Didn't you tell me recently that you started to get really into backwoods camping? It's unfortunate that signal is so bad in the woods, eh?
Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
21–30 of 114 posts
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#22Tell him no and start looking for a new job. If you go along, your manager is just taking advantage of you. If you don't, I expect that you'll have a really hard time especially in a business this small and with a manager this bad.
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#23Welp. So that also rules out going to places with no connectivity.
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#24This is somewhat cultural: it would not be considered unacceptable in many startups in the US, where I am right now. But your username and grammar make me wonder whether you're French and in France, are you? If you are, I think it may actually be an illegal request. European attitudes towards work are extremely different to US ones, which are themselves more relaxed than e.g. East Asian. From https://newatlas.com/rig…
Haha you almost got me, french yes, france no: Québec Canada :)
I will look up the law to be sure !
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#25Just be clear between you and your boss what the expectation is.
If the expectation is that you'll check your email at least once a day at a set time and do maybe 15 minutes of work tops, then yeah, that absolutely goes with the territory of small company management. Pick a time and put it on your calendar for each day you're away, "Respond to emails", 15 minutes long.
If it's more than that, and the expectation is that you'll be available on short notice to resolve anything that comes up, then you're effectively on call and should use that language explicitly.
What would be unreasonable would be for you to effectively be on call for 8 hours a day during your vacation and to still be deducted the normal PTO rate.
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#26Your boss in the wrong for asking you. At the same time, you will probably be viewed negatively for not doing it. Your call.
A potential reply to avoid coming across poorly could be something like: "what time code or project number should I report my time under when I stop my vacation and go on-call?"
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#27This is completely unacceptable. I work for a small company of 9, with 3 programmers (me being one). On vacation we all unplug to the fullest extent. It's all about setting expectations, having redundancy and backups. In fact, the boss hired me so that he could do exactly this, unplug and leave the country to have a solid vacation. I tend to either unplug all the way, or make it impossible to contact me by either being somewhere remote. I haven't come back to a burning fire yet.
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#28If you are expected to reply to email then you are not truly having a vacation. The only "3 hours" thing is disingenuous because if you are required to look at work email then inevitably you will wind up thinking about work. That is not a real vacation. Giving up the ability to truly enjoy your vacation is not some default that is accepted when taking on a management role. I don't think its normal, maybe it's normal for him but that doesn't mean it should become your normal. Tell them unequivocally "no" and explain why. It's important to set proper boundaries early or this can become the beginning of these types of encroachments on your work-life balance.
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#29Depends on the situation, I would play the wait and see card.
Go ahead and ask them to call.
Don't be afraid to say when the can check it ( eg. 3 hours later).
And check what the request is. If it's a bullshit interruption, than say you don't appreciated it for this.
If it's a good question, don't worry. You will understand why they did it.
In my case: totally fine, bit I never got an interruption for bullshit :)
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#30I work at a small company too. When I go on vacation, one of the owners steps in for me as much as he can. If there's a true emergency he can't deal with, he will call me.
I never check my email on vacation. I also try as much as I can to do the same for them so they can go on vacation.