Ideal no. of vacation days per year?

[no1racefan1]

I think 4 weeks should be mandatory.

 

 

In the U.S. most people start a new job with 2 weeks and earn another week every 5 years.

 

 

 

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Eh, I don't know if I'd say most people. My current job is the first one that I started off with 2 weeks; every job before that I had to work there a certain amount of time before earning any PTO at all. I also earn about 3 extra days every 5 years, not a whole week.

 

I currently have about 27 PTO days, but that has to include holidays--11 per year--and sick/personal days. So 16 days for vacation if I never get sick or need any other day off--I call that 2 1/2 weeks because I know I will always have at least a couple of sick days in a year.

 

I think 4 weeks would be the ideal for what we could swing budget-wise at this point in our lives. I like to spend ALL my PTO on vacation! Not necessarily all on cruises though. DH would not go for that!

[rccampbell]

Don't feel badly for us. It's self inflicted. The average U.S. employee who receives paid vacation has only taken about half what they receive in the last year. That's been consistent for a number of years.

Why do people leave thousands on the table? Fear. Fear that if all their vacation time off is used the employer will replace them.

 

The employee doesn't always get a choice as to when or if they can take their vacation. Some may choose not to take it, but most are not always allowed too. Just because they give it to you does not mean you can use it. Spoken from experience.

[Tatka]

I now have 3 work weeks a year. One between Christmas and NY is semiworking when we just have to check emails and phone messages several times a day.

 

We usually spend all vacation and semiworking time on cruises and sometimes I use work weeks to work from cruises, so we lately have 4-5 7-10 dayers per year.

 

As ships wifi becomes better and cheaper we are thinking about possibly more working cruises. Better to work on cruise than in office for sure.

[CPT Trips]

Omg that's crazy!!! I am already planning where to take april 2018-apr 2019 7 weeks allowance. I wouldn't miss a day of my annual leave.

 

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You hail from a more enlightened place. :)

[CPT Trips]

The employee doesn't always get a choice as to when or if they can take their vacation. Some may choose not to take it, but most are not always allowed too. Just because they give it to you does not mean you can use it. Spoken from experience.

 

In that case, your employer didn't really give all that vacation time to you unless you were able to cash it out. Were you? If not, why do Americans put up with that.

[rccampbell]

In that case, your employer didn't really give all that vacation time to you unless you were able to cash it out. Were you? If not, why do Americans put up with that.

 

No, companies do not have to cash it out. In some cases they can let you roll it over to the next year, but anything over 5 days you can lose. In some cases they do not have to give you full lunch or coffee breaks either. Depends on the state you live in.

Americans put up with a lot for the right to work. Things are better for me, but not for everyone.

[swedish weave]

Our system was based on seniority and each employee earned up to 5 weeks vacation time plus sick days and two personal days per year.

 

We allowed them to split their vacation into two parts, but the second part was assigned after all first choices were done.

 

We allowed a certain number from each dept to go each week, so some didn't get their first choice. We did allow swaps within each dept, so that was acceptable to most.

 

I had the dubious "pleasure" of assigning vacations for over 220 people, so I explained how it would work, and I was able to avoid assassination.

[TNcruising02]

I get four weeks vacation each year. My ideal would be six. I also get six sick days each year, but those mostly go unused because I am rarely sick. I can never take off more than 8 days in a row because of my job duties. I would love to do a b2b cruise or visit Europe, but I can't take that much time off at once.

[abaci]

I've always wondered how people afford 4+ weeks off for travel/trips without going into debt? I would love 6 weeks off but probably wouldn't be able to afford to go any place significant and therefore wouldn't use it. I enjoy my job and rarely take any random days off.

 

I work for a bank that requires everyone to take 5 consecutive days off. I get 3.5 weeks of PTO plus 80 hours of sick time and you can only carry over 40 hours with anything more lost. We have been taking one 2-2.5 week vacation and sometime another small week long vacation and I still have to "kill" PTO days many years to get down below 40 hours. When I carry over 40 PTO hours it can be hard and expensive to travel for 4.5 weeks.

 

I'm sure as we get older (currently early 30's) and our 3 year old son grows we will have more disposable income and wish we had more travel time. However, right now we are paying extra on our 15 year mortgage (only debt) and saving a large percentage of our income in an effort to retire in less then 25 years. Maybe some day I will feel like we have the money to spend on trip for all of the PTO time especially as I keep adding more days, but at this stage of life we just aren't there.

[Jenna2407]

Ok i can't believe some of you have to take your annual leave as sick.

I get 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay. I am currently off sick, sadly my mum passed away 6 weeks ago at 49. (I'm 27) i don't feel under any pressure to go back. Have been off since june 1st as she needed a lot of care at the end.

In fact my manager is encouraging of me NOT coming back too soon.

Oh and we also have all our annual leave to take once we come back!

 

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[rccampbell]

Ok i can't believe some of you have to take your annual leave as sick.

I get 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay. I am currently off sick, sadly my mum passed away 6 weeks ago at 49. (I'm 27) i don't feel under any pressure to go back. Have been off since june 1st as she needed a lot of care at the end.

In fact my manager is encouraging of me NOT coming back too soon.

Oh and we also have all our annual leave to take once we come back!

 

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I am so sorry for your loss!! Thank goodness you have a supportive job.

 

In most US jobs, this much time off would not be acceptable, even after the death of a loved one. While they are ill, you can take FMLA which is an unpaid program that protects your job for you. Once the person dies, it 3-5 day bereavement usually and then back to work. Any further time off would require the use of PTO, or vacation time.

As for sick time, always depends on the company too. In our case we get 3 days, but cannot use any of it without a Dr. note, even if one day.

[SRF]

I received 26 days a year, and I could carry over six weeks worth of leave, giving me potentially 56 days of vacation in a year.

