My place of employ is pretty casual about time off. I also have what I consider a fair amount of paid time off available - 20 vacation days, 20 sick days, 5 personal days, and 11 holidays.
We use a rule of thumb for vacation of one day notice for one day off, two days notice for two days off, etc.
Of course if something major comes up and notice is not a possibility, we can still take whatever we want. I work with a great group of people and we have no problem picking up the slack and covering each other’s responsibilities.
almost impossible. Even on a scheduled vacation I usually have to stay in touch and do at least some email. I’m in sales for a multinational, and there is always some critical stuff going on where I am the roadblock if I’m out of touch for more than 24 hours.
I can get away with a day off on short notice but that’s about it. A week - I wish.
I work in manufacturing, two weeks are scheduled every July for the entire plants ‘vacation shutdown.’ Whether you get vac.pay or unemployment depends on how much seniority you have, takes five years to get paid for those two weeks. A third week is granted at ten years seniority, another at twenty, and those are granted on a ‘seniority gets first dibs’ basis.
We don’t have sick days, although we do get four personal days per year. Personals, like extra vacation time, have to be scheduled and okayed in advance. A doctors note for you or your sick dependant is acceptable if you have a good attendance record and don’t exceed five yearly. Even a two-minute instance of tardiness will get your pay docked and being late more than three times in any one year period will subject you to disciplinary action.
About the only way I could up and take time off with short notice would be if it were something that fell under the Family Medical Leave Act, and even then I’d have to have all the proper paperwork done within 3 days or risk termination. We’ve had lots of cases of employees being in horrid car wrecks and being hospitalized, unable to communicate with work, and by the time a family member calls it in, they’ve been fired. That’s when having a union comes in quite handy, they’re great at getting someone to the hospital and getting all the paperwork done to get that person reinstated.
I work part-time (usually 20/hrs. week, now 32/hrs. week) as a reference librarian in a public library.
No paid time off.
I get scheduled off one Saturday per month, which I must request a minimum of 4-6 months in advance. If the library is closed one Saturday in a month, that will be my day off, because it’s so difficult to cover my Saturday shifts. That said, if I’m sick (and I mean the full out pukey kind, which I experience about once or twice per year), I call in to the assistant director with nary a second thought, although chances are good that I’m stranding the other reference librarian without a partner. Despite the advance notice, I have also had my one-Saturday-off revoked about twice because they couldn’t cover my shift, or the person assigned to cover could no longer do so.
Days off during a weekday are much easier to arrange. Typically, I ask for these a month in advance when I can, but the library can usually find someone to take my place even if I ask only a week or less ahead of time.
Calling in the day I’m scheduled to work? I don’t do it unless I’m really, really ill. We don’t have any good system for covering for people, so chances are great I’d be screwing someone I like and respect by taking the day off. Can’t do that lightly.
When I was working, I could get a day off anytime I wanted, with one day’s notice. Now that I’m retired, I never get a day off. I’m retired every day, no matter what.
I have to give 3 weeks’ notice, though if I’m putting in a request for a conference and forget to hand it in 3 weeks or more ahead of time, it’s fine because my boss already knows that I’m going to the conference. The jobs in my small area are more flexible than others in my department; the workers in the main part of the department have to give three months’ notice as they’d somehow abused a shorter notice time or something, apparently.
I got roughly 45 days off here per year. Lately, the trouble is in when to take them as our department has shrunk and it’s a challenge to maintain normal staffing from 7 AM to 6 PM (plus 24/7 on-call) with five people. Or worse, a day like today, where there’s only three of us. Six months ago, there were eight, and it was pretty easy then.
My management understands that some aspects of ID management can be noxiously tedious or last-nerve frazzling and encourages that we take time off. Wonderful. Now just give me another co-worker or two so we can handle the scheduling!
I just asked for Wednesday off and got approval this morning. That was just one personal day, though. For vacation, we usually need to ask one month in advance. To use a sick day, we have to call in the morning and leave a message with two people (to make sure someone gets it).
I’m the only person in my department. If I’m not around and a computer breaks or something needs to be done to our web site, it doesn’t happen. So I try to be around a lot. Other than that, if I need time off (or just get stir-crazy and/or fed up with the day), I just have to fill out the paperwork, tell someone I’m leaving and then leave.
Having said that, I haven’t taken a 3 day weekend in months. I take longer vacations very, very rarely because everything seems to break while I’m gone. So, I generally take my two weeks of vacation time and fairly generous personal time (5 hours a month) in small chunks. Eventually, I hope to acquire an evil assistant and…hopefully…be able to take longer vacations. I haven’t actually been anywhere cool on vacation for about 4 or 5 years.
Minor stuff, like leaving a bit early, taking a part day: little notice needed.
More major stuff I do my best to give at least a month, preferably more, notice so if anyone was planning on me being around they can make arrangements.
