Better Vacation Policy

6358860

I am new to my company which is a Landscape Supply & Garden Center with anywhere from 50 - 175 employees (depending on the time of year). Currently our Vacation Policy is as follows: 0 Vacation Days your first year of employment, 5 Vacation Days after your first year, 10 Vacation Days after 3 years of employment and that is it. No opportunity to earn any more than 10 days of Vacation regardless of your length of employment (only when the General Managers feel like offering certain people more vacation time and sooner than the policy states - is that setting precedence?). Now that I'm on board my boss and I are desperately trying to re-vamp & better the current Vacation Policy. The GM's and one of the owners want more info to consider anything including what the industry standards are. I can't find anything about the Landscaping Industry (distribution) anywhere. We only offer benefits (of any kind) to Full-Time/Year Round Employees - the Seasonal Employees are out of luck!  I personally think an entire year is too long to wait for any paid Vacation time and then to only receive 5 days for 3 years......thumbs down from me. Any suggestions? Oh, and we are in Illinois if that helps! And we only get 2 Sick Days per year too - I'd like to renegotiate that if anyone has any ideas for that subject as well!  Thanks!!!

krhyatt

When I started with my company 4 years ago we got 5 days after 1 year, 10 days after 3 years, 15 days after 8 years, and 20 days after 15 years.  We just recently revised the policy, so now we get 10 days after 1 year, 15 days after 6 years, and 20 days after 15 years.  I too agree that 1 year is a ong time to wait for vacation-it has been a big issue in hiring quality people.

 We get 3 sick days after 1 year, 5 sick days after 2 years, and 10 sick days after 5 years.

6358860

Thank you so much for your input. I am currently compiling all different types of data to put a mini-presentation together & I will include your company's time off specifics as an example.  I agree - getting quality people to come on board & stay on board because of our benefits package (our insurance is really poor too) is a problem and I need to get our Management Team to understand that.

 I think we're going to push for prorating 10 days within the first year of employment and then have everyone on a calendar year schedule from Jan 01 - Dec 31st every year. As for when we will be eligible for 15 days vaca, I'm not sure but it will probably be somewhere around 7 or 8 years.

 Thanks again!

4179993

I work for a construction/landscape company.  Our hourly/field employees get 1 week vacation after 3 years of service, and 3 days sick leave after 1 year of service.  Our salaried employees get 1 week during years 1 and 2, 2 weeks years 3-5 and 3 weeks after 5 years.  Most people nowadays (myself included) negotiate atleast 2 weeks right off the bat.  We accrue vacation on a weekly basis.  It works much easier for us.

HR Mouse

Wow - this really helps me out since I know my Management Team really wants information specific to our industry. I will pass along the info next week when I sit down with them.  I know most people will negotiate something at the time of hire, but a lot of our employees did not - probably because they figured they did not have that option.

Thanks for your input!!! I really appreciate it!  [:D]

IT HR

You have mentioned two points in your posts that are important to bring up during your meeting:

1. You are having trouble hiring and retaining quality people
2. People are negotiating benefits at the time of hire

These two things are good indicators that you need to make a change to your benefits package.

As far as getting industry specific information, does your company belong to any industry organizations?  If so, you can benchmark other companies.  Also if you belong to a local chapter of SHRM, you can benchmark companies there as well.

 

 

 

 

bstouder

If I had it to do at a new company, I would implement a vacation accrual program.  Then after the probationary (or trial) period, even the short timers would earn some vacation time.  I'd go with 5 days for the first year  (# days divided by 12 = fractional number of days per month) and then 10 days for two to five years.  I really don't know what the industry standard is for the landscape industry, but keep in mind that you are competing with other industries for employees.  In our business (automotive durable goods) industry we have 10 day after 1 year with the company, 15 after 5 years, 20 after 15 years and 25 after 20 years. This is pretty much to compete with other industries in the area. 

HR Mouse

I'm just wondering - if we put a new/revised policy in place (in our handbook) how much freedom does that give the managers to offer different benefits when hiring a new employee? If our policy states they'll receive 5 days of Vacation from 1-3 years & 10 days after that how would their different offers effect anything? Should the policy state the company has the right to vary the policy per their discretion?

TXHRGuy

I don't think there's any reason why you can't offer someone more than what's in the handbook.  What's more important is that you document why someone is granted whatever it is that they get that differs from the handbook.  If you are questioned about it 3 years later, after the hiring manager has left the Company, you will be glad you obtained the paperwork.