How Much Vacation Time Do You Get?

[newholidayx2]

at 5yrs we get 3wks, at 10yrs we get 4wks - Ive been there almost 7yrs fulltime
This will be the first summer Im taking all 3wks during the summer - 2wks for WDW and 1wk for NH beaches
We also get 2 personal days which Im using to go camping July 4th wknd for 4nights
we also get 3wks sick time which can be used discretely

 

[nowellsl]

I get 24 vacation days, 12 sick/personal days and 10 paid holidays. Between the sick and vacation I have about 1200 hours accumulated. When I retire I will be paid for what I have saved. I take off about 5-6 days a year for Disney. We usually only go for long weekends.

 

[iankh]

I managed to negotiate 3 weeks in my first year. There are 3 personal days, and 6 sick days.

For Renate_do it is very typical in the US to start with 2 weeks vacation for the first week, and then after 4 or 5 years get an additional week.

Personal days are days that can be taken at any time. The difference between personal days and vacation days is that if you leave your job, or the company lets people go, by law, they have to pay you for unused vacation time you have earned, and do not have to pay for personal days that have not been used.

On another note, regarding pay for overtime. That depends on your position. If you are an hourly employee, you are typically entited to overtime (although some companies will give time off in its place), if you are a salary employee typically you do not get paid overtime. It is not unusual at all for me to work 60+ hours a week.

I worked in the UK for about 4 years on a project, and I remember that suddenly my vacation time shot up to 4 weeks, plus all of the bank holidays. It was great.

 

[disney junky]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[flexsmom]

At my company, "personal days", are paid days to be used for vacation, illness, or any other reason. Also, the company is obligated to cash out the balance of an employees personal days when/if they leave the company. It's pretty clear from this thread that there are many different definitions associated with our "time off days"!

Doctor P - gee, remind me not to go into your line of business! So other than the week between Christmas and New Years, you get NO paid time off? Are you able to take unpaid time off?

 

[Tennesotans]

I get 1.5 days per month (18 days per year). Ten holidays and no overtime.
This is the most generous vacation policy I've had in my 20 year career.
My wife is self employed (no paid time off, but pleeenty of flexibility given
enough warning).

Interesting thread -- (DoctorP -- I hope you LOVE your job, that's tough
vacation policy...)

 

[tinkerbell of winter]

I'm actually not sure how much vacation I get in a year, i'm fortunate since I work three 12 hour shifts a week, and we do self scheduling, so often I end up with a week off just because of that is how i've scheduled myself. I think we probably get three weeks of vacation if I were to actually figure it out. This vacation I am using 36 hours (I was only going to take 24 but I figured i'd want the first night back from vacation off) of vacation time, and I should have at least 74 hours remaining. I think we get a day every two weeks, i'm not sure though.

 

[ArRzrbk]

I get 4 weeks plus 3 Personal Days - been with company for 8 years. To start, I got 2 weeks plus the 3 additional days. My husband has been with the same company 1 1/2 years, and he gets 2 weeks plus the three days.

We use almost all our vacation time to go home and visit our family back in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Alabama. This is our first trip "home" to Disney, and we are using 3 1/2 days. My guess is, at the most, we'll be using 4 - 5 days per year for Disney - at least for a while.

 

[dizplanner]

At my company, we get Consolidated Annual Leave (CAL) which is combined vacation, sick leave and personal time. The policy has this funky chart where you get 0-40 hours your first calendar year and 80-120 hours in the second year, depending on when in the year you start. 3 to 5 years is 120 hours, 160 hours the next two years, then add 8 hours every other year up to 200 hours for 15 years or more. You can carry over up to 120 hours to the next year and can get paid for the next 40 hours. If you have more than 160 hours left at the end of the calendar year, you loose the excess.

I actually got the full three weeks when I started (I started in January, so was eligible for 1 week the first year and 3 the second year, so they gave me two extras weeks my first year as a negociating tool.) I've only been here for two years, so am still at 3 weeks.

We also get 9 paid holidays, 2 of which are floating and can be used whenever you wish.

At my husband's company, they get 15 days for 0-4 years, 20 days for 5-10 years, for 11-15 years it adds a day per year, for 16-24 years it adds a half day per year and it is 30 days for 25 years and up. Since my husband has about 22 years, he gets 28.5 days. Their time is called Flexible Time Off (FTO) and also includes vacation, sick, and personal time. He gets 11 paid holidays, with one of them floating.

The real problem comes when you want to actually use your vacation. Being allowed to take two weeks in a row is unusual. At my work we are currently inplementing a new ERP system (software) and I am in the IT department. Originally my boss blocked about 6 months around the scheduled go live date where you could not take more than a day or two at a time (long weekends only). Since the schedule has moved around, he has backed off from this. So I am taking a week in July (Mexico not WDW), but my planned trip to WDW in early December is in doubt. I had originially planned it before the schedules changed and now it looks like the go live will fall such that the trip won't be allowed. So far I only have my DVC room reserved. I was waiting on airfare and now will not book air fare until I have a better answer when the new go live date is. I'm also hoping to go to WDW in March 2006 during the kids spring break. Should be OK.

