Putting in for vacation time at work

[Momager]

Admittedly, I was a SAHM for many years, and don't have as many years in the work force, or the experience with office culture as some. So here's my question....

DH and I are planning our 20th anniversary trip. Its a BIG deal for us. DH's workplace does not allow employees to take more than 1 calendar week off at a time. I mean, SOME employees are allowed, but DH says that he is not one of them... Can you tell I hate the people he works for?? He is not a fan of them either, but money is money....

So my question is, do lots of places not allow more than 1 calendar week off at a time?


ETA - The reason its an issue is because I was trying do a Disney vacation + a cruise at the beginning. But the 3 day cruise only goes from Fri-Mon which, for me, is no big deal, but apparently a huge deal-breaker according to my DH's stupid-head owners... Sorry, I'm salty rn lol

 

[loves to dive]

It really depends on the type of industry. Where I've worked for over 30 years allows you to take as much as you want as long as you have it. You can't take longer than 2 weeks without special permission from your supervisor/Dept. head.

 

[sam_gordon]

It really depends on the type of industry. Where I've worked for over 30 years allows you to take as much as you want as long as you have it. You can't take longer than 2 weeks without special permission from your supervisor/Dept. head.

Not just the industry, but probably the role inside the industry (would explain why "some" people get to take more than 1 week at a time).

OP, maybe you don't do the cruise and just do Disney. Or, can you find a time around a holiday? Then, for example, DH takes Friday as "vacation", Monday as the holiday, then Tues-Friday as "vacation". That would be only 5 days of "vacation" time.

My guess is they made the rule so individuals don't monopolize the "traditional" vacation time.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

I would say there are lots of places like that. My husband really couldn’t either. Neither can our son. It just really depends on the workplace. My husband worked for the same place for over 40 years. He retired in May and finally we are taking a 2 week vacation this October.

 

[ronandannette]

Impossible to say what "a lot of places" do. The policies are whatever the policies are, as long as they conform to local/federal labor legislation, which would never specify something like this. At my workplace we've had to modify policies this year for the first time ever, due to labour and supply-chain issues. No two employees in the same job classification can be away at the same time - first come, first served for choice of days. It's thrown a wrench into the plans of several people but the company is well within it's rights to require it.

 

[_19disnA]

^^ I agree, impossible to generalize and even if others companies do this/that, doesn't mean it makes sense for every other company. Depends on the company and what your specific job is. If you are gone, who does your work while away and/or does it require special expertise that only a few others have? It may also be a case that people who do similar jobs can't all be gone at the same time. Some companies try to rotate who gets the most desirable vacation time, does things based on seniority or some companies even close for 1-2 weeks for 'summer vacation'. Obviously, you can never please everyone since some probably want to vacation in the Spring or Fall which wouldn't work well with a company-wide Summer shutdown.

If you want to take extended vacation for a 'once in a lifetime' trip, I would first start by taking to my boss and see what can be arranged.

 

[Minnesota!]

I could take 2 weeks, or more, at a time where I work. My husband COULD but would hate it when he got back...

 

[Micca]

He can't take a week off that runs Fri-Thurs? Same number of days off, just configured differently.

If you want to take extended vacation for a 'once in a lifetime' trip, I would first start by taking to my boss and see what can be arranged.

I agree, explain to the boss what the occasion is and see what happens.

 

[fla4fun]

The company I worked for until it closed last year only allowed us to take one week at a time. Since I was there over 20 years, I was getting six weeks of vacation per year, and I couldn’t carry any of it over. So I was taking a week every other month. I would have rather taken three two-week vacations instead.

 

[China Expat]

America has the least amount of time off compared to other countries. Quite sad.

 

[ronandannette]

...If you want to take extended vacation for a 'once in a lifetime' trip, I would first start by taking to my boss and see what can be arranged.

I'd definitely suggest doing this as well. Unless it's a huge corporate machine, government or an insanely tight union shop, most places have at least some degree of management discretion.

I also second @Micca on just splitting the 5 days into a Friday - Thursday or Tuesday - Monday configuration that allows for the weekend cruise.

 

[amcnj]

So is it that Friday of the cruise that is the issue, because that one day is in the week before the full week off? That seems a bit inflexible.

My first “real” job was in a manufacturing facility that had a planned shut down every year for two weeks in the summer. My position allowed for working one of those weeks as it involved testing the product that had been produced the week before. If I didn’t have vacation time for the other week it would be unpaid time off. But I was able to take more than a week at a time.

Other places I worked were much very flexible. I took two consecutive weeks for many years. And pretty much any leave request was ok, provided not everyone in my immediate group was off at the same time. Some took even longer periods off, as they were traveling great distances for visits to distant native countries.

Hope they can bend on this and allow your plans to work out.

 

[Skippy918]

That’s a ridiculous policy. my company doesn’t care. If you have the time off, you can use it. I’ve taken 2-3 weeks off for one trip. I know some folks, especially those that have family in other countries take a month off.

 

[Micca]

DH and I are planning our 20th anniversary trip. Its a BIG deal for us.

It is a big deal! If I were an employer with a worker that obviously is as stable as your DH, I'd want to keep him around and cut him some slack.

Had another thought--Is it possible to take the Friday as an unpaid day off? I know that makes the trip even more expensive, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Good luck and Congratulations on 20 years!

 

[CdnCarrie]

Never been a policy where I or my husband work. Some people take a month off at a time.

 

[kdonnel]

Vacation time has always been so easy to take at all of my jobs. I would hate to work at a place with such a restrictive policy.

 

[nursejackie]

America has the least amount of time off compared to other countries. Quite sad.

I have heard that before. I have over10 years service now so receive 33 days leave plus 8 bank holidays per year. We can take 2 weeks off without issue, but any more and you have to take it to your manager and HR to explain why, and to see if your service can do without you for that long. I used to work shifts (3 long days or 3 nights per week over 7 day period) so if I timed it well I could use less leave and have longer off without an issue.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I'm a SAHM now but when I worked (in medical field), vacation time and hospital policy was restrictive. Told is frowned upon to take vacation time around any holiday, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. Working every other weekend and rotating holidays really makes it difficult to get more than a week off. If it's your weekend to work, you got to switch weekends with someone and that is difficult to do most times. After leaving my job at the hospital, I worked a M-F, weekends and holidays off job and a place which was far more accomodating (and nicer) when it came to vacation time. My husband has all his time off lumped in PTO (paid time off) and as long as you have the time, you can take it. Really no limit as to how long. He used to be able to roll over unused vacation time to the next year but now it's use it or lose it. Husband's friend started a new job and took a month off very shortly after starting.

 

[focusondisney]

I don’t think we have enough information to decide if it’s a ridiculous policy or not. What kind of business is it? A small family owned, just enough people to get the job done type place? A large multi site unionized corporation? What position/ job function does the husband do? What is the reasoning behind the policy? It all matters.

My DD is a finance/ sales admin manager. She has certain weeks of the month that she cannot take off. My DH manager a food production facility for years. He’d never take off more than a week because so much would pile up while he was off. I worked for a unionized multi hospital corporation. Our time request rules were contract driven. How much time you could take at certain times of the year was restricted by contract. It helped allow as many people as possible take prime vacation weeks while still providing for safe hospital services. And in union facilities, your seniority often matters too. There are so many variables in knowing what’s fair or right in these situations.

 

[mikalkwin]

It is a ridiculous policy. French labour law imposes 2 weeks of annual leave between may 1st and october 31st. In other european countries where this is not regulated, 2 consecutive weeks once a year might be imposed by the company for health considerations (true in many european banks for high-stress jobs such as front-office etc).