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Pro Tip to youngesters just getting into corporate.

Don't let the company think they actually care about you. They don't. HR doesn't care. Executives doesn't. Nobody doesn't. You're the only person that cares about you.

Also, work is just a business transaction. They need your service. You need their money. Do make friends, but not at your expense.

Americans and their attitude to their holiday allowance will never cease to amaze me.

Literally the only consideration I need to make on behalf of my employer is whether my days off will leave less than 75% of my department out. And as that never happens then I never have to think about it.

If you have holiday available to you, take it.

Tip for managers: anticipate how your staff taking PTO will impact your team and try as hard as possible to minimize any disruption. And realize that there are times when their PTO is going to be inconvenient and you're going to have to deal with that.

If I am the whole team, does the last bit still apply?

I am lucky to get the time I do (It's more than most people I know) but I recently too two full weeks off to spend with my wife for our 20th anniversary, it was amazing. After I got back to work I had hundreds of emails to catch up on and so much extra work that had piled up I started thinking about all the extra work I had taken on over the years to "cover down" for people and then realized that was the most consecutive time I've taken off in the past 9 years.

I think it's time for a change. Not a job change per-se, but time to start taking time for me, my family, and my health.

"timeless advice" motherfuckers when PTO stops existing 😯

If your employer doesn't hire enough bodies to make sure the work gets done when people call in sick or take PTO, that's on them. Absenteeism can range between 3-5% on any given day, and can be industry dependent. This is something that should be factored into the amount of work that needs to get done per day on average when deciding on appropriate headcount. Companies that want to run skeleton crews because, "muh profits," can find out when they fuck around. I was always taught that when it comes to things critical for your survival, you should always have them in triplicate. This is why I have an E-bike, analog bike, and bus pass; if one stops working, I have backups. Employers should have this mindset with critical tasks and headcount.

Any company that can’t function without a team member to this degree is under staffed and poorly ran. You can’t hinge operations on any one talent. This Priv person has real work / life issues or is just a greedy boss.

I think both stances need more nuance. Yeah - if your company doesn't hire someone that can fulfill your essential duties while you're gone, that's on them.

But when you do have someone who can cover your duties while you're gone, it makes sense that you can't all take off the same day. I work in municipal government for a small city, and my boss and I are each other's backups. We've worked together for years, and we haven't taken the same day off yet, but both take several weeks a year. Heck - tomorrow there's an annual conference we both should attend, and we alternate each year who goes because someone has to hold down the fort.

Or ask for a massive raise, and take the PTO anyway.

If your company can't function without you, it's time for a pay rise.

Also stop using the acronym, because it's too easy to forget what those letters mean when just the acronym is being used. Call it "Paid Time Off".

Ugh, soon...once things stop exploding in infascinating ways my coworkers aren't equipped to handle without leaving a bonfire for my return. Not their fault, I'm just the guy tasked with the oddball stuff that looks nothing like their day-to-day. Fine when things are the normal amount of on fire, less so when actively erupting and (recently) literally on fire.

I get both sides of this argument. Some businesses have certain periods where it's extremely busy followed by an ebb in work. Accountants for example may be balls-to-the-wall at year end, but that period doesn't justify hiring somebody who might otherwise have their thumb up their ass and nothing to do most of the rest of the year. I've also had IT jobs that resolved around projects in this way., and there are always a certain number of SME's that you kinda need at launch.

At the other side, I've known employers who basically ran the bare-minimum amount of staff for a team/project (or less and worked the rest to the bone) and getting them to sign off on holidays for any reasonable length of time was near impossible. Those are the types that would try to call you from the middle of open-heart-surgery if they could, and yeah anyone in this situations should be looking for a new job. The hard part being that getting the time to do proper job hunting was often also similarly difficult because of work, and bills still needed to be paid.

The Scrooge McDuck avatar lighting a cigar with a dollar note makes me think this was either satire to begin with, or the original poster has lost any and all contact with reality.

I worked craft beer sales for a hot minute. Place was a disaster, so I was already looking for a new job anyway. Labor day rolls around, and I inform my bosses A MONTH OUT that I will be taking a week off at the end of August to go on vacation. They approve it, all is well, everything's great, I get back to work. The week I leave, I remind them that I'll be gone for a week, I won't be available for work things, and that I'll see them next week. They say cool, tell me to have a great time, and I clock out for the day.

9:01AM, the day I leave, I get a text. "Hey Dogiedog64, when are you coming back? We need to have a chat about some things." I don't bother responding, since I'm on vacation, and moreover, I'm driving on the highway. The day passes, I get where I'm going, but it's past work hours, and I want to enjoy my vacation. THE NEXT DAY, they call me. 9:01AM. I miss it, they leave a message and another text to the effect of "Call us back. It's important." I don't. I'm on vacation, they KNOW I'm on vacation, and it can wait.

6PM rolls around, and I get a text. "Dogiedog64, since you didn't call us back today, we're unfortunately going to have to let you go. Your performance wasn't cutting it and we've gotten numerous customer complaints about you." I know for a fact this was bullshit, as I had done the rounds before I left, and all my customers loved me and our beer, but hated our managers and distribution scheme.

Now, you may ask "what was the point of that story?" It's simple: companies will find a reason to fire you for nothing, no matter how well you lay out boundaries or plans, so don't bother treating them like they're special. I lost my job, but I did nothing wrong; I set clear boundaries and expectations, with ample documentation, notice, and approval, and they STILL fired my ass.

So yeah. Take your PTO. It's YOURS. Go on that vacation, leave your work life AT WORK, and have a good time. Your coworkers will be fine without you, and if the company collapses while you're gone, they deserved to collapse anyway. Life is simply too short to spend it all slaving away for a company that hates you.

As an immigrant, I thank the god and fates I didn't end up in America. This level of guilt tripping and toxicity is astounding.

I mean, there are jobs where the first posters advice is relevant. I’m a musician, and there are just rehearsals I cannot miss. When I am working with a high school, I cant take PTO during key production days or performances because I am the only person at the place that can do exactly what I do: that’s why they hired me.

Most people who get promoted in my company are taking holidays after being hired, are back from maternity/paternity leave, are taking lots of break, some don't even work the hours they should.

The key is just to be visible.

Those who work a lot silently are not visible because they think they will be noticed, and the management needs them to stay where they are to do the hard work.

Just take your leaves.

I remind my team about their vacation and floater days on a quarterly basis and all them to be used. All I ask for is time for me to pivot as needed and if you have ongoing projects that you reschedule planned meetings, document as you go, and ensure access is available to the rest of the team if needed.

I've had employees in the past who I've sat down and directly asked them to take time off (paid) because they were burning out and would otherwise push through it. I've even reminded some of available leaves of absence for situations in their personal lives.

If the business can't continue without any one person, then the business isn't sustainable as-is and that's not fair to anyone. Hire more people if it's coverage or train your people if there's skill gaps. Documentation of systems and processes is also crucial.