Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation

Re: "nonsense like "unlimited vacation" - I've worked at a few companies with unlimited vacation and felt no such pressure. I not only took more vacation than the typical American two weeks, but it gave me flexibility to take advantage of things like last minute ski/camping trips. This really allowed me to put my life first and be a relaxed productive member of the company.

I gather that some folks do feel this kind of pressure, but maybe the answer is to help them overcome that feeling, rather than call the policy nonsense.

Is this normal? Sadly, yes.

Is this legal? Maybe. Probably. IANAL but as far as I'm aware, there is nothing wrong with the request itself. That said, if he fires you based on inaction during holdiay periods, there may well be legal recourse depending on your country etc. But get legal advice before you go down that route.

Is this acceptable? Maybe. As manager, it's up to you (and in your best interests) to maintain control of the situation. In your "I'm off, have a good couple of weeks" message, set limits on what kinds of communications you expect to deal with while on holiday. Remind everyone that they too are expected to enjoy the freedom of their time off, and if you expect them to be unacceptable about it then be clear that anyone found abusing your free time will be ignored or worse.

Ensure that, where possible and appropriate, you nominate deputies with the experience and good sense to deal with the kinds of issues that are likely to come up.

Also, check what they expect from your 3 hours a week. If it's 3 hours reporting on the activities of the team, kindly inform them that the answers will be a couple of weeks old, or that you will refer to members of your team for that information.

Remember also that it is your responsibility to help set the tone and atmosphere for the company. How you deal with this determines how others will deal with similar situations. So sure, be accommodating up to a point, but remind those around you that team morale pivots on valuing each other and protecting each other.

I can tell you that on my side, it is expected that you are completely unreachable when you are not supposed to be working. That applies during your holidays, when you are sick (you still need to open the door to the work's doctor if he comes visit you) or before/after work hours and during the week-end. Not only your boss or collegues wouldn't try to contact you (or would not expect a response), but they would not even try, as it could lead to you (rightfully) complaining to HR.

The reality as always is more complexe. It is true that some role come with an (implied) expectation of general availibility. While it would be your right to decline any work-related phone call, I'm sure it could one way or another impact your relation with your boss, especially if 'it comes with the role'. I guess it all depends on what you want. If you don't want to be answering work calls during your holidays, you can always fake being unreachable. It's not unreasonnable to not have your phone with you at every moment. Or, if you don't mind being reachable, maybe arrange for a predefined time slot (from 9 am to 9.30 am every day) when they can call you, so that you don't have to worry about it all day.

That's normal, sort of. For context: I've worked in a 6 person startup as a founder, a 60 person startup as management, and right now a tech giant as a peon. My policy for myself and anyone under me has been the same in all three cases, and it's been consistent with my colleagues in all three cases. (Exception: there are 100%, definitely, guaranteed, examples of unreasonable managers at the tech giant I work for, I'm just not personally aware of them.)

1. In general, talk to and designate someone to cover for you for the responsibilities that have to continue while you're on vacation. If that's not possible, see #2.

2. In general, don't answer emails. Activate your out-of-office auto-response feature. Set a protocol with your colleagues for how to flag urgent issues in email, such as an [Urgent] tag, and mention it in your out-of-office auto-response. If you're not going off the grid, then once a day check for urgent emails and respond to those. Ignore the rest. If you're going off the grid, make sure everyone knows you're off the grid (mention it in your out-of-office auto-response).

3. If you anticipate potential emergencies where you have to be involved, then set a protocol for how to contact you quickly in case of emergency, and bring your work with you just in case everything catches on fire. I always used "email me, call me on my Google Voice number, leave a message if I don't pick up, text me, and message me in company chat, in that order."

The key point is that sometimes it's urgent and the bus number is 1, and you're that one person, and in those cases it makes sense to ask that you be reachable. In all other cases your vacation should be respected and you should be left alone.

I'd prefer to read and - within limits - respond to emails on vacation over the anxiety coming from being completely out of the loop.

Many companies or departments, especially smaller ones, don't have the capability to make all employees redundant. Not always just because they can't afford to have twice the employees they normally need.