Take it. Believe me, you’ll love it.
I myself have 48 hours of vacation time still left unused…but not unscheduled. I put in for December vacation time back in January.
Ah what the hell.
I’m taking 'em.
After all, it is kind of stupid to let them keep the time. Something about it just bugs me though. I can’t say what, but it bugs me.
**cuauhtemoc[/B} and astro, among others, thanks. I could barely keep from laughing out loud.
I didn’t read all the postings so this may have been mentioned already.
Some companies, with use-it-or-loose-it policies, will allow you to schedule, before the end of the year, for leave to be used during the next year.
Late advice now - but i have the same here, i get 30 days annual leave a year (plus i normally clock up two days off through flexi-time every month) and never use it. When you consider that i can “rollover” nine as well it just gets stupid - my current situation is that i have 34 days to use by the end of march.
So when HR said i had to “use it or lose it” i went and spoke to my divisional manager about it and basically said:
-
I don’t want to take the time off, but i resent the idea of losing it - so will take it if i have to (which would leave the division scuppered because they’d be without their web-techie for a loooooong time).
-
Is there any other option?
We ended up agreeing that i’d take 15 days, carry 9, and be “paid in lieu” for 20.
So everyone wins. 
that should read 10 days paid!
(i wish it was twenty)
Argh. I can’t believe anyone would consider NOT taking time owed to them!
At my current job, we accrue all this holiday time that we are never allowed to use. We are always too understaffed. I never get time off except for vacation time (which I have to schedule up to a year in advance). Nothing is done spontaniously. I work 40 hours a week, every week. (I work Thanksgiving, and worked a double shift last Christmas.)
Sure, they’ll pay us off for our unused holiday time (so it isn’t like they are trying to rip us off) but I would really prefer to have a day off now and then, just to relax, go on a short trip, that sort of thing. But never, never, never will that happen. (Until I quit this job, which will be soon, I think.)
So, I’m just saying…I can’t believe that someone would contemplate NOT using time that they WANT you to use! Think of the rest of us worker bees, that are trapped in our dreary existance!
Well, never mind, I had to make that rant, even though I know that you’ve done the right thing and decided to take the days.
The time belongs to you. Be a good steward and take it.
This whole dithering about the ethics of taking your holidays is somewhat incomprehensible to me. Is this is a perculiarly American problem? Your paid holidays are an integral part of your remuneration. To an extent, they’re the whole point of having a job in the first place: you work so that you can have enough money to do what you like to do when you’re not working.
Six weeks ago I realised that I had 15 days of holidays left to take. I have absolutely no qualms whatsoever about vanishing from the workplace from 13 December for the next 23 consecutive days. In fact, I’m unbelievably chuffed with this decision.
Maybe this attitude is particularly French, rather than yours being very American.
You could always ask to roll it over. I’ve got 4 days that I didn’t use this year (because I took some TIL from working overtime), and with a wedding coming up next year to arrange, they’ll be useful.
Not necessarily “American” - i have never used all my holidays and i’m British.
Its not necessarily as crazy as it sounds when you think about it. If you (shock! horror!) enjoy your job then you may be less inclined to take leave and there are a multitude of other reasons.
Speaking personally i very rarely take an entire week off on the basis that yes, the week may be nice and relaxed - but since i’m the only one here who can do what i do, there is no coverage for my work. it just piles up until i get back, which leaves me even more stressed and tired than if i’d never taken the week off in the first place.
I think I’d go to the workplace, and just loaf all day. Wear pajamas, make a chainmail shirt out of paper clips, practice my rubber band shooting skills, catch up my crossword puzzles, reply to message board threads I don’t really care about, shred an entire package of paper. Stuff like that.
Hell i do that already.
All apart from the pyjamas part anyway