (Maybe I'm used to UK workers rights) Isn't this exactly the reason why many parents don't take the parental leave they probably…

i think there's one important point that people are missing here: basecamp employees are remote employees and you work 4 days, not 5 days a week.
Post reply on HN