[bluetidepro]

> Sabbatical - Every three years, employees are eligible to take a one-month-long sabbatical. Just give a heads-up preferably three months in advance, so we can coordinate the work-load accordingly.

I wish this was more common in the tech industry. I know for other industries this is basically a standard thing, but it seems like many tech companies don't do this.

[hackermailman]

They also have 4 day work weeks May through August https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/benefits-an...

Where I work now there's a sabbatical scheme where you can contribute X amount of salary per month to an entire year paid off (every 3 years).

[quicksilverFTW]

My job took away my flex time after 6 weeks. "We just don't like that here". Well, I negotiated it on my hiring (for a large paycut), so I now work 3.5 days a week instead of 5 (they've yet to notice in the last 15 or so weeks).

But hey, I'm not leaving before everyone else everyday. I've had flextime at every job since 1999. Wonder how long it's going to take them to catch on, since I can get another job pretty easily (2-4 weeks max). It's been kind of nice though only doing 3 full days.

[toomuchtodo]

Very nice!

[skolos]

One-month-long? Isn't it too short for sabbatical? How is it different from vacation? I think I might not understand what they mean by sabbatical.

[bspn]

Yes, I believe the origins of the sabbatical are in academia where it was intended to give people the ability to take an extended period of time away from their traditional role and try something different (often travel or an overseas post). This helped keep them fresh and allow them to broaden their range of experience without needing to permanently leave the institution. More recently, the term has been bastardized to a certain extent by start-ups who use it as a form of "bonus vacation" for long-serving team members.

[nhangen]

Most vacations, at least in the US, are 1 week in length. Upper middle class takes maybe 2 weeks. The wealthy of course take as long as they want.

I don't think I've ever had a vacation longer than 10 days.

[ryandrake]

Most jobs I've seen (in the USA) offer up to two weeks of "paid time off" which you need to split between vacation and sickness. The concept of taking more than a contiguous week off per year for an actual vacation must be pretty rare. Usually my vacation days get used for the purpose of running an errand or taking care of a sick kid.

[noam87]

Wow that's awful.

[nhangen]

I agree! That's why I became an entrepreneur lol.

[brianwawok]

Then you realize entrepreneurs get even less vacation

[nhangen]

pretty much

[mdekkers]

Since becoming an entrepreneur, I have never had a "vacation" - Sure, I went to different places, but always with laptop and a bag full of assorted devices in tow. I was thinking of going back to a "regular job" for a while, just to relieve some stress. Alas, I had another idea and won't be able to rest until that is built :)

[fernandotakai]

that's also what i thought -- vacations for me means a month away from work where i don't have to check anything work related (email, slack, pagerduty).

according to google, sabbatical is:

> a period of paid leave granted to a university teacher or other worker for study or travel, traditionally one year for every seven years worked.

[giaour]

It's paid leave because you're almost always expected to write or finish a substantial piece of scholarship. One month isn't long enough to write a book, so I don't think this is the model Basecamp is following

[snarf21]

Intel has something similar. It isn't super different from vacation but it is in addition to vacation and you can attach them for a super long one.

[matart]

What does a sabbatical mean in the tech industry? Do I get to work on a side project? or work for another company? or within the company at a different post?

I feel like in academia it is easier for a sabbatical as you can go to another university and study something different.

[pc86]

> or within the company at a different post?

Probably not a fair comparison - professors don't typically go on sabbatical to take another position at the same institution.

[fnazeeri]

And this is different from a vacation how?

[VLM]

In academia you would be competing the rest of your career with coworkers who spent their sabbatical teaching in a foreign country or being a principle organizer administrator of a conference or writing a very important paper or book or otherwise adding self directed value to their resume.

So technically you can spend it on the beach, but don't be surprised when your coworker who learned "language or framework of the week" is going to get the choice assignment or promotion you really wanted. Of course if you edit your book or learn a new language while sitting at a beach, or you are the primary organizer of a tech conference that happens to be on a tropical island or other vacation spot ...

[anigbrowl]

They won't until you start demanding it, and walk away if you don't get what you ask for.