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Comment by t0mbstone | Hacker News Reader

Unfortunately, this concept is antithetical to most startups. They usually don't have the capital required to cater towards long term goals like "happy families make happy employees". Instead, they try to convince their employees to work 12 hour days and nights and weekends on call, in exchange for a chance at making millions of dollars when the startup sells out.

Let's face it. Most startups are straight up toxic. Been there, done that. Never again.

On the flip side, though, if I saw a startup that enforced a proper work/life balance for their employees, while fairly compensating them with pay, healthcare, and clearly defined Vacation/PTO policies (none of that "unlimited vacation" bullshit trap that startups like to pull), and perks like 7 weeks of PTO for new fathers/mothers, then I would actually consider working for a startup like that.

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Same here. Working slave hours with a newborn is the single most damaging thing that has ever happened to me-- and I have had MRSA, a serious head injury, been separated, and died once before in an accident, and had a serious head injury (snicker).

I was working 12-14 hours a day and coming home to take care of my wife, and then the wife and a baby. Two hours of sleep a night was a godsend. After a year of this, I was toast. Mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually.

If I may ask-- what are you doing for work now? I have not yet answered this question.

I'm still programming, but I now work for a company that encourages proper work/life balance. It was one of the things that most attracted me to them.

Tiho (OP) here. I hear you. I went through a bad example of not taking parental time off (largely self-inflicted) at my previous startup.

One way to screen startups would be to see how founders and startup investors behave. I was greatly encouraged at LTSE by our CEO's example and saw one of our investors (Alexis Ohanian) publicly champion better and more sustainable work-effort and also take parental time off.

I encountered an exception. It was a government contractor that billed the government to do various tasks. Federal contracting law includes requirements for overtime pay.

I think the worst legal behavior would be to demand 7 hours and 59 minutes of unpaid overtime per week. Past that, federal law steps in. So at worst you'd be working a tiny bit less than 48 hours per week... or you'd get paid more, which is a solid disincentive for the company.

That's only true if the employees get a large enough stake in the company and it's structured in such a way that they can't get screwed by the owners.

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