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It's all bullshit. When my company switched to "flexible time off", they also instated an annual goal for number of hours billed, and surprise surprise: to hit the annual goal, you have to take basically ZERO time off. Previously we earned 2 to 4 weeks depending on seniority. Now it's zero. You cannot take time off and also hit your goal unless you work tons of overtime. It's all fucking bullshit and I'd be surprised if it's legal.

When in doubt, if some corporate executive wants to do it, 99% of the time it's to absolutely fuck you over as hard as possible. Corporate leadership at most companies in the U.S. are parasitic insects existing solely to suck the blood out of the company until their next spawning cycle when they sprout wings and fly off looking for another victim. Never doubt it.




> When my company switched to "flexible time off", they also instated an annual goal for number of hours billed, and surprise surprise: to hit the annual goal, you have to take basically ZERO time off. Previously we earned 2 to 4 weeks depending on seniority. Now it's zero.

Does your company have any offices in California? Is this policy applied to those offices in California? If the answer to both questions is "yes", then have a coworker in California talk to a labor lawyer to see if California might consider this PTO policy wage theft.

(For context: California considers PTO to be part of your wage, and considers companies that attempt to weasel out of paying PTO to be engaging in wage theft. Based on what I've read California courts give "non-accrual"/"unlimited"/"flexible"/"whatever-they-are-called-these-days" PTO schemes _extra_ scrutiny, because those things hide all sorts of ways to deny workers the wages that they're owed.)


What if you miss your goal? I mean if you wouldn’t lose your job just take 6-8 weeks to compensate for the loss of bonus


A perfect recipe for burn-out. What is the burn-out rate in USA compared to Western EU?


> Previously we earned 2 to 4 weeks depending on seniority.

Yikes. You really were expected to do 1900h+ per year previously and the current situation got even worse?


2 to 4 weeks isn’t normal?


2 to 4 weeks is not normal.


2-4 weeks seems pretty normal


I have 7 weeks plus bank holidays… but I am not in the US (mandatory days… you are obligated to take them all)


Sounds like a nice balance! You've got a great job :)


It sounds more like a nice country to me.


This! Vive la France!


What if someone isn’t a good worker? What is the procedure for getting rid of them?


You fire them… it’s harder than in other places put you can still do it. You just need a valid reason! I had at least a couple of colleagues other the years being fired! At least employees are not victims of the employer every whim! And this is a good thing!


Cool, thank you!


Is this just in your company or statutory somewhere?


Country law state 30 days for my kind of contract… but since I work more than your normal contract (in France the work week is 35h a week whilst I work 37h) I get extra 5 days. On top of that I have 5 days for sick children and unlimited sick days.


The only company that I felt actually stood by this was linkedin. On top of their whole week off for July 4th and Christmas I actually observed people taking 1-1.5 weeks each quarter on average as part of flex time. Plus with "in days" (1 Friday each month to do absolutely anything including staying home) it was almost 8 weeks of leave each year. Not sure if things are the same now (this was until 2 years ago in the US). I doubt any other company was this generous.


If you live in the US, it's absolutely legal, and even if it's not then it doesn't matter because you live in the US under a dictator (your boss).


Yeah, you nailed with the word choice here.

Dictator needs to be a ruler, that also you cannot get rid of. In most of the us you can ditch your boss tonight.

It looks like you want a real dictator to “protect” you from possible poor decisions you can make. Which is fine, just don’t get me and others like me involved please.


As an American working in Germany after working in San Francisco for a company with unlimited time off (Uber), I prefer Germany without even thinking about it.

The US labor system is so insanely broken I don't even know where to begin.


It is fine to have opinions. I may even agree with your opinion. Pushing it to others is what i am against.


What do you mean? That's the entire point of talking about things.


I may agree that 25 days off at a certain job is better for that individual, or even me. What i am against is creating creating government rules that impose such schemes into everyone without their consent.


Without the government imposing such schemes you end up where the USA is right now: a few skilled jobs are granted the extreme privilege of time off, for the rest you grant nothing. Are they peasants in your eyes?

The government should be responsible to provide a minimum of quality of life to its citizens, to give away this power is to relinquish one of the main benefits of being a State.

End of child labour and slavery was imposed onto a lot of societies without everyone's consent, it doesn't mean it is wrong for the government to do so.

Imposing a minimum of paid time off to humans, allowing humans to have time off from work to actually enjoy being humans, is to determine a minimum baseline of quality of life to all of your citizens. You seem to rather prefer to only allow that to a privileged class, because that's what happens in reality when the government does not impose a modicum of morality into the system.


> a few skilled jobs are granted the extreme privilege of time off, for the rest you grant nothing. Are they peasants in your eyes?

No not at all. I believe lower skilled workers are on this position due to the policies we have had for some time now, which most of them actually support. I respect all workers that contribute honestly.


LOL what bollocks. Do you even know what governments are for?

Hint: Not to protect the handful of super rich billionaire type owners. I know, I know, unique concept as an American...


You think in your country the government serves you. That is a very naive way of thinking. Why would they love you so much, is it because you bother to show up at a polling station once in a couple of years, or is there some other source of attraction?


No other source. Getting elected is kind of important for a democratically elected leadership though.

Not every country has 'SuperPACs' and other corrupt ways of getting elected by throwing enough corporate millions and billions one way though.


Keep dreaming buddy. You may love your ruler, but that is a one way relationship. Your ruler doesn’t even think about you.


Here you are pushing your opinion on opinions on us.


No, i am not the one advocating for mandatory schemes, which some people push into the rest, usually through government. By default no such schemes exist, so i am not the one that meddles in others business. If you want to get involved you are free to do so.


> No, i am not the one advocating for mandatory schemes, which some people push into the rest, usually through government.

I can conclude then that you are also not an advocate against child labour, as that is a mandatory scheme pushed through government. You are also not an advocate against monopolies, since those are regulated through the government.


Do you consider the above argument as lost and and want to try your luck in a new argument?


No, I just needed to reiterate it so perhaps you can get a glimpse of your own stupidity.


It so sad it's almost funny.

Have you heard the one about "our open office plan is meant to enhance the opportunities for collaboration?"




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