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When Work Didn’t Follow You Home

calnewport.com

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Re: When Work Didn’t Follow You Home

#151

Post by dshah »

lumost wrote: post #132
Aurornis wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would love to have 5-8 weeks per year, that would let me take at least 1 week's worth of time per quarter to recharge from the constant 24/7 rush. At least 1 week of vacation per quarter (in addition to normal holiday time) has been fairly standard for every senior-level tech job I’ve had in a long time. I had one job with a generous vacation policy that resulted in some people taking 8-10 weeks of vacation or more…

I saw HubSpot (a former employer) started turning short weeks into a "week of rest". Seemed like a great idea, just synchronize everyone's vacations so that no one plans work for that week.

I'm from HubSpot (I'm one of the founders).

This was our second year doing the "Week of Rest". It was an experiment we ran last year.

It ended up being a good idea and works well.

Re: When Work Didn’t Follow You Home

#152

Post by n_ary »

pyrale wrote: post #68
lumost wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm honestly surprised that more companies haven't invested in broader vacation policies. My experience has been that the constant "on" state wears you down. The only way to get to "off" is to be OOTO officially for a week+. Add in parental responsibilities and you really don't have any headspace for yourself. Would love to have 5-8 weeks per year, that would let me take at least 1 week's worth of time per quarter to…

> I'm honestly surprised that more companies haven't invested in broader vacation policies. As an EU person, the existence of places where people never stop working is mind boggling.

Unfortunately, I have yet to find a place as such in EU. In my 11 years of career, I have yet to see myself or my team ever stopping. While I hopped several jobs, everywhere is same, super ambitious people working non-stop and then get stern e-mail from HR that their previous year’s whole annual leave is due and must be taken before March 31.

Fortunately, I’ve seen within same org, teams which are always on vacation or are collecting pay with 4h coffee breaks and 2h morning breakfast, but sadly I never managed to land into one of those teams.

The “non-stop” kind is majority in EU, but somehow we like to tout the “wow must be US thing”. At this point, I believe these comments are coming from some minority group from a very specific country in EU.

Re: When Work Didn’t Follow You Home

#155

Post by eggy »

I miss those days! I had them from the 80s on after high school. You did focus more while at work with a sort of weekend mentality when 5 or 6 pm rolled around. Now, I run my second company with a single phone with my personal number on it and an eSIM for my business number. If I have told clients I will be away, I simply filter text, email, and calls by the account and/or SIM they come in on. It's not the same, but it buys me peace of mind not to jump on my phone or laptop. I am very honest to clients about stepping away and if I will be available in off hours. I started studying for my CDL, because at age 59, I was actually considering taking 100k to 150k driving a 25 to 50 ft long fuel truck 35 to 45 hours a week and dropping out or tuning out of tech. Working retirement!
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