what is your vacation policy at work?

[Pakey]

We don't get to request when to take vacation. There are specific weeks during the year we are closed, so everyone has vacation at the same time.

This. Our company closes for 3-4 weeks starting mid December. Only my staff (administration) works during production shutdown periods.

 

[msjprincess]

By seniority

We do it in two rounds. They go down the seniority list and everyone picks one week. Then they go back down the list and everyone picks the rest of their weeks. Years ago we used to pick all of our weeks at once. The people on the bottom got whatever was left over. this way everyone gets a chance at getting at least one of the weeks they want. You're allowed to float weeks but you can't if you choose to do that you can't bump someone with less seniority out of a week that they picked

My husband works for he same company in a different department. They're supposed to go by seniority but in reality they just tell their boss when they want off and everyone gets it. The only weeks that they do stick to seniority are major holiday weeks.

 

[tvguy]

Ours is first come, first serve. Only one person in a job classification can be off at a time. As far as "high demand" dates (day after Thanksgiving, etc), you can't have it more than one year in a row even if you are the first to ask, unless no one else asks for that day.

My wife's place talked about not allowing you to have a certain holiday off more than one year in a row. My wife wants just one holiday off each year, Christmas. She works every other holiday. Problem they ran into was the folks who wanted to take Christmas away from her, took most other holidays off too. They didn't want to give up THOSE holidays off, so the whole matter got dropped like a hot potato.
Same issue came up about people assigned to graveyard and weekend shifts. They felt people who had not worked as many graveyard and weekend shifts as they had should be switched with them. Problem was, everyone else had already worked years more of those shifts than they had.

 

[design_mom]

All vacation is "at your manager's discretion to ensure coverage of the department." For the most part, it's first come, first served.

I think "years with the company" would probably come into play in a tie break, but we've all been pretty good about agreeing on things. For instance, in my department (4 people) two of us usually want to take extra time around Christmas and two do not, so it all works out. One year, one of the non-time-takers wanted to attend a family reunion over that time. I had requested first *and* had more seniority, but I agreed to work so she could take the time. That was "fair" because she is usually flexible about her vacation. And I think one of my co-workers would have done the same for me if the situation was reversed.

 

[dis75ney]

First come first serve, with seniority as the tie breaker...

 

[aprilgail2]

If you go by seniority, I would use total time with the company. I don't think seniority should be a consideration for "major" holidays. I would develop some days that are rotating for all members of the department, Thanksgiving and Christmas specifically-this year June, Sally and Frank have first request for days off at Thanksgiving and John, George and Mary have first request off for Christmas. Next year flip those around so June, Sally and Frank have first request off for Christmas. If someone doesn't want to take their time off that week, then go to another system or seniority. For other days off during the year use date requested first then seniority.

Ours is seniority across the board- I get to pick my 5 weeks vacation then the next guy picks his 5 and down the line. My first 10 years there I couldn't hit anything after the beginning of June until after Labor Day. Now I get anything I want. I also didn't have a Christmas off for about the same amount of time- now I take off every Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Fourth of July..sometimes I work the other holidays, other times I don't but its up to me- I have enough seniority I can take off any holiday I want now. I take Christmas week vacation every year and usually 4 weeks in the summertime when the kids are off. There is no rotating anything-you get the time and then you can have off, until then you just suck it up until you have to seniority to get the time off.

 

[Pumbaa_]

a new trend where i work is you get your request in order of performance - the top ranking folks )call center staff) will get their requests first. The lower down the rankings you go, the less standing you have

So refreshing to recognize performance over how long you have been there

 

[Happy Mom2]

In my department the first one to put it on the calendar gets it... period. Only one of us can be out at a time. If several people ask for the same day, it's first come first serve. If you want a day someone else has, it is between you and that person. Our manager does not get involved. As long as the office is covered, she doesn't care.

 

[tasha99]

I used to work at a large call center where everyone was ranked. #1 got first pick, #2 went second etc and days were eliminated from our choices until the last person, who had to take what was left. We all knew our number and it changed every 6 months or so based on a number of performance factors. It worked fine for people in the top 100 or so, but those at the bottom hated it.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I can take my vacation whenever I like, but my boss asks that I provide as much notice as possible.

DH has to bid for his weeks, and it is ALL based on seniority. In late November they distribute a list telling you how many weeks you have and what time to call in. When you call you have 5 minutes to pick your weeks for Jan - Dec of the next calendar year. The first day everybody picks 2 weeks, the next day people with more weeks call again to choose the rest of their time off. This is the first year DH had 3 weeks accrued, so the choices for his 3rd week were pretty slim. They allow 5 or 6 guys to be out each week, though some weeks are blacked out and NOBODY is allowed vacation.

2 guys recently retired. I asked DH if he jumped up and did a happy dance because that moves him up 2 slots in the seniority rankings.

