21–30 of 57 posts
What I think is more important than vacation time is the ability to take time off for a doc appt., dentist appt., go see the kids play at school, take a walk around, because you're sick. Also, freedom from incompatible work environments would be nice. It is way too noisy where I work. At the very least they should provide nice ($300-400) noise cancellation headphones without me having to beg.
What I think is a more interesting ideas is this: minimum vacation time. You must take at least X vacation days / weeks per year. I think that would be the best of both worlds and avoids the psychology wherein no vacation is had, which is toxic
FDIC says it is also a good internal control policy - force people to take a 2 week vacation as a means to mitigate fraud. http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/1995/fil9552.html
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that would work. When we set up our company handbook, we had to include an actual number of vacation days, even though we have an minimum-number-of-days policy. I think Trinet (HR-as-a-service) made us.
While I haven't researched this a ton, I've heard conflicting opinions about whether or not you must have a vacation policy in your handbook. This may also be a state-by-state requirement meaning TriNet optimizes for the blanket, you must have one, stance. Does anyone have a citation proving this one way or another?
Outsourcing partners will require it for similar reasons, but also because it makes their lives a lot easier when they handle it for you.
Like most things in business, the problem isn't with the policy, it's with management. If you create a culture that frowns upon employees taking vacation time, it won't matter if you give them unlimited vacation or only two weeks, nobody will take it. And if you create a culture that values rested, refreshed, happy employees, the total number of days isn't nearly as important. With that said, when unlimited vacation…
After being on it for a year, I would prefer to go back to the 'guaranteed 12 days a year'
Like most things in business, the problem isn't with the policy, it's with management. If you create a culture that frowns upon employees taking vacation time, it won't matter if you give them unlimited vacation or only two weeks, nobody will take it. And if you create a culture that values rested, refreshed, happy employees, the total number of days isn't nearly as important. With that said, when unlimited vacation…
Do you work for a company with unlimited vacation? While we have 'unlimited vacation', our sick policies went from no tracking to a limited number of sick days per year. After being on it for a year, I would prefer to go back to the 'guaranteed 12 days a year'
What does "as long as you're getting your work done" mean? There's no point in the year when nobody would be happier if you got something done sooner. There's never a time when taking vacation doesn't mean that some work you might have done doesn't get pushed to somebody else, or never done. The point of vacation is that you should be able to relax, but if you're worrying that you're screwing the company by not getting your work done, how can you relax?
Unlimited vacation sounds nice, but in practice it doesn't work.
Like most things in business, the problem isn't with the policy, it's with management. If you create a culture that frowns upon employees taking vacation time, it won't matter if you give them unlimited vacation or only two weeks, nobody will take it. And if you create a culture that values rested, refreshed, happy employees, the total number of days isn't nearly as important. With that said, when unlimited vacation…
Do you work for a company with unlimited vacation? While we have 'unlimited vacation', our sick policies went from no tracking to a limited number of sick days per year. After being on it for a year, I would prefer to go back to the 'guaranteed 12 days a year'
I've also found that once you're in a system, change makes it worse even if it's too a better system. If you go from unlimited to a set amount, you feel like someone has now capped your time and is watching you (even if the cap is so high you would never hit it). If you had a set number of days and they switch to unlimited, you feel like now you don't have a guaranteed amount of vacation. The loss aversion is really strong.
What I think is a more interesting ideas is this: minimum vacation time. You must take at least X vacation days / weeks per year. I think that would be the best of both worlds and avoids the psychology wherein no vacation is had, which is toxic
>>avoids the psychology wherein no vacation is had, which is toxic Define vacations, if its synonymous with going away(traveling) to some other place, I would say vacations are first world luxuries. Especially in the US, its easier for your guys because the basic thing required to travel namely food, travel prices and hotel accommodation are relatively cheaper. Also international travel is easy since you almost get V…
If you are so poor (or run your own still fragile business), that you can not take afford to take a few days or weeks off, then this obviously doesn't apply to you.
"Unlimited vacation" translates to "no vacation". What does "as long as you're getting your work done" mean? There's no point in the year when nobody would be happier if you got something done sooner. There's never a time when taking vacation doesn't mean that some work you might have done doesn't get pushed to somebody else, or never done. The point of vacation is that you should be able to relax, but if you're worr…