<p>My 2010 grad has been working for a <em>nameless</em> company for over 18 months. I know he has taken dribs and drabs of vacation time here and there. He did have a 6 week health-related LOA a year ago. I believe he technically earns 15 days of vacation annually.</p>
<p>He also works 10-12 hour days and it’s push push push all the time. He occasionally works weekend days as well. He is relatively well paid – and on salary.</p>
<p>He wants to take a week – 5 days – to go to Europe and visit a friend stationed in Italy. His immediate supervisor said it would “look bad” if he took 5 days, bookended with weekends. The supervisor wants him to take 3 days plus the following weekend. </p>
<p>By the way, he vented to me. I think it’s unreasonable to not be “allowed” to take a week’s earned vacation with proper notice. He talked to me about it … so I am checking my reaction with you-all. </p>
<p>His supervisor sounds unreasonable. I’d start looking around for a job where employees are allowed to and encouraged to use their earned vacation. I’d also encourage my kid to take off the time he’s earned. </p>
<p>What happens to his unused vacation? Do other employees use theirs? S is only allowed to save and roll over a certain amount of vacation from his job, the rest is lost if not used or given to the leave bank for others. </p>
<p>S enjoys using the vacation and comp time he earns. He was hired in 2010 and had been on the job for 3 years. His supervisor is written up if the employees don’t use their vacation and comp time. </p>
<p>It’s a case of an unreasonable supervisor. He might want to run it by HR if he thinks he can do so without it getting back to his boss. The supervisor’s position is not illegal, however. Just very unfortunate. One of the first companies for which I worked (as a young lawyer) was that way about vacation. It was viewed as some sort of weakness to actually take vacation! Fortunately, my current company encourages vacations and personal pursuits!</p>
<p>It depends on what his job is - if he’s part of a team working on a project with an upcoming deadline, or he works in a seasonal business in which this is the busy season, it may be unreasonable in that culture to take a vacation right now, no matter what the length. His boss may be trying to compromise to let him do something out of the norm. Or his boss may be an idiot. Without knowing the industry and the company culture, it is hard to say. </p>
<p>It really depends on if others are vacationing the same time, is it the busy season, is it difficult to run the department without him? Not an excuse, just some thoughts. I strongly encourage all my employees to take every second of their leave. I don’t allow rollover because I feel it’s important that people take time away, not to mention it then could build up to where people are gone way too long.</p>
<p>As a manager it is a pain in the neck to deal with time off. No matter how politically incorrect it sounds, maternity leave can be a pain too. But it’s part of the job as manager to figure out how to get the job done with key personnel gone. </p>
<p>What is the protocol for requesting time off? What if he just put in his dates and see what happened? </p>
<p>It really depends on the job. It isn’t necessarily an HR issue. It sounds to me like the supervisor is either telling him he can’t spare him for a whole week or that the culture of the company is such that people don’t take a whole week off. If he doesn’t like that culture, he needs to think about working elsewhere. </p>
<p>My 2013 grad probably wouldn’t take a week off as work needs to be done and his projects can’t afford him to take a week. </p>
<p>While it may sound like its the supervisor that is being unreasonable. It’s also possible that he/she is telling your DS the truth. DH has worked for a number of companies over the years and at most of them taking a week off with bookend weekends would have been frowned on for someone who has only been at the company for 18 months…
DH has been at his current company for 10 years and he wouldn’t even so that. So it depends on the company. Maybe your DS could the 5 days around 1 weekend instead. </p>
<p>Good grief! is my reaction, as an employer. We encourage our employees to take proper vacations–at least a week at a time, preferably a little longer–because they come back to work refreshed and excited about their work. (After two years, we give 20 paid days a year that can be used for vacation or sick days.)</p>
<p>However, I encourage other employers to maintain attitudes like this. It makes it easier to hire their best employees away from them. It also explains why sometimes our employees take pay cuts to come to work for us. </p>
<p>My MIL used to admonish us about working “too hard” by saying “Don’t let them do that to you”. Momx and I used to chuckle about it saying she doesn’t realize that we are them.</p>
<p>I’d be cautious about insisting on the time off. Going to HR would be a very bad thing to do, IMO. The supervisor may be telling the employee that he doesn’t have the “standing” yet to take the desired time off at that time. And there may be others above the immediate supervisor who would be less-than-impressed by the time off decision, with the supervisor’s comments being an attempt to convey that. Essentially he could be saying…“Look, George the big boss isn’t going to like your taking this type of time off, and I’m telling you its not a good idea, and if you insist on doing it, I’m not going to bat for you in a pinch”.</p>
<p>Learning to hear what is actually being said to you is a skill that not everyone has. </p>
<p>I just remembered something I want to insert. It was not my policy but I discovered after a manager left that he discouraged his people from taking vacations and really beat up on them if they used an already paid day off like memorial day or 4th of july to get extra time off. Not at all our values, and no one spoke up about it. So this could just be a rogue manager. </p>
<p>Wow. This makes me sad…some people earn vacation that they can’t take?