 

[waltsgirl]

Our vacation is scheduled the first 2 weeks of December for the following year. You can request all your days or just a certain portion of it. We fill out forms and number the request by priority 1- ? (you can have many as we can request weeks or just days) Then all the forms are put in order by years of service and the first priority is scheduled for everyone.

We also have a calendar created that has allotted slots for how many people are permitted off for that day. Once that day is filled then you are placed on a wait list. If you are wait listed on your priority then they move to your next priority. It sounds confusing but I have scheduled our department or about 135 people for the last couple years and it actually works really well. There are certain rules such as a week will override a single day. That means even if I have been with the company 30 years, and requested Christmas day, and someone was only there 5 years and requested the whole week and the only day that was not available was Christmas day the 5 year employee would bump the 30 year employee but only if it was the same round.

We do this for our non-exempts and exempt employees.

 

[LSUmom4kids]

Each person has two weeks vacation regardless of how much time they've been at the company. There is no 3 weeks for X many years, 4 weeks for X many years incentive. We each have two weeks and that's all we're going to get even if we spend 20 years at the company. Needless to say that cuts down on the time-off bickering over calendar hogging.

I was hoping that I could find out how many vacation days people earn after x years of service.

My small company offers 2 wks. after 1 year and then after 9 yrs., we earn 3 weeks of vacation. Now I've been here 22 1/2 yrs., and was hoping to see if I was justified for asking for another week off? Am I in the minority?

 

[msjprincess]

I was hoping that I could find out how many vacation days people earn after x years of service.

My small company offers 2 wks. after 1 year and then after 9 yrs., we earn 3 weeks of vacation. Now I've been here 22 1/2 yrs., and was hoping to see if I was justified for asking for another week off? Am I in the minority?

My company offers 1 week after 6 months , 2 weeks after 1 year, 3 weeks after 7 years, 4 weeks after 15 and 5 weeks after 20

 

[aprilgail2]

I was hoping that I could find out how many vacation days people earn after x years of service.

My small company offers 2 wks. after 1 year and then after 9 yrs., we earn 3 weeks of vacation. Now I've been here 22 1/2 yrs., and was hoping to see if I was justified for asking for another week off? Am I in the minority?

Vacation time
1 year- 2 weeks
5 years- 3 weeks
10 years- 4 weeks
15 years 5 weeks

Personal days
1 year-4 days
5 years- 5 days
10 years- 6 days
25 years- 7 days

 

[tvguy]

a new trend where i work is you get your request in order of performance - the top ranking folks )call center staff) will get their requests first. The lower down the rankings you go, the less standing you have

So refreshing to recognize performance over how long you have been there

Wow, are there physical ways to track peformance? Total sales, customers handled?
If there is any subjective part of the process, I'd have to say that's the worst system I've heard of. Make the boss made, drop a rank in the vacation pool.
Actually, in my business the best performing people have the hardest time getting vacation, because they are hard to replace or cover for.

 

[Lassie Lynne]

We have blackout weeks that we cannot take a week of vacation. We can ask for a day here, or a day there during this time, but that would be our normal "rest" day (we don't have set schedules - it changes every week).

As for vacation, we have a calander and it is, first come, first served.....although, if two people at the same time decided to take the same day off, it would probably then go by senority, although we are so small in our department, we would just talk it out...or take it outside .

 

[PaulaSB12]

Where I work we get 22 days holiday a year. Which is not bad as if you book a wednesday and thursday off you are off for the week. I booked 7 days holiday for this coming christmas and that means I will be off from 18th December and returning to work on 4th January (mind you I had to book it in November 2010!). As for who gets it it is strictly first come first served.

 

[mhsjax]

The month of January is open season on scheduling vacation. If there are two people who want the same week, seniority rules. After January closes, then vacations are scheduled on first-come, first-served regardless of seniority.

Holidays are rotated. If you had Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day, etc week this year, you can't get it again for the next five years unless no one else asks for it in January.

Each person has two weeks vacation regardless of how much time they've been at the company. There is no 3 weeks for X many years, 4 weeks for X many years incentive. We each have two weeks and that's all we're going to get even if we spend 20 years at the company. Needless to say that cuts down on the time-off bickering over calendar hogging.

Wow,only 2 weeks no matter how long you have been there, I bet it cuts down on employees too, I wouldn't work for a place that gave that amount of vacation.

 

[golfgal]

At DH's old company you got 2 weeks, earned through the year, for the first year, you could bank 2 weeks. After 3 years you got 3 weeks, after 10 years you got 4 weeks, after 15 years 5 weeks. Everyone also got 10 paid personal days and sick time was at the discretion of your manager.

His company now they have PTO, everyone starts with 17 days of PTO and they add a week every couple years up to 6 weeks.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I have 25 days of PTO (and company-wide holidays), including sick days, which I can use pretty much as I see fit. There are only 4 people (soon to be 5) in my department. My boss and I try to work it out so we don't have off at the same time, but it really depends on the time of year. Some times of year (between Christmas and New Year, summer), it doesn't really matter.

There is no official policy as far as who can take off when. It is up to manager's discretion.