- Full Remote or at least 3 days per week remote (my commute sucks)
- Flexibility (Basically, I just want to be able to make it to doctor appointments without having to waste vacation days. I also like flexible start times so I can workout in the AM.)
- Paid vacation days set in policy (I will assume "unlimited" means none.)
- Ability to learn marketable job skills (I've been trapped in a position for the last 5 years that has me basically only know our proprietary software. That's probably partly my fault for not doing enough side work. Either way I've been applying for positions for probably 3 years now and only got one reasonable offer in which I declined after talking to some employees about the company culture.)
- Sane working hours (Every week can't be "crunch time". If you expect 60+ hours each week from your exempt employees something is wrong.)
- Salary (but free time is much more important to me at this point)
- Paid overtime (one could wish)
- Ability to choose my hardware and an upgrade cycle that allows me to get a new machine before 5 years.
Paid vacation days set in policy (I will assume "unlimited" means none.)
I liked the way my current employer dealt with this. When I was coming on, they mentioned that they had an unlimited vacation policy for exempt employees, but that non-exempt employees got 4 weeks a year as a benchmark to consider. The result is that a lot of people in our group seem to take vacations roughly as if they got 4 weeks of vacation a year but don't have to count it or worry about running over a bit. It also helps that there's a culture of actually taking substantive vacation and not working insane hours and such.
Everyone should get an explicit amount in their contract and they should be paid out if they leave / are fired with unused days. "Unlimited" is total nonsense.
And if companies absolutely insist on "unlimited" and want to show that they mean it, then a minimum should also be in there.
For example: "unlimited" but minimum 3 weeks a year.
I know people will moan about being "forced" to take time off but frankly it is good for you, and I'm sure people can find a way to keep busy if they really try.
Paid vacation days set in policy (I will assume "unlimited" means none.)
That's probably a good assumption. In the future, I'll ask for the mean and median vacation days per employee for the previous year if that's listed as a perk.
It's totally possible that there are companies out there with "unlimited" vacation that would be OK with you taking a month off. However, in my experience, even when you have an assigned number of vacation days there is still pressure to not use them. I can only see unlimited as "don't take more than this person". My boss had told me a few times that he takes vacation days and works on them as if to hint I should be doing the same.
So my thinking of "unlimited" vacation days is in the same way ISPs offer "unlimited" bandwidth :)
I'm not on the "unlimited vacation" system, but I've heard that companies like this because you can still stop employees from taking any more days than they did before (by guilt trips or just not approving days off), and if someone quits they don't have to pay out unused accrued vacation time.
So if you ever quit a job with "unlimited vacation," be sure you've taken more vacation than you would have accrued on a traditional system? Otherwise they're screwing everybody and getting away with it.
On that same note you should always take "personal days", "flex days", "personal choice holidays" before ever taking a vacation day. Most companies will not pay you for those days if you leave so use them before vacation days.
Comments
Important to me:
- Full Remote or at least 3 days per week remote (my commute sucks)
- Flexibility (Basically, I just want to be able to make it to doctor appointments without having to waste vacation days. I also like flexible start times so I can workout in the AM.)
- Paid vacation days set in policy (I will assume "unlimited" means none.)
- Ability to learn marketable job skills (I've been trapped in a position for the last 5 years that has me basically only know our proprietary software. That's probably partly my fault for not doing enough side work. Either way I've been applying for positions for probably 3 years now and only got one reasonable offer in which I declined after talking to some employees about the company culture.)
- Sane working hours (Every week can't be "crunch time". If you expect 60+ hours each week from your exempt employees something is wrong.)
- Salary (but free time is much more important to me at this point)
- Paid overtime (one could wish)
- Ability to choose my hardware and an upgrade cycle that allows me to get a new machine before 5 years.
I liked the way my current employer dealt with this. When I was coming on, they mentioned that they had an unlimited vacation policy for exempt employees, but that non-exempt employees got 4 weeks a year as a benchmark to consider. The result is that a lot of people in our group seem to take vacations roughly as if they got 4 weeks of vacation a year but don't have to count it or worry about running over a bit. It also helps that there's a culture of actually taking substantive vacation and not working insane hours and such.
Everyone should get an explicit amount in their contract and they should be paid out if they leave / are fired with unused days. "Unlimited" is total nonsense.
And if companies absolutely insist on "unlimited" and want to show that they mean it, then a minimum should also be in there.
For example: "unlimited" but minimum 3 weeks a year.
I know people will moan about being "forced" to take time off but frankly it is good for you, and I'm sure people can find a way to keep busy if they really try.
That's probably a good assumption. In the future, I'll ask for the mean and median vacation days per employee for the previous year if that's listed as a perk.
It's totally possible that there are companies out there with "unlimited" vacation that would be OK with you taking a month off. However, in my experience, even when you have an assigned number of vacation days there is still pressure to not use them. I can only see unlimited as "don't take more than this person". My boss had told me a few times that he takes vacation days and works on them as if to hint I should be doing the same.
So my thinking of "unlimited" vacation days is in the same way ISPs offer "unlimited" bandwidth :)
I'm not on the "unlimited vacation" system, but I've heard that companies like this because you can still stop employees from taking any more days than they did before (by guilt trips or just not approving days off), and if someone quits they don't have to pay out unused accrued vacation time.
So if you ever quit a job with "unlimited vacation," be sure you've taken more vacation than you would have accrued on a traditional system? Otherwise they're screwing everybody and getting away with it.
On that same note you should always take "personal days", "flex days", "personal choice holidays" before ever taking a vacation day. Most companies will not pay you for those days if you leave so use them before vacation days.