Live data from Hacker News

Basecamp Employee Handbook

github.com

1–10 of 238 posts

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#3
> Sabbatical - Every three years, employees are eligible to take a one-month-long sabbatical. Just give a heads-up preferably three months in advance, so we can coordinate the work-load accordingly.

I wish this was more common in the tech industry. I know for other industries this is basically a standard thing, but it seems like many tech companies don't do this.

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#5
post #4

It's a well thought and nicely written document though I'm not sure I'd like something like the 5x12s ( https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/our-rituals... )

I think the "5x12s" actually sound pretty neat. Sure, it's not work related, but it's nice to have some kind of socialization with your co-workers that isn't just focused on work.

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#6

> Sabbatical - Every three years, employees are eligible to take a one-month-long sabbatical. Just give a heads-up preferably three months in advance, so we can coordinate the work-load accordingly. I wish this was more common in the tech industry. I know for other industries this is basically a standard thing, but it seems like many tech companies don't do this.

One-month-long? Isn't it too short for sabbatical? How is it different from vacation? I think I might not understand what they mean by sabbatical.

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#8
post #6

> Sabbatical - Every three years, employees are eligible to take a one-month-long sabbatical. Just give a heads-up preferably three months in advance, so we can coordinate the work-load accordingly. I wish this was more common in the tech industry. I know for other industries this is basically a standard thing, but it seems like many tech companies don't do this.

One-month-long? Isn't it too short for sabbatical? How is it different from vacation? I think I might not understand what they mean by sabbatical.

Intel has something similar. It isn't super different from vacation but it is in addition to vacation and you can attach them for a super long one.

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#9
post #6

> Sabbatical - Every three years, employees are eligible to take a one-month-long sabbatical. Just give a heads-up preferably three months in advance, so we can coordinate the work-load accordingly. I wish this was more common in the tech industry. I know for other industries this is basically a standard thing, but it seems like many tech companies don't do this.

One-month-long? Isn't it too short for sabbatical? How is it different from vacation? I think I might not understand what they mean by sabbatical.

Yes, I believe the origins of the sabbatical are in academia where it was intended to give people the ability to take an extended period of time away from their traditional role and try something different (often travel or an overseas post). This helped keep them fresh and allow them to broaden their range of experience without needing to permanently leave the institution. More recently, the term has been bastardized to a certain extent by start-ups who use it as a form of "bonus vacation" for long-serving team members.

Re: Basecamp Employee Handbook

#10

Wow - they advise employees to remove all company data from devices, leave the company 1password account, disable touch ID, and put their attorney on speed dial every time they go through customs.

I don't go that far, but I do have all my hardware encrypted (MBP, iPhone, iPad) and I power these things off so that they will be unable to trivially decrypt them when I go through customs.

I wish iDevices had a thing that would let me "double click" the power button to passcode-lock the device and disable TouchID until unlocked again.

I don't use the TouchID on my MBP at all.

Post reply on HN