Giving me more vacation days is approaching ridiculousness.
I just filled out my benefit elections for the year and since I get the best benefits via my wife's job I only had to elect the 3 extra vacation days. I wonder if declining the vacation gives you negative personality points in the HR file or raises the company health insurance risk profile...
So I got to interview in the UK a couple times before I landed this job so I can say that 25-28 days of vacation (or "holiday" as the Brit's call it) is pretty standard for a full-time professional job in the UK. Surprisingly, so is a private health insurance benefit (costing you above what you already can't get out of paying to the "free" national insurance scheme that apparently is insufficient but that deserves its own entry). I currently get 25 days holiday, and I think 9 national holidays (US is usually 11-12 national holidays but only 10-15 days of vacation to start). I also have the option to "buy" an additional 3 days at my daily salary rate, but I'm given a "flexible benefit allotment" amount that covers this plus allows a little surplus to defer to my pension. Needless to say, I signed up for the extra vacation days to help feed my travel habit.
The benefits were recently re-evaluated and now we have the option to purchase 5 days instead of the usual 3. That means a clean 30 days per year for me! Now before you go and say "no wonder Europe is crashing", let's think about this. As a salaried professional, I'm expected to get the job done, and not paid overtime. Giving the option to purchase extra vacation doesn't reduce my yearly objectives, so most likely the company will still receive the same net work/benefit from an employee regardless of whether I skip 5 days of work over a year. On the flip side, I'm extremely grateful and the money I spend on vacation will keep me coming back to work! What if the US began offering a "purchase" of vacation time before implementing mandatory furloughs? It accomplishes nearly the same thing but with an entirely different outlook by the employee.
The fine print: the flexible benefit allows you to choose +/- 5 days, so if you elect gym membership or private health insurance that costs more than the standard allotment 'selling' a vacation day can compensate in lieu of salary deduction to cover additional costs. Either way the choice is appreciated by employees whatever their situation. Happy employees are more likely to stick around and do their job well.
I think I'll take this Friday off and fly to Barcelona...
