Vacation Days / Years Experience

[FancyBear]

For those of you out there working for megacorp, how many vacation days do you have for number of years worked?

I was just made and offer nad I want to know if it is competitive...
18 days vacation plus 4 floating holidays. I have 10 years experience as a Chem Eng.

 

[jIMOh]

20 days on my 10th year (I am on year 11 now).

I had 10 days when I started.
12 days after second year.
15 days after 5th year

plus 2 floating holidays, plus 8 other holidays.

I am maxed out on vacation after 10 years, though (cannot have more than 20 days). In addition vacation is use it or lose it every year- cannot carry it over.

 

[Calgary_Girl]

I'm in Canada and my understanding from talking to my American friends is that we get more vacation days up here, so you can take this with a grain of salt.

At my company, you start with 3 weeks vacation for the first two years and then from years 3 to 10, it's 4 weeks. Between 10 and 20 years, it's 5 weeks. Between 20 and 30 years, it's 6 weeks.

 

[Calgary_Girl]

I'm in Canada and my understanding from talking to my American friends is that we get more vacation days up here, so you can take this with a grain of salt.

At my company, you start with 3 weeks vacation for the first two years and then from years 3 to 10, it's 4 weeks. Between 10 and 20 years, it's 5 weeks. Between 20 and 30 years, it's 6 weeks.

I forgot to add that I also receive 11 paid statutory holidays. A co-worker of mine is leaving the company to go to another one in the same industry - she's getting 4 weeks vacation to start.

 

[Sandy]

For state goverment it doesn't matter how many years of experience you have. Amount of leave is based on years of service.

(Rules are different for appointed positions - then you get a different benefit package)

 

[Sarah in SC]

There's no official policy, but I've been here 3 years and I took two 2 week vacations last year and a few days here and there. I am taking 15 days for Mongolia next year, plus maybe 4-5 other days. I'd say that I probably couldn't take more than 2 weeks or so at a time, but other than that, there wouldn't be much of a limit.
Boss knew I was a traveler when he hired me.

 

[lucija]

At 10 yrs... 24 days + 10 holidays + sick time (as needed)

 

[aaronc879]

"sick time"... what's that?!?

 

[Darryl]

New at my place would be 14 days plus a couple pdays.

 

[Charlotte]

At my Megacorp, it's a mix of both job seniority and years of service that gains you paid vacation days. Everyone gets 10 days sick leave, and approximately 10 holidays per year.

Entry-level - 2 weeks
Mid-level (or entry-level with at least 5 years of service) - 3 weeks
Higher-level (or a lower level with 15 years of service) - 4 weeks
Over 25 years of service - 5 weeks

Charlotte

 

[Goonie]

It was 2 weeks vacation after the 1st year thru year #5. From 6 years thru 12 years was 3 weeks. After 12 years thru 20 years was 4 weeks. Then they added 1 day for every 2 years after that, with a cap of 5 weeks total at 30 years and beyond. Vacation was "use it or lose it" each year.

Sick time was earned 1 day per month, and could be 'banked' with no limit. If you used less than 6 sick days in a year, they gave you 2 extra personal days the next year...and those could be 'banked' as well.

11 paid holidays, plus 1 personal day per year (that personal day was a 'use it or lose' day)

When I ER'd, I turned in 25 vacation days, 45 sick days, 16 personal days, and 5 comp days, for pay! Made for a real sweet last paycheck!

(45 sick days was the cap of what could be turned in for pay. Another 86 sick days was applied to time served for the pension, which added 5 months of service credit.)

 

[EngineeringMyFinances]

My company's vacation
Years of Service / Weeks of Vacation
1-4 / 2
5-14 / 3
15-19 / 4
20-29 / 5
30+ / 6

 

[14thMed]

6 Weeks at start, after 30 years still 6 weeks. However each of the group takes another week "off the books". Thats low in the field. I know some new grads that started at 8 weeks and up. --Anesthesia Al

 

[NotSoonEnough]

Currently...

After 1 year, Two weeks vacation
5 years, three weeks vacation
10 years, four weeks vacation

No more than four weeks may be carried over year to year.

We have eight set holidays and two floating.

Sick time was eliminated several years ago.

We were recently bought by a large engineering conglomerate headquartered in Europe. Our previous US owner was not as generous...

After 1 year, two weeks vacation
5 years, three weeks vacation

No limit to vacation time carried over year to year.

Six set holidays and two floating.

 

[starter82]

13 days/year (accrued throughout the year but retained year after year, up to a limit). I have over 2 years of experience and have @25 days saved up (only taken one or two so far). Vacations don't do much for me.

I have about 20 sick days accumulated.

I also get the federal holidays.

 

[TickTock]

FancyBear,

I'd go at it a different way - find out how much an engineer with the same number of years all with the company would get, and compare your offer to that - if it's less, argue that you're worth the extra days because of the experience you offer.

That might or might not work - it didn't initially work for me when I signed on at my present employer - but I did manage to get it later (under a different boss) - there was a wage freeze that year but my boss during the annual review indicated that he was pleased with my work, so I hit him up for the difference in vacation - it passed, as that meant no more money directly out of corporation pockets.

Still, also look at comparable corporations, and if your potential employer is significantly lower (even if they offer you what would be normal for them), try to get more vacation or compensation based on the idea that you're giving up these things to work for them...

Good luck!

