Getting away

One of the attractions for my current job is the unlimited vacation policy. This is a shiny-glittery thing many tech companies dangle in front of workers, like foosball tables and snack rooms full of snacks.

Quite a number of these organizations thereupon turn around and make it impossible for employees to actually take time off; they deflect disappointed reactions by chirping, “But foosball!” It’s been six weeks since I started, and I wanted to get the scoop from my manager, so at yesterday’s 1:1 with him, I asked what “unlimited PTO” looks like in our group.

It turns out that the SVP who had a 30-minute meeting to welcome me to the business division is so adamant about people taking time off work that she made it one of the metrics for her direct reports that they take vacation. Our VP took five weeks last year.

Well, I told my manager that my idea of holiday involves a trans-oceanic flight, so my vacations typically are around one to two weeks. He told me that as long as I give him advance notice, that’s okay by him.

I do not want to find myself in the position of going years without a break and then suddenly having to plan a three-week getaway, like I did last year. Or just forgetting to take vacation. My manager agreed.

So—which should I do first? South Africa/Botswana or Japan/Korea? And then there’s Slovenia. And Norway… Hmm.