HN Explorer

Ask HN: Are you (work) available during your holidays?

2 points by dev_north_east ↗ HN
When you take PTO/holidays, are you expected to be contactable via email, phone or IM? I'm just wondering what the norm is in your area and sector. I was at a programming meet-up last night and this topic arose. It was nice to hear the variety of opinions of it from people from different countries.

I'm currently UK based, working on desktop applications for industry/scientific applications and you've got to be kidding if you think I'm gonna check in on webmail. In previous companies I've worked a lot with Americans and being contactable on holiday seems far more normal there.

1 comment

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 14.2 ms ] thread
cimmanom
Depends on the PTO reason. If I take the day off for medical reasons, I’ll check in from time to time on email as Slack just to be considerate to my co-workers - unless I’m actually unconscious. Medical PTO is also more likely to occur on short notice and leave your coworkers in a bind; I’d feel less compunction about checking out completely for a surgery planned months in advance (especially one that resulted in a few days of painkiller fugue state).

For vacation, I’ll completely disable work email and Slack on my phone. In an emergency, my team has my number and can call or text, but they’ve never had to: it’s an incentive to do what’s the right thing anyway and make sure that you’ve wrapped everything up before vacation and someone else is trained to cover for you (aka bus factor).