

Ask HN: Paid to go to a conference, but forced to take a day off what to do? - sarhus

A friend works for an rather successful Italian startup.&#60;p&#62;As a developer, he'll be sent to a good conference this year. They'll pay him hotel and flight ticket. So far so good. But... They force him to take that day off, (holiday!)&#60;p&#62;I wonder how is it with USA/UK startups? If you're paid to go to a conference, will you have to get holiday for that day? What will you do if that happens to you ?
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duiker101
I'd say take it. It is a nice thing to go to a nice conference if it's not an
usual thing. In any case the fact that this is happening from an italian
startup doesn't surprise me. As an italian I have seen worse things.

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mtrimpe
There's a total cost to the company of sending your friend to the conference.
It consists of the conference, flight & hotel costs _and_ your salary costs
for that amount of days.

This is simply the company offering to pay your friend for the former but not
the latter. It's of course nicer to have everything paid, but it's also a
better offer than having to pay for the conference _and_ take days off.

As you will be expected to pay for part of this (through taking days off) this
is an _offer_ however and he/she can't/shouldn't be forced to accept it.

P.S. Keep in mind that this structure is the most tax-efficient way to sponser
said trip to the conference in most European countries.

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sarhus
Right, he could just say no, it's true.

Surely what he could learn from a conference will also be very useful to the
startup too.

