Vacation. 1-days vs weeks

[LD1]

Kinda a puzzling question that I though maybe someone would have more insight on than me.

Everywhere I have worked so far, once you have two or more weeks vacation you can take time off 1-day at a time. But must use at least 1 week all in a row.

Where I am now, I get 80hrs vacation, and 24hrs floating paid time off. Floaters must be taken in 8hr blocks, vacation in 10 hr blocks. So basically 8 days vacation and 3 days floating time off. (even though we work 12 hr shifts).

There has always been the rule on the books that you must take 1-week (40hrs) consecutively, and the remaining 4 days can be taken a day at a time. MY question is WHY?

Again, it has been this way at several other places I have worked. But have never understood it. And when asking, the only answers I ever get is "its in the handbok", or "thats the policy" etc. But no logical reason at all. Its 4 days off and 40hrs pay no matter when I take them. ITs not like we are gaining something (other than some flexibility) by taking them a day at a time.

Any of you guys in an administrative role have a similar policy and know what is the benefit for the company of doing such.

With my schedule, working 4, off 4, work 4, etc. Taking a week at a time is 12 days off. As nice as that sounds, I would run out of things to do. And I dont take "vacations". Plus, it makes everyone else in the shop suffer. It either leaves them short handed for a whole week (instead of just a day here and there), or it makes someone else cover me for an entire week (possibly working 12 in a row).

Again, I understand its the policy and has been at several places I have worked. But it is just one of those things that makes no sense to me and I'd like to try to understand why.

 

[davesl708]

The reasons are several. One- easier for management to schedule work around. 2. less disruption of work schedule as you are gone fewer periods during the year. 3. Only taking a few days at a time does not let you relax. It can take 3-5 days before you de-stress from work.

 

[k0ua]

I can't help much, (I am no exactly management either) I have 160 hours vacation plus 40 personal hours plus 56 sick. They bridged all of my time when I was hired back.. No restrictions on how you take it as long as the manager will approve you taking off. I always took it a day or two at a time thru the year and saved a bunch for the Christmas and New years timeslots. I can understand any kind of Manufacturing plant wanting you to take it in a consecutive manner. It would be a lot easier to get someone to fill in for you once or maybe twice a year instead of just for a day at a time. Some plants shut down and everyone takes all of their vacation at once. Zenith was that way.

 

[LD1]

The reasons are several. One- easier for management to schedule work around. 2. less disruption of work schedule as you are gone fewer periods during the year. 3. Only taking a few days at a time does not let you relax. It can take 3-5 days before you de-stress from work.

1. No one schedules around us. Its the maintenace dept. We have 4 people per crew, and must have at least 3 before someone is called in. So me missing a day, life goes on and nothing changes. If someone is already off, or a second person wants off, its up to us to get a replacement. So no management scheduling issues

2. The "periods" that I would be gone wouldnt be any different. Just a few "shorter" periods here and there

3. I have 4 days in a row off, then work 4 in a row. SO if I take a single day off, that means I now have 5 in a row off (most likely) since I work nights and 12hrs, it is unlikely anyone takes a middle day off

 

[davesl708]

Of course there is always just because management wants to.

 

[k0ua]

Of course there is always just because management wants to.

It could be, even though LD1's department it would not hurt a thing, but if they let them do it, then the other departments where it would matter would complain, "well hey the maintenance depart does it"

 

[Parkanzky]

I've only worked a few places, but I've never seen that before.

Every place I've worked gives you your vacation time in hours and allows you to use it in four hour increments (So you can take half days). Policy says that vacation days require approval at least 24 hours in advance (although that isn't enforced in the department I work in).

At my last two employers, hourly employees get their vacation time and also accrue "comp days." Comp days are meant to be there for unplanned absences like illness or a family emergency. They get one for every thirteen weeks, or four a year. Those have to be taken as full days.

Last year my wife and I took three weeks of vacation to travel southern europe. This year, we plan to use our vacation a little at a time by making four or five day weekends for taking a number of shorter trips. I don't know how I'd feel about being told how to spend my vacation time.

 

[aczlan]

That seems odd to me, I have never had such a rule, I could always take time off when I wanted (with my managers approval).

Aaron Z

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I can take it in .1 hr increments, or 6 minutes at a time minimum.

 

[davesl708]

I can take it in .1 hr increments, or 6 minutes at a time minimum.

