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Vacation Time

Just curious how other companies increase a person's vacation eligibility over time.

Currently our policy is as follows: 1-5 years eligible for 2 weeks 5-10 years eligible for 3 weeks 10+ years eligible for 4 weeks

We are a company of 25 with the majority of people having been employed for over 5 years but with a few over 10. We now have our first employee who has reached 15 years and was wondering about revising our vacation policy to 5 weeks for 15 years.

Part of me laughs because this person has always had trouble taking the 4 weeks but whatever...we would like to do something to recognize her commitment to the company and we currently have nothing in place as far as a recognition & rewards program.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Kathi Sheehan

If you didn't want to increase an additional week would your company consider giving an additional day for each additional year of employment starting at 15 years. So this year they would have 4 weeks + 1 day and continue adding a day for each year as long as they are employed. Just a thought for consideration.

Jan Ramsey

We give the following;

6 paid Holidays (Christmas day, New Years day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor day and Thanksgiving Day.

Vacation, personal and sick are all combined...they can take the time however they choose....there is some advance notice required for more than 1 day off (unless person is sick of course)

After 90 days of employment, employee qualifies for 3 weeks off, given as 10 hours (1.25 days) per month...so at 1 yr 3 mos...total is 15 days.

We are closed as an agency between Christmas and New Years, so 4 to 5 of those days must be used at that time.

We have a very limited allowance for time off without pay as we are a company of 15 or less employees. Usually, it would be some sort of personal emergency situation....or maybe during a company slow time we might offer anyone interested in taking unpaid time can take it....we also sometimes offer unpaid time on days preceding or following a Holiday like Thanksgiving etc.

At the 10 year mark, employees qualify for an additional paid week

Caitilin

Our policy, which we formulated several years ago, is that all days are considered "Paid Time Off" (PTO) and there is no differentiation between sick and vacation days:

0 - 7 years: 15 days/year

7 - 12 years: 20 days/year

over 12 years: 25 days/year

We also give 10 paid holidays (this includes two half days for both Xmas and New Year's Eve days).

-- Kay Rosburg, Vice President Dever Designs, Inc.

Kathi,

We are a company of 73 and we also have a lot of employees that have been with us over 5 years or more.

Our policy is currently as follows:

1 year - 1 week plus 7 days for sick time 2 years - 2 weeks plus 7 days for sick time 3 years - 3 weeks plus 7 days for sick time 4 years - 3 weeks plus 7 days for sick time 5 years - 4 weeks plus 7 days of sick time 6 years or beyond - 4 weeks plus 7 days of sick time (stays the same) Executive staff: 5 weeks plus 7 days of sick time

My feeling is after 15 years of service there should be some type of company recognition. We purchase a special gift for employees with service of 5 years, 10 years, 15 years. We also have a company cake and celebration acknowledging their longevity. We also increase their vacation time on their five year anniversary. We feel that employees need adequate time with their families and being we work in a fast paced stressful environment, the additional time is necessary.

Tracy Schafer Baker Associates

Our schedule is as follows: 1-5 3 weeks 6-10 4 weeks Over 10 5 weeks

Pamela A. Brosch, CPA Chief Financial Officer HSR Business to Business Inc.

Our vacation eligibility is based on the European method - old is a good thing! The thought is that all new employees bring experience and knowledge with them - they should be compensated for what they bring the employer. Our vacation is therefore determined on age, not length of employment. High school graduation year is the starting point 0-8 years from graduation 2 weeks 8-16 3 weeks 16-25 4 weeks 25+ 5 weeks

We also have a recognition program starting with the 10th year of employment On the 10th anniversary, and every 5 years thereafter, the employee is given a Friday off plus the weekend away, with travel, (excluding airfare), food, lodging and one entertainment expenses paid by the company.

Diane Smith Business Manager Donaldson Makoski Inc.
http://www.donaldsonmakoski.com

1-2 years: 2 weeks 3-4 years: 3 weeks 5-7 years: 4 weeks 8-9 years: 5 weeks 10+ years: 6 weeks

-- Pat Hardesty Malone Advertising, Inc.

Kathi,

Congratulations on having an employee in this business that has stuck with you for 15 years. That says much about your company. We increase paid vacation with the same milestones that you listed with the option to sell days or weeks back to the company. This gives the employee options to take the time or sell the unused time back for a mini-bonus.

Joan N. Barnes, M.I.R.M. President Marketing Specifics, Inc.
www.marketingspecifics.com

We have the exact same policy for paid time off, but it makes no distinction between vacation and sick/personal time off. Employees can also take unpaid time off if they run out of PTO.

We are a company of 10 with the majority of people having been employed for less than 5 years but with a three over 10.

Your employee's request sounds reasonable to me, but I'm very interested in what other firms offer.

Thanks!

Kirsti Scott

One thing which should be noted for California firms (and this could apply to some other states also): If you move from separate vacation and sick time to the PTO concept, then ALL time is treated as if it were vacation, i.e., you can't take any unused back at the end of the year and all unused must be paid out on employee termination. (With sick pay neither of those is true.)

Brent A. Byrd C&P Consultant