Employee issue

Jeanie · August 2001

I'm not sure on how to handle this situation, so maybe someone has some feedback. Our Employee Handbook states that after 1 yr of FT employment you receive 2 wks vaca. and after 8 yrs of FT employment you receive 3 wks vaca. An employee who has reached their 1 yr anniv. with our company was given their performance appraisal and a raise. The employee has asked if in leiu of the raise, can she receive another weeks vaca.

Would a company be OK in granting that request, or would we be setting a precedent for other employees to do same - which we may not want to go there.

Waiting for responses.

Thanks,
Jeanie

Down_the_Middle · August 2001

I think you would definately be setting a precedent and would be offering some type of flexible compensation program, unintentionally. As innocent as this may appear on the surface, trading salary for addt'l vacation (for only 1 employee) is very risky. It will likely become an employee relations nightmare as you pick and choose who gets it and then try and defend your actions. Additional vacation could cost you more if replacements costs are needed, plus many employees may also want the addt'l time off with pay in lieu of a merit increase. Can you do this for everyone?? If yes, then you may be ready to adopt a formal cafeteria/FSA plan for all to enjoy. You'll need some assistance from a benefits consulting firm--------this is a complex area.

bsa · August 2001

My company "made an exception" for one valued long term employee. The same employee came to expect "exceptional" treatment in all areas. AND, other employees noticed and requested the same. We finally had to backtrack in order to stop informal policy changes. I certainly don't recommend it.

Linda_CA · August 2001

I believe you would be setting a precedent thus having to allow others employees to do the same. I say unless you are willing to change the policy across the Company, you should stick to the policy. You don't want to be faced with unfair practice issues or perhaps even discrimination issues based on who also wanted to have this exception made.

Gar · August 2001

Stick to the language in your handbook and leave well-enough alone.

hrnorth · August 2001

from a cost standpoint, this certainly sounds attractive, but you would certainly open yourself up to similar requests from others that you might not want to allow. Things to consider would be whether the position is exempt or non-exempt, how far you'd let this go if the same request came up the following year, etc. You could revise your policy to allow flexibility for a max of a week, and then for only employees given a certain rating or above, if you have a performance rating system in place.

System · August 2001

I think you should look at this as a retention issue. It sounds like she's saying "I like my job, but I can't imagine spending the next seven years here with only two weeks of annual vacation." If she's a very valuable employee, you might want to do what she asks. If not, don't. But it seems like I'm in the minority here.

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers

Rockie · August 2001

I would definitely not grant this for one employee; I would give everyone this option. Depending on your type of business and your staffing levels, if enough people decided to take advantage of this "opportunity", you may have a staffing problem.

You may want to take a look at your vacation accrual levels. Eight years seems a long time to wait to get a "bump" in vacation days when you only give two weeks after one year. Most companies will give an initial amount of vacation, then another bump at three to five years and then maybe 10 to 15 years. You may want to look at increasing or reconfiguring this rather than giving special special treatment to some employees.

Theresa Gegen TX · September 2001

Also, other employees may get mad if they feel that this employee is getting special treatment. Many times employees get angry not because they are being treated badly, but because they perceive that other employees are getting favors.

So I think giving the 2 weeks vacation with the raise is enough (in fact, since this employee has only been with the company a year, giving a special favor is probably not warrented).

Good luck!

Employee issue

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