Ok I'll bite on this one. Why would anyone want to take six minutes for vacation?

 

[Will_C]

My fiancé works in a bank. She has to take one consecutive week every year. The management reason is that it is to catch anybody that may be involved in financial irregularities-being out a week would not allow anyone to "cook the books" or do anything to cover their tracks

Will

 

[aczlan]

Ok I'll bite on this one. Why would anyone want to take six minutes for vacation?

If you use vacation time for personal time, you could be leaving 6 minutes early to get to an appointment?

Aaron Z

 

[aczlan]

My fiancé works in a bank. She has to take one consecutive week every year. The management reason is that it is to catch anybody that may be involved in financial irregularities-being out a week would not allow anyone to "cook the books" or do anything to cover their tracks

I have heard of that and it makes sense for someone like that. Not so much for the guys in maintenance though...

Aaron Z

 

[brain55]

Interesting, I've taken a full week off for vacation 3 times in my life. Once in 1991 to make some amends, then in 2000 for my honeymoon, and then in 2010 for our 10 year anniversary. All the other times I've either taken single days here and there or long weekends. I even had one employer that would pay me to not take vacation.

Brian

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Never dealt with a lot of silly rules on taking my time off. I had 4 weeks vacation, 12 days sick leave, 3 personal days and about 25 days of holidays and whatnot. Used them pretty much when I felt like it.

 

[caver]

Our sick leave and vacation got lumped together on our last contract. I think we have to take vacation in 1 hour increments or more. We have some stupid
rules about requesting time off. If the rules aren't met then it is called a PTO emergency and you get dinged on it. I take three weeks off every year and do
a camping trip out west. At the end of that run I start to miss my home but not work.
The carry over rules changed this year too. We can only carry over 180 hours of PTO......<<<<boy that will screw up somebody's search for tractor pto...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Most wouldnt, but they can. If you dont make your 80 hrs in 2 weeks you take vacation time. im not in a factory, so time is very flexible, 10 hrs one day, 6 the next is ok within reason of your work you need to get done. we have core hrs everyone is supposed to be there, but again they are flexible.

 

[JimRB]

Where I work my boss out of the blue said I and others cannot take more than 5 day in a row off. Really screws up my summer vacation as I go bicycle riding in Colorado and used to take a few day in Denver to acclimate and goof off before heading up into the mountains. The south side office manager said "If the person has the hours they can take them." Two weeks in row or 2 days in a row. Granted that I am a one person IT department, sometimes me being out of touch is a challenge. Next year my house will be paid off. I might go visit friends across the Atlantic pond. I suspect I will be out of touch as long as I am away and they will have to make do. I do give them a name of someone to call in case of disaster. Of course someone on call never has the intimate details of the phone system, 3 servers, routers ... They just have to do a wee bit of guessing and assuming. I really do need to update my run over by a bus technology guide.

One person takes Thursdays off. She has been around 10 years and tends to use her vacation time on Thursdays instead of going on a long vacation.

 

[paulharvey]

It sounds odd to mandate a week off. Every where I've worked, if you wanted a week off, you had better let them know At Least 3 months ahead of time, 6 months would be better. I normally try to only use a day or two around holidays to make a 3 or 4 day weekend into a 5 or 6. 3 days off before Thanksgiving and you've got 9 straight days off.

We are warned that every year there is a chance we will shut down from Christmas eve to Jan-2. We get Christmas and new years day paid off, but you have to have PTO to cover the rest.

When if left the county, I had 96 hours of vacation that they had to pay me for; and 400 hours of sick time that just was lost. We got 4 hrs sick and 4 hours vacation per 2 weeks. If you took 5 or more sick days in a year you got wrote up (excluding FLMA)

 

[ustmd]

The minimum 1 week off policy is to force you to use your PTO. In addition to some of the other reasons already mentioned:

1. The company could be truly interested in your well being and wants you to take at least 1 week away from work per year for mental health reasons.

2. Depending on the structure of your company and the state laws, unused PTO time is a liability for a company--like an unpaid bill that could come due at any time. Consequently, the company must hold an accrual (cash in the balance sheet) for the liability. In a large company, this can tie up a lot of cash very quickly (ex 1000 employees, average salary of $1500/week, with 1 week PTO = $1.5 million). By requiring employees to take PTO and limiting carry over PTO, the company can minimize the amount of the accrual.