Vacation doesn't have to involve going anywhere exotic, by the way. A vacation should really just be a time you are free from your main responsibilities and free from stress. So that means you could do it from home, but hacking away on a side project you've been stressing about finishing may not be the best idea (unless, of course, it causes you no stress).
Tell HN: Take vacation
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Re: Tell HN: Take vacation
#72No. Nothing beats hoarding vacation days.
Re: Tell HN: Take vacation
#73Let's see if I can cover this entire comment thread in one comment. Taking a break is good for most people. It can help prevent burnout. People vary greatly in their ability to take vacation due to income, work and family requirements. People vary even more in what they consider to be a good vacation. Some people like a lot of activity. Some people like lying around. Some people honestly don't like taking time off wo…
I'm curious if any companies have required (minimum) amounts of vacation. Taking a break seems to be a general positive for productivity, but people with unlimited vacation seem to not take it. What if you were obligated to?
Most jurisdictions require a certain number of days out of the office for people who work in finance. In Japan, it's ten consecutive business days each year. In the US I believe it's five.
Re: Tell HN: Take vacation
#74Let's see if I can cover this entire comment thread in one comment. Taking a break is good for most people. It can help prevent burnout. People vary greatly in their ability to take vacation due to income, work and family requirements. People vary even more in what they consider to be a good vacation. Some people like a lot of activity. Some people like lying around. Some people honestly don't like taking time off wo…
I'm curious if any companies have required (minimum) amounts of vacation. Taking a break seems to be a general positive for productivity, but people with unlimited vacation seem to not take it. What if you were obligated to?
Required vacation time is a security best practice, especially for anyone handling money. This makes it more difficult to perpetrate fraud. It also prevents institutional knowledge from being trapped with individuals, as at least one other person must know how to perform the role of the vacationee.
Re: Tell HN: Take vacation
#75Re: Tell HN: Take vacation
#76Let's see if I can cover this entire comment thread in one comment. Taking a break is good for most people. It can help prevent burnout. People vary greatly in their ability to take vacation due to income, work and family requirements. People vary even more in what they consider to be a good vacation. Some people like a lot of activity. Some people like lying around. Some people honestly don't like taking time off wo…
I'm curious if any companies have required (minimum) amounts of vacation. Taking a break seems to be a general positive for productivity, but people with unlimited vacation seem to not take it. What if you were obligated to?
It's fairly commonplace in the federal government to have 'use it or lose it' leave. Only a certain amount of vacation hours can roll over from one year to the next, so those which you don't use and don't roll over are lost.
While it's not mandatory to take that leave, it's a very good excuse for why you want to take several days off.
See more here: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/leave-adm...
Re: Tell HN: Take vacation
#77Let's see if I can cover this entire comment thread in one comment. Taking a break is good for most people. It can help prevent burnout. People vary greatly in their ability to take vacation due to income, work and family requirements. People vary even more in what they consider to be a good vacation. Some people like a lot of activity. Some people like lying around. Some people honestly don't like taking time off wo…
If there was an HN equivalent of Reddit Gold, you'd get it for this.
Re: Tell HN: Take vacation
#78Let's see if I can cover this entire comment thread in one comment. Taking a break is good for most people. It can help prevent burnout. People vary greatly in their ability to take vacation due to income, work and family requirements. People vary even more in what they consider to be a good vacation. Some people like a lot of activity. Some people like lying around. Some people honestly don't like taking time off wo…
I'm curious if any companies have required (minimum) amounts of vacation. Taking a break seems to be a general positive for productivity, but people with unlimited vacation seem to not take it. What if you were obligated to?
Usually internal controls require that financial people in payables/receivables take a least a week off.
Re: Tell HN: Take vacation
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm from Brazil and got curious about the "unlimited vacation", how it works? The U.S. is the only advanced economy without a vacation floor. (To join the EU, 20 days is the lower limit.) Three weeks is typical for an average job (but some companies are sleazy and pool sick time and vacation under "PTO") and two for a crap job. It's surprising how reliably you can predict the quality of a company and job based on vac…
Honestly curious, what is the alternative to PTO? I don't see why this is such a bad thing - you get X days off, you can use them for whatever reason you want - sick or vacation - as long as X is a reasonable number, what's the issue here?
Having people's sick days deduct from their vacation is an incentive to go to work when you're sick, jeopardizing the health (and productivity) of the team.
A much better solution is vacation days and unlimited sick days, as well as generous work-from-home opportunities for days when you're under the weather but not too sick to work.
Re: Tell HN: Take vacation
#80Let's see if I can cover this entire comment thread in one comment. Taking a break is good for most people. It can help prevent burnout. People vary greatly in their ability to take vacation due to income, work and family requirements. People vary even more in what they consider to be a good vacation. Some people like a lot of activity. Some people like lying around. Some people honestly don't like taking time off wo…
I'm curious if any companies have required (minimum) amounts of vacation. Taking a break seems to be a general positive for productivity, but people with unlimited vacation seem to not take it. What if you were obligated to?
Banks have this. In fact, the FDIC requires it.
It's harder to cover up fraudulent trading if you're not there.