I work in a large healthcare system. Salaries are fine but not gaudy; benefits, including paid time off, are excellent. New hires start with 10-15 days, depending on job description/level.
Time off increases incrementally, I have 28 days per year now.
Time must be used by year end or lost. No one I know leaves time on the table.</p>
<p>Of course, we have to coordinate time off around project deadlines and team members plans. But we always get a full week off, usually 2 is doable. Nonsummer requests of 3or 4 2weeks can happen.
Time off is rejuvenating. Glad I work for an employer that embraces that theory.</p>
<p>My suggestion of going to HR wasn’t to complain, but to ask in confidence (and, yes, at my company this would be held in confidence) if this is appropriate and in line with the company’s overall philosophy. There might be an explanation.</p>
<p>Oh boy - hospital time off - lol I’ve never seen people take longer chunks of time off in my life. Trying to get a meeting with several department heads all in attendance is nearly impossible. </p>
<p>From what my kid is telling me, there is an issue with the direct supervisor. Maybe along the lines of a culture clash or simply a personality misfit. He’s said a few other things that I don’t want to quote here that would have me going a bit further than just polishing the resume.</p>
<p>The department manager (also the hiring manager, VP level) seems to be a bit easier to work with and more concerned about morale. I met both the department manager and the CEO, last year when S had his LOA. I have not met the supervisor. And it is quite possible that I am not getting the whole story. </p>
<p>Apparently they’ve been really busy all year and August actually looks slower. They use outsourced HR so there isn’t an actual HR pro in the office. </p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your input. He has not had a true vacation since he started. He was home for the holidays, home for his LOA which involved a lot of recovery time and doctor visits, and he takes an occasional day here and there. He really wants to go to Europe for a week to see his close friend who is serving in the Navy and prepping for SEAL training.</p>
<p>Everyone in my family works in the non-profit world, and this is partially why. I can’t imagine someone being told they can’t take the time they’ve “earned” or can’t attach it to two weekends. S took a job after graduation that probably doesn’t pay the kind of gaudy salaries others toss around here, but he has 17 vacation days which he’s welcome to take, and 10 sick days besides. We all don’t make as much as we could elsewhere. But time is important.</p>
<p>Normally I’d say the mgr was being unreasonable. But perhaps the other employees worked hard to cover during that 6 week LOA and need priority to take their vacations. </p>
<p>A WEEK is “too long”? After the employee has been there more than a year? </p>
<p>This also made me sad: </p>
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<p>Sorry, but this is ridiculous. My company (and many others I know about) give this amount of time, or more, starting right away–you just have to accrue the time in order to use it. Sometimes they’ll even let you borrow against the time in advance if you have a good reason.</p>
<p>It’s no wonder our country lags behind the rest of the developed world in terms of happiness and quality of life. </p>
<p>At my former job, the auditors insisted that employees take all their paid vacation time. It enabled them to be able to review the books to make sure employees with specific financial responsibilities weren’t cooking the books, and it was a way to evaluate the cross-training of other folks who filled in for others’ roles during vacations. Good way to see if the procedure manual reflects reality when someone who doesn’t normally do the job has to step in and work from those instructions!</p>