Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break • Hacker News Board

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#221

Post by throwawaygal7 » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 5:35 PM UTC

NationalPark wrote: post #211

throwawaygal7 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is saying it's impossible, on average - but people aren't aggregate statistics. Some women are already going to be unable to get pregnant by 35, more by forty. Many more will struggle, but might be able to get pregnant. I believe the study you cited is biased by excluding some of these as 'unhealthy' - essentially it is limiting the population to just women who still can get pregnant at these ages. Once more,…

Well that is a much softer point than the one I was responding to which called the age related fertility decline “monumental” in support of the implied conclusion that it is somehow imperative for otherwise healthy women to have children by their 30s. Regarding your anecdote I do not see its relevance to a discussion of population statistics. People can be infertile because they were paralyzed in a car accident but t…

I'd agree that it's a poor sole reason to date, but its definitely something to think about if you really want children. Two of my girlfriends in their mid 30s are 'technically' able to get pregnant but functifinally unable due to PCOS - its biologically possible for them to get pregnant (handful of viable eggs left, occasional good cycles). Not a lot of women get advice as teens like 'you have PCOS, you're going to really struggle to have children and its only going to get worse if you wait'.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#222

Post by IneffablePigeon » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 5:36 PM UTC

bidirectional wrote: post #93

Symbiote wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The legal minimum is 20 days for the London office, 22 in Spain, at least that in Moscow. (This is in addition to public holidays.) Bumble probably offer a bit more. In the UK and Spain, that's also the number you must use, I don't know about Russia. (In other words, if you've not used any days by December, you'll be taking all of December off. Or whenever your year wraps round.)

I don't think it is a requirement to take all holiday in the UK? I've definitely not used all of mine in the past.

It's a requirement to take the legal minimum (20 days), but most companies offer 25 or so so in practice you can usually carry over 5.

I believe it's in order to nullify the ability for a company to apply alternative pressures to stop people taking their entitled holiday.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#223

Post by HWR_14 » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 5:38 PM UTC

ericbarrett wrote: post #175

dharmab wrote: post #146

Adobe does two of these every year, one in winter around the holidays and one in July. From my perspective as an individual contributor, there are a few advantages: - With no feature/project work that week, there is zero pressure to check email or slack. - Teams are forced to build systems that are automated, resilient and documented enough that most of the staff won't need to be contacted during the shutdown week. -…

Does it draw your vacation time? Mandatory vacations (especially around Christmas) were started in the early 2000s among Bay Area tech companies in order to reduce collective accrued PTO, reducing liability on the balance sheet—had nothing to do with worker health. Although that regime is certainly preferable to so-called "unlimited" PTO.

Unlimited PTO would be great - if combined with worker protections so that you couldn't get fired for actually taking time off.

By which I mean real time. Like a month or more.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#224

Post by rkk3 » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 5:40 PM UTC

kickopotomus wrote: post #174

NationalPark wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> becomes a monumental task Even ignoring the fact that fertility treatments exist... 1 in 4 healthy women in their 20s and 30s will get pregnant in any single menstrual cycle. (The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, 2018) 1 in 10 healthy women in their 40s will get pregnant in any single menstrual cycle. (The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, 2018) hardly monumental

1) Fertility treatments are expensive and don't work for everyone 2) "1 in 10 healthy women in their 40s will get pregnant in any single menstrual cycle". I.e. there is a 90% chance that a woman over 40 will have at least some difficulty getting pregnant. Likely more than that if their partner is similar in age because male fertility declines with age as well. 3) Getting pregnant is only the first step. Miscarriage r…

> 2) "1 in 10 healthy women in their 40s will get pregnant in any single menstrual cycle". I.e. there is a 90% chance that a woman over 40 will have at least some difficulty getting pregnant.

That is not what it means. It is unlikely at any age to get pregnant in one menstrual cycle.

"Each month, the average 30-year-old woman has about a 20% chance of getting pregnant. A 40-year-old only has a 5% chance of getting pregnant each month."

https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-are-the-chances-of-getti...

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#225

Post by mfkdksksi » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 5:41 PM UTC

nickjj wrote: post #208

dharmab wrote: post #146

Adobe does two of these every year, one in winter around the holidays and one in July. From my perspective as an individual contributor, there are a few advantages: - With no feature/project work that week, there is zero pressure to check email or slack. - Teams are forced to build systems that are automated, resilient and documented enough that most of the staff won't need to be contacted during the shutdown week. -…

I'd be curious how much different it would be if you got the same 1 week off twice a year but it was for a company trip, as in the company would pay for everything to take all employees (and a +1) skiing or some other activity. This would be independent of personal time off and these 2 weeks off would still be paid. I've never been on such a thing but I wonder if it ends up being a real vacation or if everyone is sti…

By definition I go on vacation to get a break from my coworkers and spend time with friends and family.

