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by cameronh90 1872 days ago
What's a good vacation policy in SF? I'm tempted to move from London, but I currently get 28 days holiday a year + 8 public holidays + birthday + Xmas to NY (so about 40 days give or take). I know there's a lot of "unlimited" holiday policies - but would they really be okay if I took that kind of holiday?

I earn a lot here in London, but moving to SF would be a significant bump. However, I very much value my time off.
4 comments
scubbo 1872 days ago
My Anecdata - I moved from London to SF ~4 years ago (working for the same FAANG company before-and-after), and have never even bothered looking at my PTO accrual because a) I wouldn't even spend it fast enough to run it down, and b) my managers have always been very clear that I should take whatever PTO I want whether or not I officially have hours accrued.

Officially, though, I (just found out that I) have 20 discretionary days per year (plus American holidays).

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dougmwne 1871 days ago
2 weeks is considered minimal/entry level, 3 weeks is average and 4 weeks is quite good for the US.
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topkai22 1872 days ago
Not SF, but at my big tech employer it’s 3 weeks of vacation, 2 floating holidays (which are really just vacation), 10 company holidays, and 2 weeks sick leave. After 6 and 12 years you get another week of vacation. So total is 27 to start, not including sick leave. I’ve heard more experienced new hires can sometimes negotiate in more vacation (up to 5 weeks) but I haven’t experienced that directly myself.

There are also all sorts of special purpose leaves (jury duty, infant care, bereavement, etc...) that can become quite substantial.

All that being said I’ve almost never had a boss who cared about tracking my vacation too closely, and I’ve never felt pressured to not take time off when I want to, other than a half dozen critical weeks a year.

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mandelbrotwurst 1872 days ago
It's very much a mixed bag.

The "unlimited" thing became popular in California in part as an attempt on behalf of companies to avoid having to issue payouts for accrued time off to employees leaving their organizations.

I'd suggest simply being very up front and specific in interviewing and negotiations about how much time you plan to take and see what kind of reactions you get.

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bearmcbearsly 1872 days ago
At my company in the Bay Area, we get 30 days vacation plus 10 holidays. For the first few years, it was a bit less vacation.
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