 

Hmm, sounds like a Fed employee with over 15 years. :D

 

I get that, plus I get travel comp time. I have earned over 40 days of comp time in a year (a lot of international travel).

[SRF]

Another question: is your PTO your vacation/sick time all rolled up in one pool or do you have 2 different batches? I've had both scenarios. I now have the "one pool" where, if I'm sick and take a day off, that's one less vacation day.

 

Sick leave is separate pool. Earned at a fixed rate for your entire career (13 days per year). And unlimited carry over. And when you retire, you get unused sick leave credited to your time in service for retirement pay purposes.

[Velvetwater]

I guess the best answer is to work for yourself so you can holiday at the drop of a hat.

 

As a teacher in the UK I get 12 paid weeks off a year and then the usual bank holiay days everyone else gets. I don't feel this is enough but thats because as I said above I would prefer to work for myself and not someone else. :)

[geoherb]

Hmm, sounds like a Fed employee with over 15 years. :D

State government with more than 20 years. It was great to start each year with six weeks of vacation sitting there in reserve for me. I watched too many of my co-workers squander their leave. When I was out a lot last summer due to a health problem, I had plenty of sick leave. Even after using a ton of days, I ended up having 11 months credit of sick leave toward my retirement in February. I got paid for the six weeks of vacation I had not used--straight into my 401(k) to avoid having to pay a huge tax on it up front.

 

 

My brother and his wife both work at a place where they get paid time off days--not differentiating between vacation days and sick leave. I think they can carry over some but not as much as I used to do with my sick leave. They still manage to take a couple of cruises a year. They're making up for lost time, having only been taking cruises for the past five or six years.

[sanger727]

Union job in the US. We don't get holidays off so everyone gets 3 weeks of 'holiday' time (10 federal holidays x 8 hours a day x time and a half for working a holiday) + 2-5 weeks of vacation depending on length of service (I get a little under 3) + sick time. So I get a little under 6 weeks of discretionary time. We usually travel 1-2 weeks a year and I use the rest for the occasional day of or carry it over. We have very little control over our off days and schedules so pretty much have to use PTO to make plans with anyone.

 

We have no cap on carry over time. So people are able to accrue serious time balances (if I needed to I could take the next 9 months off with full pay) BUT we have no disability policies. If you are seriously injured or sick you run your time and when it runs out you don't get paid.

 

 

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[gwsster]

Why do people leave thousands on the table? Fear. Fear that if all their vacation time off is used the employer will replace them.

It isn't always fear, sometimes it is an economic decision. In a State Government agency and if you lose your job, vacation hours have to be paid, you lose all sick leave. Many employees will use sick hours before vacation hours to keep reimbursable vacation hours on the book. Employees hook up a sick day to a long holiday weekend to get a few days off.

There is a cap on vacation hours of 16 weeks (640 hours) that can be kept on the books so some hours need to be used to accrue more. Most employees start with a week after a year to start and two weeks after 3 years and 3 weeks after 5 years and 4 weeks after 10 years of service. I love my job and feel that I have enough vacation time to meet needs. My Boss makes sure I get the requested vacation time with enough notice and we respect her usual preferred weeks off during the year. The other good thing is if you have a LOT of vacation time some employee's once a year will "cash out" a week or two so they have $$ to go on a nicer vacation.

[CPT Trips]

I don't view retaining time off that will eventually be paid as "leaving it on the table." To me, that's a savings account.

What is surprising is that it's OK to use sick time when not sick.

[sanger727]

I don't view retaining time off that will eventually be paid as "leaving it on the table." To me, that's a savings account.

What is surprising is that it's OK to use sick time when not sick.

 

 

 

It's not. I know my employer is cracking down on 'sick time abuse' because we have a similar situation - vacation time can be converted to cash and sick can't. Attaching a sick day at the front or back of a weekend is a red flag too. Not a great idea.

 

 

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[gwsster]

I agree, accrued vacation time is like a savings account. Some employees cash it out.

If the employee says they are sick, we can't ask. If they take off more than 3 consecutive days sick, they can be asked to provide a Drs note for release to return to work. I accrue my sick leave, would rather be at work, my boss knows if I call off, I am really sick. Dr. Appt's and Medical tests are considered eligible for sick leave as well as stress. Believe me if sick leave is abused the employee won't be an employee for very long.

 

I don't view retaining time off that will eventually be paid as "leaving it on the table." To me, that's a savings account.

What is surprising is that it's OK to use sick time when not sick.

[Cruise Junky]

I don't view retaining time off that will eventually be paid as "leaving it on the table." To me, that's a savings account.

What is surprising is that it's OK to use sick time when not sick.

 

Wasn't the leaving it on the table comment related to vacation not sick time?

[sanger727]

Wasn't the leaving it on the table comment related to vacation not sick time?

 

 

 

It was, but the poster followed the comment up by saying they were able to keep more vacation time on the books by using sick time when they wanted a day off.

 

 

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[Cruise Junky]

It was, but the poster followed the comment up by saying they were able to keep more vacation time on the books by using sick time when they wanted a day off.

 

 

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Ah, gotcha. Thanks

[SRF]

It depends on your rules.

 

I can carry as much sick leave as I can amass.

 

I can only carry over 240 hours of annual leave over the beginning of the year. Any excess is lost.

 

So I try to avoid using sick leave, and make SURE I use my annual leave to not lose any.

[GUT2407]

Most Aussies get 20 days a year, then after 10 years with the one employer 13 weeks long service leave and two weeks per year thereafter.

 

In Mrs Guts opinion it's not enough.

 

I'm self employed so as a much or as little as work load and money allow.

 

I think two cruises a year is enough, one for 6 months the other for 26 weeks.