Then again, I’m in an unusual posistion: I’m essentially a Girl Friday, and there will be times of the year when an extra pair of hands (mine) aren’t really needed. Other times of the year, every pair of hands helps (espically ones that can multi-task in different areas). In general, there’s no problem with me taking time off so long as I leave no one in the lurch and don’t abuse the situation.
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I’ve been a manager many years, and my rule is always: Give me the same amount of time warning as you want to take off.
If you want Wednesday off, tell me first thing Tuesday and I won’t blink.
Want next week off, tell me this Monday, so I can decide if someone must be trained on anything to cover for you.
Want your accrued 4-week vacation, give me 4 weeks to reschedule other people.
I was discussing this very subject with my husband this morning. First full week of vacation for me started today to coincide with Spring Break for the children. I try to give about 4 weeks notice but have gotten it a day in advance if I was only going to be out one day.
I use about 2 weeks in a year, cash out one week during the Winter Holidays to buy gifts and forward the 40 hours for the next year in the event something happens that I may need to go somewhere at the last minute. My first 2 years in my current position I was afraid to take time off since I have several vendors that I am responsible for, but now I am so comfortable (ooh, which is treading dangerous ground here) that I feel confident being gone for aweek.
I work in a restaurant.
We do schedule requests every two weeks before schedules come out. I generally work the same days every week, but different shifts. So, as long as I have a few weeks notice, it’s generally easy to get a day off.
A week off requires asking nicely and reminding, and having a fairly good reason.
If I decide I want tomorrow off, I get to call all my coworkers and beg someone to cover for me. If they don’t, I have to work.
However, on the rare occasions that I needed time off, with no notice (Food poisioning, grandmother died) they gave it to me without a hassle. I have heard other people saying this kind of thing happened, and they still had to work. Than again, I care alot less about my company than some of those people. I enjoy my job, but some things are more important.
I have also been attempting to get 2 months of leave so I can go to Europe. I don’t think I’m going to get it, so I’m just going to quit. They said they’ll hire me again when I get back.
Heh. This is one of the reasons I’m dissatisfied with my current job. After two years with the company, working full-time, picking up countless overtime and rarely calling in, I’ve earned a whopping 35 hours vacation. My husband’s last job gave him 40 hours after six months. I have to give a month’s notice to use my vacation time, and two weeks’ notice to use my two personal days.
If I want time off on short notice I can either call in (we’re allowed three call-ins in ninety days) or get someone to trade shifts/days with me. My husband is facing possible surgery later this year, and I’m worried about “saving” all my time off so I can be with him and still get paid (even though I’ll probably end up using some FMLA time).
I’m not asking for a ton of time off, but management will readily admit this is a high-stress job and it’s easy to get burned out, so you 'd think it would be a little easier to get a break.
It’s not like we’re understaffed–they’re sending people home every day (unpaid voluntary days off, which I can’t afford to do very often) because they’re exceeding the state-mandated staffing ratios. And yet they keep hiring and hiring and hiring and hiring…“High turnover rate” my ass, out of the half-dozen that get hired every other month at least four stay.
Sounds like a variation on what we get , 3 personal days where you dont need any proof from a doctor or the like , and then 8 where its required that you either have a doctors note , or some medical proof like a bill for a bottle of tylenol. After that , its progressive disicplinary action.
So far we have nothing like that , except for the absent 3 days in a row, and its assumed you have quit, we have to get in touch with them to re-instate employment , which sounds straightforward so far.
One thing that sucks is weather related lateness. Its assumed that we live in a northern climate , so timing the weather should be second nature , leave a half hour early or something.
I have sick leave hours from two college campuses; they are given at the rate of one leave hour for every 18 hours that I teach in the classroom. They accumulate indefinitely and can be transferred from one school to another if I sever employment with one place.
I can take them whenever I want, but I have to weigh that scenario against what my students might be doing on a particular day and if it’s worth it to get someone to proctor an exam. If I’m going to be gone for more than a couple of meetings, I would need to have the dept. get a sub.
So for me it’s all a matter of how much a hassle I want. Of course, there are certain times that are slower than others and it really doesn’t matter too much if I take off, because it’s not that hard to get caught up.
I control my own schedule in conjunction with customers I work with; consequently, I take take off whatever days I want, but I have to plan ahead. I certainly cannot just decide today to take next week off if I have customers lined up to see me all week. If a day is just an office day I can decide that morning not to come in and nobody notices or cares, but a day with a customer is planned MONTHS in advance, and often involves travel arrangements. It’s all up to me.
What I don’t do is stay in touch on vacation. It does inconvenience people. And that’s too bad for them. Company policy is that nobody is to be called when they’re on vacation and if that’s inconvenient, you just have to deal with it and work around it.
