Making the Most of Responsible Leave

What happens when employees have better control of their work-life balance?

Tech talents are undoubtedly the backbones of any tech company, which explains the massive workload. There are always features to develop and maintain, bugs to fix, or data to gather, visualize, and analyze. A long vacation sounds like a farfetched dream.

Unlimited or flexible paid time off (PTO) policy has become a permanent fixture in many tech companies around the world. Under this policy, employees can take time off as needed without worrying about exhausting all their quotas when emergency situations arise.

Furthermore, it also delivers a positive message to the employees, that the company trusts them enough to make responsible decisions. It offers a different perspective of work: it’s all about deliverables and results, instead of hours worked. The team also has more control over their work-life balance. That’s what we are working to achieve at DKatalis and inspired us to implement a flexible PTO policy called Responsible Leave.

So, how do our Katalis utilize responsible leave to support them in achieving their purpose? Here are their stories:

Kalisa Ramadanti (Data Associate)

I started my journey at DKatalis as a data intern. Then, I was offered to join the team full-time. As excited as I was about the opportunity, I didn’t accept it right away. There were many factors to consider: I was still a last-year university student with a thesis and graduation in the queue. Understanding the data team’s massive workload, I wouldn’t be able to contribute and commit fully at least until I graduated.

At the same time, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to join DKatalis, so I explained my circumstances to the team leaders and members. Fortunately, everyone was very understanding, which encouraged me to join full-time.

In June, I had to start focusing on my thesis and started to feel overwhelmed by both responsibilities. I approached the leaders to discuss the possibility of taking a long leave until my thesis was finished. That was my first time learning about the responsible leave policy. But I didn’t request it, and initially considered taking unpaid leave, because my absence would be for about a month. Still, the management encouraged me to take responsible leave because it’s my right as a Katalis. My 1-month leave request from July to August was approved, allowing me to focus on my thesis.

Once I completed my thesis and successfully defended it (yay!), it was time to return to work.

This experience taught me important lessons for taking a responsible leave. Well, you don’t want to be bothered by work issues during those leave, do you? Here are my takeaways:

• Solid preparation. Before starting my leave, I reviewed all my tasks and completed the crucial ones. This way, if someone from work contacted me while I was away, I knew it would be for urgent matters only. Some people did reach out to me for work-related issues but immediately retracted their requests once they learned I was on leave.
• Supportive team. Because my squad is small, the members are familiar with each other’s work. But that’s not the kind of support I’m referring to. I discovered that my team members actively reminded others not to bother me during my leave period. They also kept me updated on the changes to the workflow and system. So thanks to their support, even though I was on a long leave, I still felt involved in the team activities.

Looking back, I was really supported in completing my education while not having to sacrifice my job. The responsible leave arrangement also relieved me of feeling guilty about taking such a long absence.

Mochammad Zachri (Software Engineer)

As a software engineer in the team in charge of money movement in a digital banking app, you may assume that taking a lot of leave is impossible. That, however, is not the case with me!

So far, I have taken paid time offs not only for planned vacations or emergencies but also to celebrate special occasions with my family, such as birthdays. Well, DKatalis encourages me to maintain a good work-life balance, so that’s what I did.

One of my most memorable long leave periods was when I took a 2-week leave to prepare for my wedding and honeymoon. In March 2022, I finally married my long-term and long-distance partner (we’d been dating for almost a decade). I wanted the moment to be extra special since we finally got to tie the knot, bidding farewell to long-distance calls and virtual dates. My fellow married folks must have known how demanding and exhausting wedding planning could be, so the extended leave was very much necessary.

Before starting my leave, I huddled with the team and sorted out the tasks I needed to finish so I could enjoy my time off in peace. Furthermore, I thoroughly documented everything so that if someone on the team needed to take over my work, they’d have a good idea of what or how to do it. As long as we have completed our tasks and provided everything that the teams need, they won’t disturb your good vacation 😉

I’m not saying that with all of those preparations, no one would contact me during my vacation. Someone would still reach out, but only for critical issues related to my work. Even in those moments, I didn’t have to drop everything, grab my laptop, and start coding. Sometimes the team just needed some information and then took care of the issues, because they respected my leave time. All I had to do was provide the necessary information, and then back to vacation mode. Still, from my perspective, providing critical information is one way to stay responsible while on a long leave.

So, to conclude, here are the 3 keys to make sure your leave days are relaxing:

• Check that you have fulfilled your responsibilities and that nothing urgent is left unfinished
• Document all of your work so that your team has enough information
• Tell and discuss with your team ahead of time so that they can make the necessary preparation

And one more thing: have a supportive team! I’ve worked with two different squads in DKatalis, and both of them provide solid support whenever team members go on leave. So I’m assuming it’s already part of the culture to support one another and let them enjoy a relaxing vacation! 😄

If you are a strong believer in having a balanced life and work, then you might enjoy being part of DKatalis! Join us in creating life-centric digital solutions.