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Our Vacation Policy: Take Some

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Re: Our Vacation Policy: Take Some

#111

Post by yxhuvud »

rimantas wrote: post #30
chrisaycock wrote: post #10

After the rogue trader incident at SocGen, the investment bank I was working for required people to take a week of vacation at a time (HR would actually verify compliance). Employees would have to declare in advance that they were planning a mandatory vacation so IT could suspend their remote logins and disable their card access to the building.

In my country you normally get 28 days of vacations of which at least two weeks must be consecutive — that's by law.

Heh, here in Sweden the employer must agree to at least 4 weeks of consecutive vacation during summer.

Minimum vacation time per year is only 25 days though, so not everyone take all vacation at once.

Re: Our Vacation Policy: Take Some

#112

Post by eazolan »

bugsy wrote: post #85
rphlx wrote: post #58

Slavery started when slave drivers realized that they could take everything, then give a little back, reluctantly, infrequently, and unpredictably, and engender gratitude instead of anger in their slaves.

I appreciate your insightful and relevant comment. Pity it's getting downvotes.

Well, that's because it's wrong.

Re: Our Vacation Policy: Take Some

#113

Post by eazolan »

bugsy wrote: post #79
Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's one of the things that's always stunned me about the US - the 10 days vacation a year being a relatively common thing. European law states a minimum of 20 days (which can include public holidays though often / usually won't). In the UK where I work 20 - 25 days plus 8 or 9 days public holiday is the norm, and 28 - 30 days plus public holidays not unheard of. I seriously don't understand how people don't just go…

For those that work, they do go mad. Haven't you noticed that Americans are obese drug addicts with little knowledge of world culture, don't speak any other languages at all, and love to declare war or otherwise bully anyone they can while shouting rah rah patriot freedom? That is part of what happens from never being able to take a month of vacation, which means no long trips to europe or south america or africa or…

Language is meant to communicate. If you need to know several, you have a communication problem.

As to the rest of the stuff, I retort "Battle of Waterloo".

I'm sure any history buffs of their European country could provide many, many more examples of their people "love to declare war or otherwise bully anyone they can while shouting rah rah patriot freedom?"

Your anti-Americanism is fit for a child.

Re: Our Vacation Policy: Take Some

#114

Post by gorbachev »

I recently joined a startup that has the same policy. Unlimited sick days as well.

Everyone at the company is so new, though, that there's really date to see how it's working.

But I can tell you one thing. I'm feeling much better working for the company compared to the previous job where we had no sick days (I spent half my vacation days taking care of sick kids, or myself getting sick due to sick kids) despite the fact that the owner made a PERSONAL income of $2B from the company. I know that even if my kids get their usual winter time flus and colds, I still have actual vacation time left after taking time off to take care of them.

Re: Our Vacation Policy: Take Some

#115

Post by randallsquared »

scarmig wrote: post #97
bostonpete wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By all measures I've seen, the U.S. workforce is dramatically more productive than the European workforce. I suspect the amount of time spent working is a significant factor in that.

Per worker, not by hour worked, where I believe I've seen [citation needed] at least the French and likely others have us beat.

That reinforces his point, I'd think.

Re: Our Vacation Policy: Take Some

#116

Post by randallsquared »

CamperBob wrote: post #100
cHalgan wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reasoning goes like this: - If a company is really about "we don't care about how much vacation you take", then why not to give me minimum vacations? It seems intellectually dishonest. - How I do know how much of vacation I can take and whether that amount is preventing me of getting raise/bonus/promotion? - This policy means that my vacation will vary depending on manager and current project. I cannot commit to trav…

It seems like the one correct answer to the vacation policy question is, "Do what you want, as long as you don't hose the company." If you want to work remotely for the next month and nothing depends on your physical presence at the office, fine. If you want to fuck off for the next month and you're not on anyone's critical path, that's fine, too. Restricting things a bit, "not hosing the company" could be interprete…

If you want to fuck off for the next month and you're not on anyone's critical path, that's fine, too.

But if you can do this, maybe they and you will think about whether they need you the month after that, too.

Re: Our Vacation Policy: Take Some

#117

Post by CamperBob »

randallsquared wrote: post #116
CamperBob wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like the one correct answer to the vacation policy question is, "Do what you want, as long as you don't hose the company." If you want to work remotely for the next month and nothing depends on your physical presence at the office, fine. If you want to fuck off for the next month and you're not on anyone's critical path, that's fine, too. Restricting things a bit, "not hosing the company" could be interprete…

If you want to fuck off for the next month and you're not on anyone's critical path, that's fine, too. But if you can do this, maybe they and you will think about whether they need you the month after that, too.

If you're doing good and valuable work, and the company acknowledges this, you won't want to vanish for weeks or months at a time.

The overriding goal is to run an outfit where the employees want to be there. If you do that, then vacation-policy abuse will not be a major problem. If you don't, then vacation-policy abuse is the least of your problems.

Re: Our Vacation Policy: Take Some

#118

Post by bugsy »

CamperBob wrote: post #99
bugsy wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a designer, engineer and entrepreneur, but I have also taught high school in the past. As an engineer, I would not consider working for a place that had a problem with less than 4 weeks vacation. It is absolutely necessary to have that as a minimum to recharge and do a great job. If I'm not allowed to do what I need to to do a great job, I don't want the job, I tell people to give it to some lackey instead and j…

When I was a teacher, if I did not have the entire summer off, I would have gotten a gun and come in and shot the entire administration. Not because I am crazy, I've had a psych eval for security clearance Um. About that clearance...

Yeah Bob, what about the clearance?

The crazy people are the ones that won't push back at a certain point of provocation. You hear about these women that stay with abusive spouses that beat them instead of leaving or killing the guy? They are nuts to put up with it, that's the crazy group.

By the way, a very Happy 9/11 Day to you. Speaking of which, I doubt it's escaped anyone's notice that it's perfectly OK for the US to use guns to mass slaughter people when it is ticked off about stuff that someone loosely related to them may or may not have done.

Hey why shouldn't it be OK for everyone then. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Re: Our Vacation Policy: Take Some

#119

Post by SoftwareMaven »

bostonpete wrote: post #73
gmac wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's something you in the US really need to fix. The EU Working Time Directive gives Europeans the right to 5+ weeks (and in professional jobs this has been standard practice anyway).

> Yeah, that's something you in the US really need to fix. Perhaps. It'd be tough to swallow the hit in productivity though.

Everything I've read indicates productivity improves when you have employees who take vacation. I really like the idea of shutting down for a few weeks per year (in addition to normal vacation time, whatever policy that is). Shutting down means nobody is looked down on for not being there.

Re: Our Vacation Policy: Take Some

#120

Post by [deleted] »

bugsy wrote: post #118
CamperBob wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was a teacher, if I did not have the entire summer off, I would have gotten a gun and come in and shot the entire administration. Not because I am crazy, I've had a psych eval for security clearance Um. About that clearance...

Yeah Bob, what about the clearance? The crazy people are the ones that won't push back at a certain point of provocation. You hear about these women that stay with abusive spouses that beat them instead of leaving or killing the guy? They are nuts to put up with it, that's the crazy group. By the way, a very Happy 9/11 Day to you. Speaking of which, I doubt it's escaped anyone's notice that it's perfectly OK for the…

[deleted]
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