 

[starter82]

FancyBear,

I'd go at it a different way - find out how much an engineer with the same number of years all with the company would get, and compare your offer to that - if it's less, argue that you're worth the extra days because of the experience you offer.

That might or might not work - it didn't initially work for me when I signed on at my present employer - but I did manage to get it later (under a different boss) - there was a wage freeze that year but my boss during the annual review indicated that he was pleased with my work, so I hit him up for the difference in vacation - it passed, as that meant no more money directly out of corporation pockets.

Still, also look at comparable corporations, and if your potential employer is significantly lower (even if they offer you what would be normal for them), try to get more vacation or compensation based on the idea that you're giving up these things to work for them...

Good luck!

I agree. Compare 'like' with 'like'. Also, maybe vacation days aren't really that important to you and you'd prefer to take something that's most significant to you (but perhaps of less value to the employer). Personally, I don't care much about vacation days. I'd rather have a somewhat flexible schedule, paid college, etc.

 

[growing_older]

After 1 year, two weeks vacation
5 years, three weeks vacation

Vacation depends only on length of service - not job level (except maybe top execs)

5 Days "sick"
8 holidays

No more than four weeks vacation may be carried over year to year. No more than 2 weeks sick may be carried over year to year.

The carryover rules are more limited than other places I have worked, but the basic allotments of vacation time are about average. (Engineering Dept)

 

[martyb]

I work for the US Government, and have about 30.5 years service now. I get 26 days (208 hours) of "Annual Leave", which is vacation time.

Everybody who is a full-time employee starts out with 13 days (104 hours) of Sick Leave each year, which remains the same until retirement.

The 208 hrs of Annual Leave is attained at year number 15, and stays at that number for the rest of your career.

Also, I/we get 10 paid holidays.

Since I'm under the "old" retirement plan (CSRS defined benefit plan) I can accumulate unlimited sick leave and then have it added to my final retirement estimate as additional service time.

I can also sell back any unused Annual Leave when I retire, which oughta fund a nice retirement vacation for me & the missus.

 

[bssc]

28 days (including holidays) + the ability to buy 5 days + 6 six
33 days at 10 years
38 days at 25 years

When I saw including holidays, you get to pick the ones you want. Happy Diwali. However, you have to use it all by the end of the year or you lose it.

 

[mjarzoms]

For those of you out there working for megacorp, how many vacation days do you have for number of years worked?

I was just made and offer nad I want to know if it is competitive...
18 days vacation plus 4 floating holidays. I have 10 years experience as a Chem Eng.

I would say it is competitive. But if you want/need more just ask for more, you are most likely in the drivers seat as engineers are in high demand.

 

[W2R]

28 days (including holidays) + the ability to buy 5 days + 6 six
33 days at 10 years
38 days at 25 years

When I saw including holidays, you get to pick the ones you want. Happy Diwali. However, you have to use it all by the end of the year or you lose it.

I love that idea!!! I miss getting both Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays off, like we got back in the 1950's when I was a schoolgirl. If I had such a schedule, I could return to getting both birthdays off.

Maybe I could add the April 13th birthday of Thomas Jefferson, since there aren't many holidays in April. And then there are the birthdays of those recent Presidents that have influenced my life, such as Kennedy (May 29th) and Reagan (February 6th). I would have such fun with this, that I might be in danger of using up all my holidays on past Presidents!

 

[Sue J]

I'm working part-time in a job with no vacation pay/sick pay/holiday pay. But my husband gets 3 weeks vacation a year. But his no longer accrues because he was carrying over so much that he's at the limit. He has 600 hours of vacation pay = 15 weeks.

In addition to the vacation time his employer closes for the week between Christmas and New Years and everyone gets paid for that. They do this by floating all the miscellaneous holidays. He also gets 3 weeks sick time (which he also never uses) and at year end, unused sick time can be cashed in at 1/2 your rate (ka-ching). All this can carry over from year to year, but not the personal time, which I think is 3 days a year. I wish he could cash in some of the vacation time, but they don't allow that.

I think when he started working there it was 2 weeks vacation until the 5th year and then increased to 3 weeks. But they must have changed that. Our son works for the same employer and he already has 3 weeks vacation after just one year.

My husband will be cashing in most of his sick time. He likes to keep a week to start the year. Even if he has an extended illness he could use his vacation time until disability kicked in.

 

[ziggy29]

By American megacorp standards, our vacation policy is very generous:

0-4 years: 15 days
5-9 years: 20 days
10+ years: 25 days

In addition to this, we all get one "floating holiday" per year, which allows people to observe their own religious holidays and such.

I've been there for eight years and I get four weeks off per year. If I stick out until 2009 (10 years) I'll get a fifth week.

This is purely vacation time, not "PTO" which includes sick days. This is above and beyond sick days, which aren't formally tracked by HR but is to be handled by the manager if a pattern of abuse arises.

 

[aaronc879]

0 sick days

4 call-ins= review pushed back 6 months
5 call-ins= review pushed back additional 6 months and 1 day unpaid suspension
6 call-ins= 3 day unpaid suspension. Meeting with my boss and his boss
7 call-ins= Termination. No exceptions.

If 5 or more the previous year,

3 call-ins= review pushed back 6 months and 1 day unpaid
4 call-ins= additional 6 months and 3 days unpaid plus meeting with bosses
5 call-ins= Terminated

About 10% of the 500 person workforce is terminated annually do to attendance.