But you're also a country with mostly "at will" employment laws - any one of those employees can quit with no notice. If you can't cope for a week without any of those individuals then you have some serious business risks.
Except "coping" isn't what everyone thinks about, there's some bizarre expectation of 100% efficiency for short notice things. If the DBA needs a week off then plan around it. I can see a case in a small firm for some people to be contactable in case of dire emergencies - but with significant costs like holiday day reimbursement and cash if activated. Not an expectation of any contact, view that as a significant failing.
Many small companies are stuck with serious business risks, such as critical people leaving. Their goal is to grow fast enough to work around those risks.
Some will die due to those risks. Most likely the right way to mitigate those risks is not European style work/life balance but rather Valley style "pay the SPOF a lot, give him ownership, and make him feel highly valued".
Well there might be sufficient data to bear that out. Plenty of startups are adopting work / life balance friendly policies. It would be interesting to see if they have a better / worse change of success... Perhaps one for Mattermark
Except "coping" isn't what everyone thinks about, there's some bizarre expectation of 100% efficiency for short notice things. If the DBA needs a week off then plan around it. I can see a case in a small firm for some people to be contactable in case of dire emergencies - but with significant costs like holiday day reimbursement and cash if activated. Not an expectation of any contact, view that as a significant failing.