I also generally get to decide the activities on vacation. Many things the company might fund that are fun for some people, like skiing, aren't activities that I'm interested in but would be obligated to participate in.

What you described is a work retreat, not a vacation. I have been on such a trip. It was good for work relationships. It definitely wasn't a vacation.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#226

Post by Dracophoenix » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 5:45 PM UTC

bradlys wrote: post #161

ramesh31 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Why is that? What's wrong with SF for dating? (just curious)" Where to begin? The tech industry is massively skewed towards male, so right off the bat your odds of meeting someone in your work life is near nil. Then, with the complete lack of affordable housing, there's no such thing as just being a single 20-something living independently and supporting yourself on a non-tech salary. Bare minimum subsistence incom…

Don’t feel too bad about the highly paid tech dudes. Tech dudes don’t stand a chance either because women don’t want to date another tech dude. I’m turning 31 in a couple months and am coming out of a 5 year relationship. It’s looking grim AF. My only real hope is that I get back with my ex eventually. I did the fancy vacations. I have the high income (~400k). I have a reasonably high net worth for my age (~2M). Even…

Would you say that the gender ratio also counts against you as a factor? Do you think you would be probably better off dating transnationally or internationally? Oh, and what kind of Bimmer?

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#227

Post by xrstf » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 5:45 PM UTC

alangibson wrote: post #218

xrstf wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation needed. Germans do not quit working for 2 weeks in the summer. Where did you get that from? What German companies shut down for 2 weeks in the summer of 2019?

There's even a word for it. Google Betriebsurlaub. I get that from working with and for German, Austrian and Dutch companies in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. It's nigh on impossible to get anything done in August around here. This doesn't apply to things like resorts and restaurants, for obvious reasons, though if that's what you're thinking of.

Yeah, your first comment made it sound to me like the country shuts down (grocery stores, home improvement stores, furnite stores, banks, offices, government agencies, taxis, ...) ;-)

I found one Austrian source ( https://www.vol.at/wo-die-produktion-urlaub-macht/3314076 ) mentioning the issue and I can see how it would make sense for some industries to need some maintenance time each year.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#228

Post by kaesar14 » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 5:58 PM UTC

ianai wrote: post #47

cashewchoo wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's very fair and valid for you to feel however you want with regards to shelter-in-place/wfh/lockdown, but to me it seems somewhat unconscionable to be smug like enjoying your time alone is a huge win against extroverts. I feel like it's a pretty ridiculous over-statement to say that introverts feel like they're in a pandemic normally. I'm an introvert and don't feel like that. I suspect the only people who…

I think you’re being overly reactive to the OP. Glee would be a lot more blatant and celebratory of the misfortune of others. I don’t think that’s their point. Not mine anyway. I’m pushing back on the sentiment you pose because it’s far too often used and oppressively effective.

It seems OP is quite gratified at the rest of us having gotten "... a sample of how miserable pre-pandemic life was for those of us who are more introverted or misanthropic." when even as mostly an introvert this pandemic has been more than the typical anxiety of having to interact with others when I didn't want to.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#229

Post by handmodel » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 5:58 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #171

handmodel wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the argument would be that this actually could be measured short term (probably all the staff will say they feel better in two weeks) but if in Q3 the CEO realizes they need to roll out some features before a Q4 quarterly call then what could have been a 12 week project will turn into a cramped 10 week project.

Yea, this is what always gets me about taking personal vacation time. You take a week off, but that week isn't yours for free. Your expected work keeps accumulating during that week. You're just taking a week of time-debt which you will need to pay off in the form of much higher workload over the following few weeks. I wouldn't be surprised if these employees all get back to work and find their workload doubles for a…

And one major distinction is that it didn't seem like they got to pick the time?

Maybe I really like working during the summer but have lots of family stuff in the fall. Seems a bit inefficient for this to be so long but I'm all for experimentation.

Re: Bumble closes to give 'burnt-out' staff a week's break

#230

Post by kaesar14 » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 5:58 PM UTC

thrower123 wrote: post #54

shmel wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep hearing this over and over. I get it, some people are fairly introverted, some really enjoy WFH. But what stopped you from distancing from people and using self-checkouts before the pandemic? If you hate people, fine, just go home straight after work, you aren't obligated to hang out with anyone. It is not like the government would fine you for coming home before 11pm, right?

It's a third of my life, half of my waking hours, that I'm forced to be in a box, dealing with people I wouldn't choose to breath the same air as, pretending to be interested in their small-talk.

You voluntarily signed up to do the job.