Skip to content
Do you have adblock enabled?
 
If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.

(The Register)   Who wouldn't want to take a 3-month sabbatical? People who like to get paid, apparently   (theregister.com) divider line
25
    More: Awkward, Revenue, Mass production, Investment, County Kildare, Chipmaker Intel, American system of manufacturing, Income, Manufacturing  
•       •       •

1673 clicks; posted to Business » and STEM » on 03 Dec 2022 at 5:45 AM (9 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



25 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
koder [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-12-03 4:57:35 AM  
I wish more companies were cool with this.  Would be great for vacations to places that need jet-lag adjustments.
 
wildcardjack
2022-12-03 6:56:14 AM  
So... somewhere between being laid off and a furlough. It's probably something to do with labor laws.
 
freakdiablo [TotalFark]
2022-12-03 6:59:40 AM  

koder: I wish more companies were cool with this.  Would be great for vacations to places that need jet-lag adjustments.


A few of the subcontractors I've worked with had this and the techs loved it.

The big thing though was they were union.  The techs were paid well and when there was work they could volunteer for as much overtime as they wanted, so when work slowed down they could easily coast for a month plus without pay.  One foreman even did just that, took two months off to tour Europe and knew he had his job when he came back.
 
bisi
2022-12-03 7:10:30 AM  

koder: I wish more companies were cool with this.  Would be great for vacations to places that need jet-lag adjustments.


Holy shiat, if you need three months to account for "jet lag adjustment", maybe you should consider traveling by ship?

Snark aside, my new job comes with the requirement to take the majority (at least four weeks) of vacation time in the summer. I don't love the loss of flexibility, but being able to get on the bike and fark off for a whole month at a time opens up a whole new level of traveling.
If I made Intel money, I would be down for an unpaid 3 months immediately.
 
Izunbacol [recently expired TotalFark]
2022-12-03 8:16:53 AM  

freakdiablo: koder: I wish more companies were cool with this.  Would be great for vacations to places that need jet-lag adjustments.

A few of the subcontractors I've worked with had this and the techs loved it.

The big thing though was they were union.  The techs were paid well and when there was work they could volunteer for as much overtime as they wanted, so when work slowed down they could easily coast for a month plus without pay.  One foreman even did just that, took two months off to tour Europe and knew he had his job when he came back.


I keep thinking the best setup would be no PTO, but no limit on time off.

Your PTO is built into your salary anyway.  Quote the salary for X hours of PTO equivalent... work more, you get more money.  Take more time off, you get less.  For people who are incapable of budgeting, offer a monthly deduction that will maintain a flat pay-rate for the number of days they intend to take during a year.  At the end of the year (or upon termination/resignation), if they fall short, they pay the difference.
 
bighairyguy [TotalFark]
2022-12-03 8:17:06 AM  
One place I worked implemented a week long unpaid furlough every during the last economic crisis.  It became known as a furcation.  I always signed up for last week of each quarter so I wouldn't give them a free week if they laid me off.  That strategy did pay off when they got rid of me in the middle of a quarter.

Employees when I started in 2005:  58,000
Employees when I left in 2012:  28,000
Employees today:  13,000
 
holdmybones
2022-12-03 8:43:26 AM  
During the 2008/2009 debacle the company I worked for offered voluntary furlough - they wanted ten days. Being young at the time and not having much responsibility, I jumped at it and worked ten straight weeks of mon-thurs. It was kind of nice.
 
kmfjd
2022-12-03 8:44:30 AM  

koder: I wish more companies were cool with this.  Would be great for vacations to places that need jet-lag adjustments.


i've done this 3 times now and it's awesome
 
Cajnik [OhFark]
2022-12-03 9:43:57 AM  
If you could take a month instead of three it wouldn't be bad. Plan a cheap vacation, camping somewhere or staying at a friend/family members house or cottage. One month of no paycheck coming in wouldnt hurt as bad as three.
 
hej
2022-12-03 9:51:28 AM  
I took about 3 months off, roughly a year ago and it was farking great.
 
TheSubjunctive
2022-12-03 10:16:36 AM  
3 months off (if I kept health insurance, speaking 'merican), sounds great.  A little interesting that when we keep hearing "chip shortage, chip shortage" in the news to hear slowdown plans at a fab.  I get that "chip A" isn't "chip B", but still.
 
hoodiowithtudio
2022-12-03 10:29:01 AM  
My school district pays me ten months a year. So I know ahead of time of my furlough and put 1/6 of my paycheck into a summer account. If they did not let them know about the furcation (sounds like a mattythemouse thing), that's a dick move
 
Gaddiel
2022-12-03 12:35:10 PM  

TheSubjunctive: 3 months off (if I kept health insurance, speaking 'merican), sounds great.  A little interesting that when we keep hearing "chip shortage, chip shortage" in the news to hear slowdown plans at a fab.  I get that "chip A" isn't "chip B", but still.


