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Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?

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Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?

#11

Post by dandelany »

I think it really depends on the culture of the company. Some companies seem to be afflicted by an unspoken pressure to keep up with one's colleagues in terms of putting in extra hours and not missing too many days. In these situations, I think a defined amount of vacation days may actually be a better policy - when you have a set "three weeks" of vacation in a year, it can be more socially acceptable to use the three weeks allotted, especially if they don't rollover. With an "unlimited vacation" policy, employees may feel pressured not to abuse the system and actually take fewer days off, because they're trying to match the average number of days off taken by all employees rather than a set time span of three weeks, or perhaps a little less in order to appear exceptional.

However, in a healthy company culture which encourages employees to take time off, it can be great. Particularly because long trips are really a different beast than short ones, and it's hard to do a long trip with 15 vacation days. Solution: take 7 vacation days one year, and 30 the next.

Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?

#12

Post by doug1001 »

so i work at One Kings Lane, which has an unlimited vacation policy. First, i should say that they the true to their word--i have actually seen people take four and five week holidays. Still, the usual seems to be two weeks, which it seems the devs take maybe two of these each year (perhaps more, not really sure).

At OKL, i suspect the policy is just an extension of their "ok, we are all adults here, so just act in the company's best interest at all times--we don't want to work in a soviet tractor factory, we assume you don't either" (my own words, if we had an employee handbook, i imagine it would say something like that).

at other shops, i have heard that the motivation for unlimited vacation is a little less wholesome. The idea is that use it to recruit, then once in the door, the manager can of course limit the employee's holiday because his approval is required. So there's very little to lose, and a lot to gain; when the employee is terminated (resigns, fired) the company does not have to pay out their unused vacation, which is often not a small amount (eg, i suspect a lot of people carry around 2 weeks).

Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?

#13

Post by ayers »

It is interesting to note that a lot of feedback discusses employees taking less vacation time. This happens for a variety of reasons which have been highlighted and obviously differs from company to company and how the culture is lead from the top. This would not be my first thought when introducing an unlimited vacation policy. From the employers point of view it would be how do we manage and foster a culture that prevents employees abusing this policy, not how do we make sure employees actually take enough vacation.

One company I know has introduced a bonus for taking a set minimum number of days to try and make sure that their employees are taking a decent amount of holiday each year. So for example if you take 20+ days off in the year you will get a annual bonus of £1000.

Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?

#14

Post by caw »

msoad wrote: post #4
bwsewell wrote: post #2

I 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"!

I agree. Last minute 3 day vacations is actually OK around my workplace, and we have a limited number of vacation days.

First you ask yourself if you have critical work to do those days. If not, you're good. Otherwise, you may have to get it done sooner. Then you ask your coworker if they're going to be around to cover for you. If they are, cool, you've just scheduled yourself out of office. Set up your OOO notification and update your calendar. If not, check with your manager to make sure it's ok for both of you to be out. Generally this may mean a concession that you have to carry your laptop or phone in case stuff goes down. Congratulations, you've now scheduled your vacation.

The only time our manager really gets involved is during Nov/Dec for the holidays when people run into "use it or lose it", so he'll informally let us carry over to January or so, just so that everyone isn't rushing to take at the same time and leaving us without anyone in the office. The other time is when you want to take multiweek vacations, just so he's aware and can get coverage information.

Even then, half the company is in the same situation so it's normally pretty dead in Dec.

Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?

#15

Post by fader »

drstewart wrote: post #10
adammichaelc wrote: post #9

It means you never take a vacation.

Pithy. But wrong and doesn't contribute to the discussion.

I think it depends on the company. My experience matches adammichaelc's -- "unlimited vacation" in practice meant that you could take a day or two off, provided you worked over the weekend or double time the rest of the week. Nobody dreamed of taking a full week; that would have shown you weren't loyal enough to the company.

I no longer work there. :) And in fact, I since turned down an offer at an otherwise appealing company specifically because they told me they had an unlimited vacation plan. I took the job at a company with a specified number of days, knowing that I would actually be able to use them and not feel pressured to never take time off.

Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?

#16

Post by samfisher83 »

Well isn't this just a way for them to screw you out of money. If you get 3 weeks a year that company needs to hold 3 weeks of vacation pay for you in case you get fired or quit. With a unlimited vacation policy this is probably not the case.

Re: Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?

#17

Post by techtime77 »

My last job made the jump to a Netflix model of unlimited PTO. On the surface it seemed great, however I found myself taking less time off. I think it comes down to what type of person you are. There were some who abused the policy, some like myself and some who continued with their normal vacation habits. In total, not much changed.
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