Last updated · 14 February 2024
Holidays and time-off
Yes, you are entitled to holidays, unfortunately! Or, in other words: time that we can’t bill for. Disaster!
Anyway, the Portuguese law forces us to give you those, even though we’ve tried (really hard) to uncover a way to have you working 52 weeks per year, 5 days a week. Social Security didn’t agree, they said people deserve a rest. But then, what are the weekends and national holidays for? Anyway, for 22 non-weekend, non-national-holiday days, off you go, take your time.
We took this matter personally, though, so we pouted and decided to give you up to 3 more days instead:
- 1 day on your birthday.
- 1 day on the 24th of December.
- 1 day on the 31st of December.
We say “up to” because if these days happen on weekends or national holidays, they cannot be replaced with adjacent ones. We’ve got feather. Some years you’ll be lucky, on some others, not so much.
However, it doesn’t end there. As a token of gratitude for your longevity at Significa, we offer 1 extra vacation day per each year of your dedication to the company, retroactively starting from your second year.
In other words: from your second year of tenure, you will be entitled to 2 extra days of leave. 3 days on your third year. 4 days on your fourth year. 5 days in your fifth year. You get the gist.
It is capped to 8 days, but still, at the end of those 8 years, you’ll have a minimum of 30 days off. Not shabby at all.
In a best case scenario, where your birthday, the 24th and the 31st of December land on week days, you’ll mean 33 non-billable days! And we’re not even counting the retreats or other leaves.
The People and Operations team will look into holiday usage, sporadically, to encourage people who haven't taken enough time off to do so. Jokes aside, resting is vital, literally, for everyone.
No permission required.
As written in Working hours and location, we care about what you deliver, not about how long you work nor where you work from, and thus consistently, we also don’t care when your holidays are taken. As a result, you don’t need to ask for approval. Just use them.
Legally, you’d have to request them until the 31st of March but, as you’ve learned, we have a beef with Social Security, so we don’t care about such date nor such policy.
Instead, under the Maximum freedom, maximum responsibility motto, we expect you to be responsible enough to coordinate your absence with your Project Manager and your team, so we can all make sure no hinderance results from your holidays.
Even though you can take time-off whenever you see fit, you should log your off-days, at least, 1 month ahead of your leave. You know, we want to make sure we can plan your absence properly, let the clients know in advance, and still make sure we can move forward without you. Also, please ensure you leave enough guidance for your replacement before you go.
We know life can be as unpredictable as the next fashion trend, and you may need time-off with very little notice. In that case, please discuss with your Project Manager prior to logging your time-off or going away, so the both of you can collaboratively work-out a plan for your absence.
Time-off in lieu.
Under Working hours and location, there’s an entire section about Time-off in lieu. To summarise: in the very rare occasion of being asked to work over-time or extra-days, we have a pretty fair Time-off in lieu compensation for you.