I want to hear from people who are working for companies who advertise "unlimited vacation policy" in their job postings and learn how does that works.
Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?
1–10 of 17 posts
Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?
#2I work at Automated Insights (automatedinsights.com) and ever since I've been there, we've had this policy. The idea is to just not abuse it. Use it when you need it and don't go on last-minute 3 day weekend vacations. Most people go on a week-long vacation once a year (usually during the Summer) and people are able to take days off for personal reasons as long as it doesn't become a habit. Everyone does a good job I think.
Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?
#3I work at Automated Insights (automatedinsights.com) and ever since I've been there, we've had this policy. The idea is to just not abuse it. Use it when you need it and don't go on last-minute 3 day weekend vacations. Most people go on a week-long vacation once a year (usually during the Summer) and people are able to take days off for personal reasons as long as it doesn't become a habit. Everyone does a good job I…
Only one week-long vacation a year? What about a 3-week-long vacation? Would that be frowned upon?
Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?
#4I work at Automated Insights (automatedinsights.com) and ever since I've been there, we've had this policy. The idea is to just not abuse it. Use it when you need it and don't go on last-minute 3 day weekend vacations. Most people go on a week-long vacation once a year (usually during the Summer) and people are able to take days off for personal reasons as long as it doesn't become a habit. Everyone does a good job I…
If all you can get (are getting) is two week, then it's less than my "limited vacation policy"!
Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?
#5If you're a responsible adult, it works really well. Coordinate your time off with your team & boss, then go. I would usually take 3/4 of December off to spend with family (slow time at work anyway, as the customers weren't wanting changes to be made during their year-end work).
There are any number of ways it could be abused, of course. But the thing to remember is that your coworkers (and boss) aren't blind - if you're using the policy to create a 4-day workweek, and not getting stuff done -- someone is going to say something.
Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?
#6My company has had an unlimited vacation policy for 2-ish years. According to the HR dept, it hasn't really changed people's vacation habits... they still take about the same as they did before: 2 weeks.
The biggest thing has been to make sure that you aren't leaving anyone hanging. This is probably a bigger deal for some departments/teams.
Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?
#7I love it. I shoot an email to our leads/managers and make sure no one is depending on me for any tasks. I make sure to inform them in advance but once I had a spontaneous trip to Paris that I booked my flight 3 days in advance and took two days off for and they were cool with it (it was to shoot my friends playing music in the Parisian streets: http://vimeo.com/channels/streetmusic)
If needed I take my laptop and put in any required work remotely - that's great when you work on web tech. I do this when I know my days aren't going to be busy, such as visiting family. If I know I won't have time or access to the net on a trip I let everyone know so they can expect I will be disconnected.
I've taken about 4+ weeks off so far this year, 2 of which I was working remotely, and will be going to Burning Man this year for a week. I'll probably take some time off in December.
The key is to make sure you are being productive and adding value when you are at work so you don't feel guilty taking time off. When you plan off time, make sure there isn't anything crucial to the business happening at that time. Let people know how you are going to be accessible (IM, email, ability to commit code) or if you are off the reservation.
There is a certain amount of uncertainty and self-inflicted guilt about the whole thing; whether you are taking less/more time than your peers. I guess that's the price you pay for this perk.
Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?
#8Reposting a relevant answer that I wrote last year on Quora (http://qr.ae/I5tZ7):
I work at Factual, which has an unlimited vacation policy. The amount of vacation that people take varies greatly.
At the high end, I've taken about 8 weeks of vacation during each of the last two years. I tend to do some work during vacations, however, so it's more like 8 weeks abroad in which I happened to squeeze in 4 weeks of work at odd hours. I think a few of my coworkers also take 4-6 weeks per year. Most of these people are pretty disconnected when they travel.
On the low end, some of my coworkers don't take vacations at all, or take one week per year and then feel guilty about it. I understand their guilt about as well as they understand my wanderlust =).
Things that affect how much vacation people take:
* How long you've been at the company. Someone who just joined is much less likely to take a vacation than someone who has been around for a few years.
* Your place in the company hierarchy. More senior people seem more comfortable with taking vacation than more junior people.
* Schedule pressure. If you're working on a huge project that will take 6 months, you probably won't try to take a vacation during that time.
* Being the only person on a project vs. being one of many. If you're the only person who knows how something works, you tend to worry a lot about what can happen while you're gone.
* Personal budgets and travel preferences. If you like hiking trips, 6 weeks of vacation won't set you back very much. If you like overwater bungalows in Tahiti and private cruises in the Galapagos, then you need to have a lot saved up to take more than a few weeks off every year.
* How much you like to take vacations (or how much you love your work). Some people like work enough that they don't want to take vacations. Others don't really care for vacations, so they might take a personal day or two but not go on longer trips.
* Your, ahem, cojones. Generally, if you ask your boss reasonably, you will get a "yes" 90% of the time. A lot of people are afraid to ask.
When our unlimited vacation policy was established, it seemed like people were waiting for their peers to set the boundaries of what was appropriate and what was not. Over time, I've realized that people are just different. People who don't take breaks don't seem to change their habits even when they see others take frequent vacations. Conversely, people who take frequent vacations don't seem to tone things down in the presence of non-vacationers.
Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?
#9It means you never take a vacation.
Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?
#10It means you never take a vacation.
Pithy. But wrong and doesn't contribute to the discussion.