Vacation days from work

I’m curious as to how much paid vacation people are getting from work. I was talking with a friend yesterday and after 5 years at the same job he was at 3 weeks paid vacation and not much if any slack on taking more time off even if unpaid.

The thought of only taking 3 weeks time off in a year makes me cringe. How can you live a healthy life like that? This year by mid March I will have missed 3 weeks work with more weeks to come later in the year.

The U.S. is way behind the rest of the world for paid vacation time and taking vacations in general.

I’m at 288hrs/yr. can roll over/save 320hrs in your bank. I’m working in healthcare for 13 yrs.

3 weeks would be very hard.

I was laid off about 2 years ago due to some restructuring. At the time, I had 6.5 weeks + most normal holidays off (I was there 13 years). I’m on job #2 since, and 3 weeks is pretty normal. Of the friends that were laid off with me, I’ve heard anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 weeks, with 3 very common (mostly large pharma and med device companies).

Now, I have 3 weeks, normal holidays, a few “floaters”, and “unlimited” sick time. It sucks, but I get paid pretty well and have good flexibility, so it could be worse. I am much more selective with my vacation days now, though.

MnPat1 wrote:

The thought of only taking 3 weeks time off in a year makes me cringe. How can you live a healthy life like that? This year by mid March I will have missed 3 weeks work with more weeks to come later in the year.

The U.S. is way behind the rest of the world for paid vacation time and taking vacations in general.

I think three weeks is pretty good for five years. I am at 25 years and get 25 days. Your statement of how can I live a healthy life like that is perplexing to me. I have been working full time since I was 17 including while I went to college. Must be a generational thing.

Been at my current job 12 years. I earn 120 hours a year vacation but can carry 51 hours of comp time in a bank. I also only get 1 full weekend of a month and work holidays. I don’t want to hear any complaining.
DT

I’m in year 7 of my main job. I currently have 61 days of PTO banked from my first 6 years. Everything is calculated and run as PTO for us. We don’t have comp time, sick days, funeral leave, etc. We are given 12 paid days a year to use as we see fit, and have an incentive of gaining two additional days if we use less than 2 total for the year. We can max our PTO banked days at 120 days. After that point, we’re paid out $150 per day over 120 into a Healthcare Savings Plan.

In 7 years I’ve missed exactly 11 days off, 2 which were for an illness, 6 for a honeymoon and wedding, and 3 for dad-to-be appointments.

MnPat1 wrote:

The thought of only taking 3 weeks time off in a year makes me cringe. How can you live a healthy life like that? This year by mid March I will have missed 3 weeks work with more weeks to come later in the year.

OK, so how much vacation do you get, after how many years at the company? What field?

HRG

after 14yrs, Im at 160hrs (can carry over up to 80hrs from the previous year) plus 4 floating days I can use whenever, sick time is capped at 500hrs, next year I get 40hrs more of vacation but that will be capped at that point.

Early on, I carried over 80hrs of vacation, so I will have that banked plus everything I get each year going forward. That said, I carry over 80hrs each year just in case of some type of emergency

It would be tough starting over at 80 or 120hrs at a new job, but if I had no choice, I would make the most of it

Self employed I get all the time off I want

Unpaid of course

I feel I have it pretty good. 22 days (176 hours) per year. 22 days is also the max you can have “in the bank.” We also have unlimited sick time and flexible work arrangements to “work from home.” If I want to spend my evening getting all my next day’s work done I can “work” from the boat the next day, no questions asked. If I quit I get paid out for my entire balance, but it gets taxed as a fringe benefit so not great.

I’ve been working for the same place since 2004. It was 22 days the day I was hired and it will be 22 when I retire.

I work for the federal government and virtually no one is more generous with their paid time off. It’s one of the primary reasons I work there. They still classify time off separately as sick and vacation time off too, which doesn’t seem to be the norm anymore. And you wonder why the government works so slow.

I worked at my previous job for 28 years and when I left I had 5 weeks. 11 paid holidays.
now as a union rep I don’t get any so called vacation time but da boss is pretty leinent on letting guys have days off, paid. in 2 years i’ll always be on vacation.

literally it depends on where you work. it varies and most my shops I represent…..you gain more vacation the longer your there.
PTO or ETO stinks in my opinion.

what I read here is pretty normal for what I see!!!!

its never enough if you ask me. in the trades for 25 plus years and I feel it should be more based on what some professions get. Im at about 3 weeks a year and been somewhat ok with it. every contract I bring it up and guys rather go after the $$$ on the paycheck. Im pretty lucky as we can take time off whenever we want really, just got to make sure we have someone to cover during the busy times. And if they say no, I do it anyway if I need to, they can’t do much about it. right now it is sloooooooow and I am loving every minute of it, tho it would be nice to use more banked up PTO for short weeks.

gimruis wrote:

I work for the federal government and virtually no one is more generous with their paid time off. It’s one of the primary reasons I work there. They still classify time off separately as sick and vacation time off too, which doesn’t seem to be the norm anymore. And you wonder why the government works so slow.

And your last sentence is a complaint? You should appreciate what you have.

