Quinty

Has anyone been having trouble with their company saying "it's not a good time to take vacation" or "vacation is a privilege, not an entitlement"?? in order to boost sales in the first quarter or half?

My husband ran across this recently. His vacation was already approved, but the big bosses seemed to frown upon it. He is in sales. I would be interested to know if this is happening elsewhere, in sales or other professions.

GoTravel

Absolutely not. I work hard and I play hard. Any employer who doesn't understand that employees need time off to recharge and to spend time with families has some serious management issues. As long as my employees cover everything they have going on, I have no problems with vacation.

sunlover

I'm not in sales but have been noticing similar. Our company (insurance industry; about 400 employees located in one medium-sized city) as a whole has certain profit goals for the fiscal year. Our fiscal year runs from July - July. In the latter part of 2002 profits margins were REALLY down due to the economy. They are on the upswing now, but we are having to work twice as hard to make up for July-November 2002. Most of the professional employees have 3 or 4 weeks vacation/year. we have all been told to take as little as possible and no more than 3 days in a row until the yearly goals are met or fiscal year ends in July (whichever comes first)

I am moving into a new home in April and requested a week off for the move, I was granted 2 days! They are not taking vacation away, just making us potpone it. those who have requested time off in august and september have had no problems, other than not being able to take more than 10 working days (2 weeks) in a row which is standard.

lenleigh

Well for the last 2 years my husbands company has "forced" mandatory vacation times. This means that we can't go on vacation any time we want, he has to take time off around July and December. Frankly those aren't the times when we want to travel and it's been upseting many people at his company. Hard to get really upset with the economy the way it is, at least he has a job.

Diana

One of the most important things in life to my husband and me is our two 2 week trips a year to the Caribbean.
As Americans, we get less vacation time than almost everyone else in the world as far as industrial nations go. (I think only the Japanese get less.)
Before accepting my last two positions, one of the final things I did was to get approval from my new boss and the HR dept. that I would be taking these 2 trips - even if it was partially-unpaid.
I won't work for a company that does not value me enough to allow me to take time I have coming to me when I notify them months in advance when I will be taking it.
I also make it clear that I will not be available for e-mail or checking voice mail or taking phone calls during those 2 weeks.
Life is just too short to work someplace that makes you work like a gerbil on a wheel without any time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
I have not had to compromise yet, but I would take a job paying less money over one that would give me a hassle over vacation.
I've been there, done that - never again.
NO ONE is so important/invaluable that they cannot take time/be given time to relax and recharge and spend quality time with loved ones.

Quinty

Your replies are good to hear (not that it's a good situation, but that we're not the only ones).

My husband's company is 50,000+ employees so you wouldn't expect that in a company so large. He covers the Western 6 states and even though he lost half of his product line this year, his budget got bigger!

Companies really want miracles in times like these. A VP level person told him that the company is doing this because they can, as the outside job market is so soft. Like "where you gonna go?"
Anyway, we're looking!

Tess

The company my husband worked for (ag-related Fortune 500) went bankrupt last year. He saw the writing on the wall and went looking--it's a good thing he did, as the people in similar positions were let go in December. He found another job similar to his old one and is happy to have it without pulling up stakes and moving our family. Moral of our story--we're happy to have insurance, benefits and a pretty decent roof over our heads--if and when his new company restricts vacations, we can deal with that. Not happily but good jobs are hard to find and if you don't want the position, someone else does!

Quinty

Tess,
You've got a good point. There are worse things than vacation hassles.

We too thought my hubby's job was getting cut (nationwide) and that he was going to get demoted to a lower position just to keep a job. After a month of stress the upper management changed their minds and kept only his job out of them all! We are lucky in a way, but they also made his job (budget/quota/commission) impossible, so there is no way to succeed or feel good about that job you're doing!

So we still may give someone else the opportunity to take that position, if we can find something better. Anybody know any high end sales recruiters?

Owen_ONeill

I'm fortunate enough to work for a small company that is very flexible but our sales team is being asked to do two things

1) plan and lock in a schedule for all their 2003 vacation time NOW

2) schedule their time in such a way that it does not coincide with the end of a sales quarter (excepting the days just before and after Christmas when most of our customers are not working or are running with limited staff

Policy #2 makes sense in ANY sales related business as far as I'm concerned.

007

I have the same situation as for end of quarter vacations. And also beginning of quarter, and first half, and 2nd half....
In other words, there is no good time for a vacation.. ever!
No salespeople in my company are allowed to take a Christmas vacation. They get the standard Christmas day and one other day off, and that's it. If the family is across the country, too bad.
Luckily I negotiated an exception to that into my offer and am so allowed to go. But I don't know of another person who can. It's just against the rules!
I am also in a very large company, 60,000 employees.

KathyK

We all should have been teachers!

Coskier

yes

rb_travelerxATyahoo

I once worked for a company that had the very good sense to understand that people NEED vacations. They would not pay cash for unused time, they insisted you take the time off, since paying you does not "recharge the batteries", but only results in a strung-out employee with a few more $ in his/her pocket.


Quinty wrote of companys saying "vacation is a privilege, not an entitlement". Vacation is part of your total compensation offering, thus IS an entitlement. Maybe not at the very moment you wish to take it, but still payable.

John

WOW. Glad I retired 4 years ago. Never heard of holding back on vacation time. We were always encouraged to take our vacation time as long as it was planned a month ahead of time.

orangetravelcat

I work for a company that gives me three weeks paid vacation, four personal days, and I can take two weeks of unpaid time as well. We all schedule our vacation in December for the following year, and as well are given $1500 to spend on travel. If I ever have to get another job, I will be totally spoiled.

txjennyd

Orangetravelcat, I want to work for your company! The only reason I work is to pay for my vacations!

orangetravelcat

I'm very lucky!