That was my thought. Aren't we still trying to fill the backlog of a chip shortage?

I suspect it has something to do with the spike in interest rates and their short term financing, but I'm pulling that out of my ass.
 
yellowjester
2022-12-03 12:38:52 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
AmbassadorBooze
2022-12-03 12:51:13 PM  
The elites need you to turn the world engine.  Not to enjoy yourself.  The elites get the joy.  You get to turn the world engine.
 
Dear Jerk
2022-12-03 12:52:54 PM  
Taking three months off is great way to tell the company you are not needed.
 
seanpaul.bobadilla
2022-12-03 12:57:01 PM  
Intel obviously learned something Elon forgot. It can take a year to fill an engineering position. And that's if you include the whole world as your search parameter. We have people in Eastern Europe, UK, France, Germany, South America, Australia, India, Japan, and Ghana, California, and Texas.
My point is good engineers are hard to find, like really hard, and unless your company is actually dying you don't lay them off. Because there are plenty of places that will hire them and you won't get them back. This makes it really hard to expand when your company recovers.
Smaller companies laugh in their sleeves when companies like Facebook and Amazon do layoffs.
 
10Speed
2022-12-03 12:58:32 PM  
Taking three months off knowing you can come back to your job sounds awesome, especially if you can cover your nut without taking on other work during the interim. Unfortunately, people have become so used to everyone kind of being on call at all times, you know some dickhead manager would be trying to slip you work to do via email and phone.
 
Cajnik [OhFark]
2022-12-03 3:58:55 PM  

Gaddiel: That was my thought. Aren't we still trying to fill the backlog of a chip shortage?


Stuff out of China is still delayed. I assume it's companies that don't have additional production outside a country still insisting on zero Covid policies
 
fragMasterFlash [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-12-03 4:14:02 PM  
I'd love to head someplace like Argentina to hire a guide and go gaucho for a month, touring the hills with a pack mule and living on asada and malbec.
 
Izunbacol [recently expired TotalFark]
2022-12-03 4:29:42 PM  

seanpaul.bobadilla: Intel obviously learned something Elon forgot. It can take a year to fill an engineering position. And that's if you include the whole world as your search parameter. We have people in Eastern Europe, UK, France, Germany, South America, Australia, India, Japan, and Ghana, California, and Texas.
My point is good engineers are hard to find, like really hard, and unless your company is actually dying you don't lay them off. Because there are plenty of places that will hire them and you won't get them back. This makes it really hard to expand when your company recovers.
Smaller companies laugh in their sleeves when companies like Facebook and Amazon do layoffs.


Has Elon been laying off engineers?  I've heard about the programming guys being laid off from Twitter, but I wouldn't expect many engineers there.  Have their been massive layoffs from SpaceX and Tesla?
 
Excelsior
2022-12-03 5:28:01 PM  
images.cgrbd.netView Full Size
 
trerro [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-12-04 3:55:36 AM  
You only need so much money. If you're being paid well and you have plenty of savings, the occasional 3 month break from work can be an awesome way to recharge and get time to see the world, go all-in on that passion project, or otherwise clear your schedule of the grind for a while, do that thing you really want to do, and know the job's waiting for you so there's no risk. As we increasingly automate and it should thus take less and less time to do that primary job, this sort of thing should be widely encouraged, and a major benefit of having achieved that level of automation. It's a great future.

There's a very key "if" in that paragraph, however. We can't keep sending 90+% of the money to a handful of a billionaires, or only people in very specific jobs will be able to actually afford that lifestyle.
 
Cormee
2022-12-04 9:09:35 AM  

trerro: You only need so much money. If you're being paid well and you have plenty of savings, the occasional 3 month break from work can be an awesome way to recharge and get time to see the world, go all-in on that passion project, or otherwise clear your schedule of the grind for a while, do that thing you really want to do, and know the job's waiting for you so there's no risk. As we increasingly automate and it should thus take less and less time to do that primary job, this sort of thing should be widely encouraged, and a major benefit of having achieved that level of automation. It's a great future.

There's a very key "if" in that paragraph, however. We can't keep sending 90+% of the money to a handful of a billionaires, or only people in very specific jobs will be able to actually afford that lifestyle.


They are getting a sign up bonus, and up to 40% of their wage, as well
 
SoundOfOneHandWanking [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-12-04 11:57:01 AM  
This would need to come with a commensurate raise so that total income for the year doesn't change, so no.
 
Displayed 25 of 25 comments

View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest

Redisplay/refresh comments
This thread is closed to new comments.

Continue Farking

If you like these links, you'll love

TotalFark

All the submissions, none of the calories.

learn more | sign up
On Twitter

  1. Links are submitted by members of the Fark community.

  2. When community members submit a link, they also write a custom headline for the story.

  3. Other Farkers comment on the links. This is the number of comments. Click here to read them.

  4. Click here to submit a link.