Making an exempt EE take vacation

Paige

Exempt employees and vacation---ugggghhh!!

We have a couple of exempt employees who put in a lot of hours each week. These employees very rarely take time off--they're too busy, etc. When they do take a day off, I feel bad asking them to use a vacation day because it seems pointless. However, they hit the maximum accrual for vacation and start losing time.

Are there companies that do not have vacation for exempt ee's? Do any of you have policies forcing exempt ee's to take vacation? (I realize banks do this for auditing purposes, but we're not in the financial services market.)

Thanks.
Paige

rad

We do not force employees to take their time although good managers will notice and try to persuade the employee to do so. Our exempt policy states that only a certain percentage of vacation time can be carried over into the next year and must be used by June of the next year or its lost (except in states where thats illegal). Some people, no matter how busy, are loathe to lose their time and will start to take a few days here and there. In addition, carrying over vacation requires approvals from Sr mgrs so they really make it a pain to do.

Paige

But these ARE the senior managers...

rad

Ick. Our policy is supposed to be applicable to everyone, Sr mgrs would have to be approved by executive mgmt, etc, and up the totem pole it goes, but my experience is that our Sr Mgrs are more likely to take their time than the front liners. My advice is create or revise a policy and stick with it. Some may not care if they lose time but others might and start to take it. What would you do if someone decided to take all their banked time all at once? Or left the prganization and wanted to take a vacation pay out for 5 years of unused vacation? They need to understand that is a greater hardship to the organization than taking a week or two every few months. They also need to be aware that they set the example. If your lower mgmt employees see that they do not take their vacation it may put unintended (or intended) pressure on them to not take their's.

marc

For an alternate point of view, it is important for everyone to take vacation. Aside from the obvious burn-out factors, consider the key employee who will not take vacation for fear that management may find out what is going on in their area, or not going on in their area. In the finance field, for example, there are several horror stories passed around regarding embezzlements being hidden, fraudulent accounting practices, etc. I am certain there are similar examples in other key aspects of business. Some guru's have even stipulated that time-off be enforced to require management to thoroughly evaluate the status of various departments.

That is not to say any of this is going on in your shop, just presenting an alternate look.