Anyone know of a resource for information about industry standards pertaining to employee vacation benefits?
In my current job (financial services industry) I get 25 days/year combined vacation/sick days. I’m currently interviewing for a corporate manager-level job at the headquarters of a large chain of low-end retail stores. (No, it’s not Wal-Mart). All the compensation - base pay, bonuses, benefits, retirement, etc - are comparable or slightly better than I have now, except they only give one week of vacation after six months, 2 weeks/year after a year and 3 weeks/year after 5 years. At my current company, new entry-level employees get 4 weeks their first year.
I’m just trying to see if this policy is really as stingy as it sounds to me, or if I’m too spoiled and this is perfectly normal for the retail industry.
I used to work in the corporate HQ of a major US book retailer, and the vacation benefits were exactly as you described, except you also got 9 personal days that could not be used to supplement vacation (ie, if you had scheduled vacation, you could not “attach” personal days to the end). They were for one-offs - sickness, appointments, etc. 19 days total.
I believe 2/wks per year plus some sick time is typical of most American businesses.
Four weeks a year for entry-level employees is very exceptional and not to be counted on elsewhere. Your potential company sounds fairly typical on the policy for the U.S. You can take more “vacations” if you want to but they will have to be short, 4 day weekend type things at first.
I only get three weeks at my current job with 8+ years in service, and it’s a big, Fortune 13 company (used to be able to say “Fortune 5 company”) with what are regarded as excellent benefits.
My understanding is that it’s negotiable for executive level positions, since even our own CEO came from another huge company, and probably didn’t start from scratch on the vacation days.
A lot of companies give only one week after 1 year. two weeks after two years, three after five, and four after 20 years.
Some give two weeks after one year.
Macy’s in California last I knew allowed one week after 1 year but you did not begin to accure until after one year. If you left after taking a week but before you accured the time you had to repay the time. Example after 12 months you take a week, then quit at your 18th month you would owe the company 1/2 week of pay and they would deduct it from your last pay check.
So yes you were spoiled. But you are smart to look at the total package.
Thanks, everyone who responded. I knew our time off policies at my current employer were generous (actually fairly standard for this competitive industry) but I guess I overestimated what was normal in the rest of the corporate world. I had it in my mind that three weeks was pretty standard, I guess.
Just for comparison - at my firm, non-exempt employees get 20 days of time off per year, and after 10 years they get 25. Exempt employees start with 25 days, and after 10 years we get 30.
I own an American company and I would not work for anyone or hire anyone with less than 4 weeks per year of holiday. 1 week and 2 week policies of the majority of US companies are terrible. People need 4 weeks minimum to fully relax and recharge.
My UK/Aussie etc friends can’t believe that it is legal for Americans to get such minimal (or no) holidays.
I wonder if there are other things. For example I indicated that I currently have 15 days of vacation days per year, scheduled as such during absenses. In addition, we have a combined 10 additional days of personal/sick time (no questions asked). Additionally we have 17 paid holidays, including a string of days centred about Christmas. So that’s 42 days for me, although I never seem to take personal or sick time (I used comp time instead).
So do companies that have apparently more vacation days have significantly fewer paid holidays and personal/sick days?
You can try to negotiate more favorable vacation time with your new potential employer based on your current vacation benefits. However, I’ve found that vacation rules are generally not bent except for fairly high level executives who are hired with a contract. The other way you can seek compensation for lost vacation is to ask for a larger sign-on bonus to cover the difference. That has worked for me in the past. It’s not the same as having the vacation time, but the extra cash makes it more tolerable!
The last two places I worked gave us one bank of “personal time off” which was to include vacation, personal days, and sick days – you don’t have to give a reason to take a day off. As I said, I currently get 25 of these per year. In addition we get 10 holidays.
I’ve had the opposite experience. As a software developer, a profession where job-hopping isn’t all that uncommon, I’ve never not been able to negotiate extra vacation time where I wanted it. I figure I’ve been working in the industry for close to twenty years; I want 3 or 4 weeks of vacation time. I’ve had some places hem and haw, but in the end they always come through.