Teacher
4 personal, 6 sick are paid
June,july,aug off less about 2 weeks.
Would not do the job for the pay w/o june,july and aug off.
The time with my son is too important. 730 to 330 set hours, i would never go back to 12 to 14 jr days and not being able to raise my son.
America has a big problem with the lack of QUALITY time spent with family.

In my last corporate job and in Mrs Grouse’s last two jobs, we both have no set limits for PTO. This is becoming fairly common. All time off has to be approved by your manager, but there aren’t hard hour limits, etc.

In practical terms, I don’t think we took any more vacation time than we would have if we’d both had 4 weeks. It just eliminated all the accounting hassles of counting hours, carryovers, etc. It is nice not to have to figure out everything down to the last day.

This kind of arrangement is becoming more common because it gets vacation balance liabilities off the company’s balance sheet.

Grouse

Deuces wrote:

Self employed I get all the time off I want

Unpaid of course

X2

I’m currently at 3 weeks with 10 years working for a municipality, I’ll get 4 weeks after 11 years which will be November of 2020. I also get 3 floaters/personal days and earn 8 hours a month of sick time to a maximum of 960 hours which I lose all unused at retirement! But I get a single policy of paid health care until I reach 65, which can be at the age of 55 if I was financially capable, I plan to retire at 60 in 4 years. I will have 22 years of union pensions and 15 years in the WRS.

Unlimited PTO for me but I’m in sales leadership at a pretty fast growing tech company. It basically means take what time you want but you need to be available as needed.

I probably take a legitimate 5 weeks each year but I bring my laptop with me and am generally available at all times. There are 4 days a year for a fly in trip I’m totally unplugged.

I don’t mind as this is becoming pretty common. Data shows people with unlimited PTO tend to work the same or more than those without. People like the flexibility though.

One thing that is very important to my wife and I (she works in a similar circumstance as I do) is to take a couple hours each day unplugged. That’s usually dinner time til bedtime for our daughter.

My last job I was at for 5 years and was getting 5 weeks vacation plus 5 floating holidays.

That was the only thing keeping me there.

My current job I’ve been at for less than a year I get 2 weeks plus 5 floating holidays.

Zip….Zero….Nada

No PTO.

No paid holidays.

No sick pay.

I’m “allowed” 15 days of UNPAID vacation a year (I can take more though, and if we’re slow or have weather/cold days they don’t count)

It’s the one big downside of being hourly/union with my company.

I used to be salaried and non-union for the same company in the exact same position, it was 15 days PTO after five years. 20 after 10 years with that as the max.

At the end of the year however, I make more money and work fewer days being Union. It was my company’s idea, not mine lol

I work hourly, so I accrue my PTO with each hour worked. I get .0577 PTO hours per hour I’m on the clock plus some bonuses for working straight nights. I work 3-12 hr shifts a week with a scheduled week off every month. PTO gives gives me another 5 weeks on top of that. Plus plenty of sick/mental health time you’re essentially expected to use. Pretty good gig.

Hot Runr Guy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>MnPat1 wrote:</div>
The thought of only taking 3 weeks time off in a year makes me cringe. How can you live a healthy life like that? This year by mid March I will have missed 3 weeks work with more weeks to come later in the year.

OK, so how much vacation do you get, after how many years at the company? What field?

HRG

I am self employed for 22 years now. Not one day of paid vacation ever. I usually take 6 or 7 weeks off for vacation a year.

No paid time off, no sick days, no vacation. I’m classified as full-time seasonal working union as an operating engineer (I pave highways). Been doing it for 19 years and it’s perfect for me. Mid April through November, 6 sometimes 7 days a week depending on weather, but this time of year is what I LIVE for. I have a very understanding employer so if I need time off it’s not a problem, but outside of weddings or funerals I don’t miss work. I feel guilty if i’m not there sweating my butt off with the rest of the guys.

I am self employed for 22 years now. Not one day of paid vacation ever. I usually take 6 or 7 weeks off for vacation a year.

Thanks! HRG

I’ve been at my job for just over 12 years. I get 168 hrs a year & can carry over 40. The only problem is that I’m already capped.. We get 4 weeks +1 day after 10 yrs. (after 2 yrs its 1wk +1 day, 3yrs is 2wks +1 day, 5yrs 3wks +1 day) Nothing after 15, 20, 25 yrs… No sick days either.. With no call-ins or tardy days we can earn 3 extra days. Each tardy/call-in you lose one of those bonus days. With 2 kids at home and a wife whose job isn’t as flexible, I usually get stuck at home with the kids on sick days & what not. I’ve yet to get any bonus days but it is what it is..

Question before I answer:

Are we counting time on the computer while at work as PTO??

After 3 1/2 years. 3 weeks plus 52 half days.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Question before I answer:

Are we counting time on the computer while at work as PTO??

Only if we get to charge back for all the hours that some of us spend getting phone calls and emails that we are required to answer during our time off. In my case I don’t, so no…..I am not counting ‘puter time on IDO…..

33 years at this company and I get 200 hours vacation, 11 paid holidays and accrue sick time at .6hrs a week of service. I can carry over 80 hours of vacation. Sick maxes out at 8 days until you use some and then it accrues again to 8 days. It’s not even close to enough time off. I don’t hate my job, just have better things to do I cannot wait to retire