Comment by danso | Hacker News Reader

Comment by danso | Hacker News Reader

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In other companies, the policy has sometimes led to employees taking less time off, because of a reluctance to appear to be "that guy" who takes off more than everyone else.

http://digiday.com/agencies/dark-side-unlimited-vacation-pol...

> Asked how many days off she took last year, Dawkins was surprised. Forced to think about it, she realized it wasn’t very much: just 14 days, although “it felt like a lot.” There is a game to play, she admits: “You are subconsciously thinking about ‘does this appear to be too much time,’ but that’s human nature,” she said. “There have to be checks and balances with management so there’s a process in place.”

Kickstarter last year reportedly rescinded its policy because of this effect:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolineodonovan/at-kickstarter-fle...

> It’s always been important to us to ensure that our team is able to enjoy a quality work/life balance,” the Kickstarter spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. “What we found was that by setting specific parameters around the number of days, there was no question about how much time was appropriate to take from work to engage in personal, creative, and family activities.”

Another side effect: with no minimum number of vacation days in place, employers are not required to compensate employees for accrued vacation days when they quit.

Isn't 14 days more than the US average. I thought it was 10 days. So she wasn't really taking less than other companies.

> with no minimum number of vacation days in place, employers are not required to compensate employees for accrued vacation days when they quit.

Hmm...how does that work for employees in other countries? In the UK full time workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks holiday per year (so if you work 5 days a week, you get 28 days). And employers are obliged to pay unused days when the employee leaves.

Most places I've been have a distinction between personal or sick days (days taken with no notice) and vacation days which require at least 2 weeks notice before taking. Everywhere I've started I got 5 personal days and 10 vacation days.

In the UK, and I think most of Europe, sick days aren't limited and personal days would depend on company policy. Either can require documentation (doctor's note etc).

I have 30 days vacation, which is fairly typical. Giving twice the vacation length as notice (two weeks for one week off etc) is usually reasonable, but it's usually in the company policies.

Somewhere with unlimited vacation would need to ensure the employees used at least the legal minimum (20 days, plus public holidays).

> Isn't 14 days more than the US average. I thought it was 10 days.

The US average includes lots of different employers in lots of different industries. In most of them, seniority and other factors (many of the same ones that are correlated with pay) are positively correlated with time off. So, it could be both "above the US average" and below, e.g., what would be typically granted to knowledge workers of otherwise similar education and experience in fields of similar demand.

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