At my husband's work, the problem he has is the some managers don't let you actually use your vacation - it is always a "critical time". They are in such reactionary management that everything is a crisis. Fortunately his new manager is more reasonable, given reasonable notice he can take a week off. Again, taking two weeks at a time would be a stretch. On the other hand, he is getting so feed up at work that he said, "Plan the vacations when you want. I'm taking them and they can fire me if they want."

We both have exempt positions - translated to "high price slaves". While 40 hours is the nominal working hours, you are not paid for extra hours and they are often expected.

Sometimes I envy the Eurupeon countries for their vacation policies and acceptance of actually taking a reasonable vacation.

 

[jenny2]

Well, my company gives 3 weeks of vacation per year for the first 5 years of service, and 4 weeks per year after that (I've been here 8 years). We also get 11 paid holidays, 3 paid personal days and unlimited (within reason) paid sick days. DH is self-employeed, so he's got "unlimited" unpaid vacation, lol!

We spend about 2 1/2 weeks per year at WDW.

 

[shawty2]

Hi from the UK:

Interesting to get the insight into how you get your holdidays. Here in the UK we generally get more time off. I have been with my current company for 10 months and get 26 days per year with 10 statutory days. Of these 226 days I have to take 7 days at Christmas to make a 2 week break (the whole company closes down) and 4 at Easter to make a 6 day break (excluding weekends).

This really helps with our time at WDW with the travelling jet lag recovery etc.

DW gets 28 days per year plus statutory days, plus she can add up all hours worked over her basic and get the time off (it is even written into her company policy).



Heading home to the VWL for our silver wedding in October

 

[wtpclc]

I've been here going on 7 years. I get 3 wks + 3 days PTO (paid time off, vacation, sick ...). The 3 days are from when we used to have separate vacation and sick time. I get 6 holidays. That's inducstry standard for my world. I do have to worry about the billable thing too, although, they typically compensate for PTO when calculating that. Very hard to take more than a week at a time, though.

 

[married@wdw]

I'm maxed out for my company with 4 weeks vacation plus 3 personal days. Of that, this year I'll spend 13 days -- wish is was more but my mom talked me into a Carnival Cruise for a week. DH gets one week less than I do, so atleast the cruise evens us out for this year.

 

[OneMoreTry]

I can take as much as I want, but can't afford to take too much. We have to spend some of the time taking my daughter up to Cleveland Clinic. We also like to do ski and beach vacations (HH). Our main limitation is SCHOOL. And we'll have kids in school for another 10 years.

 

[lllovell]

Lets see...my company its 2 weeks til 5 years...then its 15 days - then at 12 years - its 20 days.

This is in addition to 10 sick/personal days and 10 holidays.

Honestly, I had to look it up because I never keep track. The hand book for us didnt even come out until this year (because of a bad track record of a new employee) so its always been "if you get your job done, take off when you want" and for me it still is.

Last year, we spent 22 days in Orlando - 15 of those at WDW the rest with a sister that lives there.

So far this year, 3 days at Coronado Springs, 6 days coming up Sunday at OKW, 3 Star Wars weekend days and 6 days planned at SSR in December. (I dont know if we will work in more, but it certainly isn't out of the question )

 

[DeeDeeDis]

In July will be 10 years at full time (13 at the same company if you include part time years-which they don't) so thats 4 weeks (20 days) vacation time, plus 4 paid personal days, plus 11 1/2 paid holidays. also need to add in comp time since our budget won't allow for overtime pay which averages me about another 5 vacation days per year. Sick days are accured monthly and are not subtracted from any of the above mentioned benefits.

0 to 5 years - 2 weeks
5 to 10 years - 3 weeks
10 to 20 years - 4 weeks
20 plus years - 5 weeks

about 25 of these days each year are spent at WDW since we became members

 

[beagle744]

I get 4 weeks vacation, 5 personal days, 9 state legal holidays. I can rollover unused vacation each year into the next year for use but it is lost after the second year.

After 11 years, I can bank up to 40 hours of unused vacation into an account which never expires. I can use this bank as needed or get paid cahs equivalent upon retirement.

I also earn 8 hours of sick time each month which can accumulate with no caps or expiration.

I use 1 week at Disney or elsewhere, 1 week for visiting family, the rest for short trips or when the kids are home sick or have no school.

 

[JimC]

5.8 weeks half at DVC and half at MVC resorts.

As another poster indicated we (U.S.) tend to get much less PTO than UK, EU or Japan.

 

[idratherbeinwdw]

Five weeks vacation a year (actually 26 days, so it's really five weeks and one day). 3 of those weeks are spent at 3 different WDW off-season trips, the other two weeks I always take in the summer (out of choice, not a work mandate). The summer weeks we usual do day trips close to home. I live only 30 minutes by car or train from Manhattan, so there's never a lack of things to keep occupied.

I also get 20 sick days and 6 legal holidays.

 

[Campmomfl]

we are very lucky, we take about 9 - 10 weeks a year vacation time together. We have 2 daughters that are 11 and 8 and we have been doing this since they are 1. We take 5-6 weeks in the summer, 2 at Christmas time 1 at easter and a few long weekends in between that. We go to disney about every 6 to 8 weeks!!!! We love it!!!!