hazy,lazy days of summer

Mike Maslanka · August 2001

does anyone have a policy that requires employees to take vaction time?i've noticed over the years that with layoffs up, and more expected of the remaining employees,burnout is becoming an issue...i know that there are use it or lose it policies,but i was wondering if anyone had a policy that says you are valuable to us,if you are worn out you are useless to us,and therefore get the devil out of here for a week or more?...regards from texas,mike maslanka,214-469-4668

Scott Ruth · August 2001

I have one large client whose policy requires 5 vacation days per year must be taken consecutively. It's not well enforced, however.

Margaret Morford · August 2001

Mike,

Banks used to require that you take vacation two weeks at a time in order to turn up any "funny stuff" that might be going on. The idea that it would surface sometime during those two weeks. Check with some of your banking clients for a written policy.

Regardless, I would encourage all employers to have people take vacation. They need it in this day and age. Employers can do this by only allowing so much carry over from year to year. If they have a buy back program, they require that employees take two weeks of vacation in order to sell back the rest.

Hope that helps.

Margaret Morford
theHredge

Rockie · August 2001

I worked for a hospital that did not allow employees to carry over any vacation time. Whatever you received for vacation, whether it be two weeks up to five weeks a year, you had to take it within that year or you would forfeit it unless you had special permission and then you only got a 90 day reprieve. They did allow employees to "bank" their sick time which was about 10 days a year. I thought this was an interesting concept, but I've not ever known anyone else to do this.

In our cardiology practice, we have employees who take vacation as soon as they accrue an hour on the books and then we have those employees who "hoard" their vacation for whatever reason. We do allow a one week buyout every year for 10 plus year employees, but they have to keep at least two weeks in their bank.

I firmly believe that everyone should have some "down time" every year. You can really tell when you (and others around you) need to take some time off.

straycat · August 2001

>I worked for a hospital that did not allow employees to carry over any
>vacation time. Whatever you received for vacation, whether it be two
>weeks up to five weeks a year, you had to take it within that year or
>you would forfeit it unless you had special permission and then you
>only got a 90 day reprieve. They did allow employees to "bank" their
>sick time which was about 10 days a year. I thought this was an
>interesting concept, but I've not ever known anyone else to do this.
>
>In our cardiology practice, we have employees who take vacation as
>soon as they accrue an hour on the books and then we have those
>employees who "hoard" their vacation for whatever reason. We do allow
>a one week buyout every year for 10 plus year employees, but they have
>to keep at least two weeks in their bank.
>
>I firmly believe that everyone should have some "down time" every
>year. You can really tell when you (and others around you) need to
>take some time off.

PMI · August 2001

We used to have a policy like that, Mike. It's been a while, but as I recall employees were required to use vacation in at least half day increments, and they were required to take at least five consecutive business days off per calendar year. The policy was ditched, primarily because the employees did not like it -- they felt (perhaps rightly so) that it was too patronistic.

To control burnout we added one week vacation (now at 3 weeks annually), and we adhere to a "no carryover" policy. Just about everyone uses up their allotment, and fatigue seems to be minimal.

Well, I'm leaving for my vacation now... Stay cool!

Paul · August 2001

Mike,

In our orientation of new employees, we cover the "use it or lose it" aspect from the standpoint that they (the new employee) are valuable to us, and we want them to take the time off to be with the family, pet, etc. We are in the medical profession and we expect them to work hard, and to have leisure time activites that allow them to "decompress" from the stressful work. We put our money where our mouth is on this one in that we have now started providing new employees with 1 week of vacation from the start. They have to satisfy a 90 day introductory period, but after that they can schedule and take off for up to a week. The thing that we have in place to reduce gaming the system is that if they leave before their first anniversary, they have to pay back the vacation time taken. We just put this in place 2 months ago, and it is helping out on our recruiting, and (hopefully) our employee retention/loyalty.

I hope this helps.

Paul

Jaywhawk Fan · August 2001

We do enforce our vacation policy which requires employees to be out of the bank for 9 consecutive days. This can include 2 weekends so employees are only using 5 of their vacation days. Being a bank, it is required for audit purposes but we also stress the importance of being away from work and spending time with their families.

sonny · August 2001

Being in semi-retired frame of mind and age, I would love to take more vacation time and support the need for all to do so, but as an employee would be unhappy if forced to do so because we have no short term disabilty program. Having been here only 3 years, I don't have a lot of sick time and vacation built up to cover time off, should I become seriously ill. As a result, I come to work when I probably shouldn't and am trying to carry over a few days vacation each year. FYI we can can accumulate up to 400 hours of vacation before we lose it. There is currently no cap on sick time, in part because of disabilty coverage not kicking in until 6 months.

Anna · August 2001

I work in a manufacturing facility and our employees receive 2 weeks paid vacation after being with us for 1 year. They are required to take this vacation during our shutdown times, July 4th week and Christmas week. An employee usually ends up taking 6-8 days depending on where the holidays fall. The rest of their vacation, they can do with what they want. For example, last year, 2000, they were required to take Mon, Wed and Thurs during July 4th week and we gave them Friday free (without pay if they so choose to not burn a vacation day) (plus the 4th as holiday pay). They are also allowed to put in to work if they don't have vacation. During Christmas shutdown, Fri was a holiday paid day and so was Mon. So They took Tues-Fri as vacation and then Mon., New Year's Eve as a vacation day as well. It's a little different than what I was use to and sometimes hard to keep up with but the employees like to be able to be off those times so they can plan ahead.

bsa · August 2001

We have a use or lose it policy, but only 1 week of vacation after 1 year employment. I have been gathering info on other company policies to try to justify changing our paid time off policy, this forum has been very informative. Wish me luck.

Gillian · August 2001

I'm chiming in because none of the responses seem to come from California. If those of you with "use it or lose it" policies are in Ca. you could be in trouble. California wage and hour regulations view vacation as wages, you earn it as you go and any unused vacation is owed to the employee when the employment ends. Use it or lose it policies are illegal. While it seems contradictory, the regulations allow a "cap" so that once an employee reaches the cap no further vacation is earned. The employee view of this is that they are "losing" vacation. They aren't, of course, because they didn't earn it but don't try to explain it that way.

Because of our wage and hour regulations, vacation cap policies are common. I think that there is less of a concern about "forcing" people to take vacation since they can't lose it anyway. Due to the cap most employees take vacation to avoid reaching it. Those that don't are work-a-holics and not much can be done for them.

Nick · August 2001

Our policy is for hourly and salary employees to use it or lose it with pay. We have no carry over time and all un used vacation days are paid in July. If an employee takes their vacation after July, they just don't receive pay for that week when it is taken. The employees like the system it gives them the choice of making a little more money because they receive pay for all time worked or making their regular base rate and taking time off.

hazy,lazy days of summer

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