We offer our team unlimited time off, but with an expectation that you take at least 25 days off a year, including national holidays. This is to make sure that people can take time off flexibly while not feeling guilty about being on vacation.
The reason for this policy is that it's critical for PostHog that we hire people we can trust to be responsible with their time off - enough that they can recharge, but not so much that it means we don't get any work done. The People & Ops team will look holiday usage occasionally to encourage people who haven't taken the minimum time off to do so. The 25 days is a minimum, not a guide.
Permissionless time off
We care about your results, not how long you work.
You do not need to get approval for time off from your manager. Instead, we expect everyone to coordinate with their team to make sure that we're still able to move forwards in your absence. For example, having an entire Small Team off at the same time means we can't be responsive to community issues.
How to book time off in PTO by Roots
Before you start, make sure that:
- You have authorized the PTO by Roots app in Slack to connect to your Google Calendar
- You have subscribed to the team time off calendar
If you don't do this, your holiday won't show up in the team time off calendar.
To book a day off:
- Book it on the PTO by Roots app in Slack. There are various types of time off you can select. It will be automatically approved and added to the team time off calendar (with the exception of longer term leave.) It will also be added to your manager's personal calendar.
- Block out your own personal GCal to show that you are out. This is because PTO by Roots only books in an all day event in your calendar to show that you are out. If you don't do this, automated meetings such as interviews or demos might still get booked into your cal.
- Set an out of office message on your email and have it point to someone else on the team, or hey@posthog.com. PTO by Roots will automatically set your Slack status to out of office and will autorespond to Slack messages.
Please manually book in public holidays you plan to take off as well. We have team members working in countries all over the world, so it is not practical for us to book these all in on your behalf. Some people also prefer to work on certain days even if they're considered a public holiday in the country they are living in or visiting.
The same rules as above apply regardless of the holiday length and type. Sick leave and any any other types of time off should also be booked in the same way.
Flexible working
We operate on a trust basis and we don't count hours or days worked. We trust everyone to manage their own time.
Whether you have an appointment with your doctor, school run with your kids, or you want to finish an hour early to meet friends or family - we don't mind and you don't need to tell us. Please just add it to your calendar and, if you are doing anything that could require you to be immediately available (ie support hero / or any customer-facing role), please make sure you have cover.
Sabbaticals
As we have unlimited, permissionless time off, PostHog doesn’t offer ‘sabbaticals’ in the way that some companies do. Instead, we strongly encourage team members to use our existing policy to take a full month off every 3-4 years. We only ask that you organise this thoughtfully with your team by giving them enough notice to plan.
When you should have time off
You are sick
If you are sick, you don't need to work and you will be paid. This is assuming you need a day or two off, then just take them.
Please let your manager know if you need to take off due to illness as soon as you are able to and add it to PTO by Roots.
For extended periods of illness, please speak to James or Tim so we can work out a plan. In some countries, we may be required to request a doctor's note from you.
Bereavements / Child loss
We do not define “closeness” and we won't ask about your relationship to the person or what they meant to you. Take as much time as you need, just give us a quick update every now and then.
We extended our bereavement policy to also cover pregnancy and child loss for both parents, with no questions asked. Please take at least 2 weeks of paid leave. If you need additional time for physical or mental health reasons, we will treat it as extended sick leave.
Jury duty / voting / childcare disasters, aka 'life stuff'
There are lots of situations where life needs to come first. Please let it - just be communicative with your team and fit your work around it as you need.
Parental leave
Parental leave is exceptional as it needs to be significantly longer than a typical vacation. Anyone at PostHog, regardless of gender, is able to take parental leave, and regardless of whether you've become a parent through childbirth or adoption.
If you have been at PostHog for over 1 year, you can take up to 12 weeks off on full pay. You can take a further 4 weeks unpaid leave if you need more time. After this, if you need to stagger your return to work, you can come back at 50% capacity on 50% pay afterwards. If you live in a country where a statutory parental leave benefit is available, you will be required to claim statutory parental leave pay (if you are eligible) and PostHog will supplement any gaps.
If you have been at PostHog for under 1 year, we will pay you according to your local jurisdiction's legal requirements.
Please communicate parental leave to James or Tim as soon as you feel comfortable doing so, and in any case at least 2 months before it will begin. They will let the People & Ops team know, who will follow up on any logistical arrangements around salary etc.
We are aware that there are local laws around time off for new parents in every country, and that these may vary. Wherever there is a discrepancy between local regulations and PostHog policy, local laws will override PostHog.