Off on paycation: a new job in tech will pay for a holiday before you start

Need a holiday but have no leave left? It’s time for a new job in tech where bosses will pay for a getaway — before you start, says Phoebe Luckhurst
Time for a break? the pre-cation is consistent with the subtle but pervasive psychological warfare of the technology sector (Picture: Getty/Flickr RF)

October. Fetid leaves — once crisp and russet, now damp and rotting — cling to drains; it’s dark by lunchtime. Your bones ache and your joints seize. Your eyes speak of a malaise disproportionate to the matter at hand, namely the predictable arrival of autumn.

You know you’re being a bit wet, but then so are your shoes (when will the rain stop?). You could force your chin up but, frankly, you’d rather go on holiday and leave the painful ache of the quotidian behind. You’ve started Googling wheelie suitcases and fantasising about Ryanair — a disquieting mental tic that is convincing you further that you need to get far, far away from here (on a BA plane. Or Virgin Atlantic).

Alternatively, you should change jobs. Specifically you should see if 42Floors — a San Francisco-based commercial property start-up – is hiring. The company has instated a “pre-cation” policy: all new-starters must take a two-week paid holiday before joining the company. CEO and founder Jason Freedman instigated this after headhunting a candidate who was totally wiped out by his current role. The guy was thrilled and signed on the dotted line.

Atlassian, another San Francisco-based start-up (which also has an outpost in Sydney) also pushes the pre-cation policy: it offers every new starter a travel voucher and encourages them to take a holiday before they join the company — predictably, it also offers unlimited holidays.

“It was only a couple of weeks,” Freedman told US magazine Slate. But he came in so refreshed and energised, it was amazing… We have a guy who’s about to start next week, and he’s in Thailand right now. It’s like, ‘Yeah, have a great time! And when you get back here, work your ass off’.”

For this is the plain subtext: cynics would call it exquisite blackmail. New starters will feel indebted to their kind new employer, incentivising them to work harder. It is undeniably expensive. Indeed, the policy could be termed a paycation — it’s entirely subsidised by the new company though bosses reckon it’s worth the financial outlay to ensure staff arrive refreshed not beleaguered.

The pre-cation is consistent with the subtle but pervasive psychological warfare of the technology sector. For why use desks when you could use beanbags! Why head out for lunch when you can eat in! On the beanbags! And not miss any work! And why go home when you can sleep here! Admittedly, employees are willing participants — although it could be a devastating epidemic of Stockholm Syndrome.

Furthermore, like unlimited holidays — another policy embedded in the “work hard, play never” culture of Silicon Valley — the pre-cation actually functions as a disincentive to take more holiday, since employees will undoubtedly feel unconsciously that they’ve used up their “big” holiday allowance for the foreseeable future, the strategy implicitly discourages asking for more. Ultimately, it’s bosses being kind to be cruel.

Admittedly, the pre-cation isn’t in London yet, though unlimited holidays are popular across the start-up offices of Shoreditch and Old Street, so it surely can’t be long before Silicon Roundabout starts flirting with the idea in the fight to secure talented front-end developers in the transfer window.

“We love the idea but we don’t have something like that up and running,” says Ed Grattan at Pact (pactcoffee.com), an online fresh roasted coffee subscription service. “With vacation days so limited in the US we think it applies a little more over there. And as a relatively new business it would be rather difficult for us to stretch to giving people a full two weeks paid holiday before starting. However, we do make sure to be completely supportive of our new hires taking time between jobs to recuperate. In fact, we have someone doing that right now. And once employees have joined the business we have an unlimited holiday policy which people sensibly manage themselves around their work.”

So join the Silicon cult or persevere through October’s banal and quotidian regime? I hear San Fran’s pretty temperate at this time of year.

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