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Right. Unless you literally mean take as much vacation as you feel is right and no matter how much you take (even 4 weeks straight), we won't ask questions, th

Right. Unless you literally mean take as much vacation as you feel is right and no matter how much you take (even 4 weeks straight), we won't ask questions, then I'd rather have a specific number. For sick time, I think this is a great idea. I have unlimited sick time where I work, so I only take it when I'm really sick. It's like the saying that what gets measured gets done. The measure of legitimate sick time is not "do you have the time" but "are you sick," so that's what people use to judge when taking sick time. If it was "do you have the time" then as long as they had the time, people would feel fine taking sick time, even if they weren't sick. If you tell me I can take as much vacation as I want as long as I need a vacation, then even to take a half-day, I need a justification. Every vacation day, or part of a day, becomes a risk that I'm going to look like I'm taking too much vacation.

ben1040 15y ago
If it was "do you have the time" then as long as they had the time, people would feel fine taking sick time, even if they weren't sick. Or even worse, the policy at my employer - within a given year you may take up to five of your accrued sick days no questions asked (assuming you have the sick days banked), but to use any other sick time you have, you must submit a doctors note as verification. As an incentive intended to reduce absenteeism, if you take no sick days in a given year, you're given an extra "free" vacation day usable during the following year. What this means is that if you end up taking even one sick day during a year, you've lost your bonus vacation day. So now you may as well burn down the remainder of your five unverified days by calling in sick when you really aren't.
- lreeves 15y ago
  It seems to me that the reward for no sick days would create an incentive for people to come in with a cold/flu and spread it around.
ctdonath 15y ago
Indeed, don't tell me vacation/sick time isn't tracked unless it really truly isn't tracked. I, and the company, found this out the hard way. While some management may try to be nice about it, there very well may be legal & contractual issues which force enumeration and tracking of sick leave. After a lot of hand waving "don't worry about it" answers to preliminary queries about sick time logistics, I was told (after the fact) I had to take open-heart surgery as a vacation day.

ben1040 15y ago

If it was "do you have the time" then as long as they had the time, people would feel fine taking sick time, even if they weren't sick. Or even worse, the policy at my employer - within a given year you may take up to five of your accrued sick days no questions asked (assuming you have the sick days banked), but to use any other sick time you have, you must submit a doctors note as verification. As an incentive intended to reduce absenteeism, if you take no sick days in a given year, you're given an extra "free" vacation day usable during the following year. What this means is that if you end up taking even one sick day during a year, you've lost your bonus vacation day. So now you may as well burn down the remainder of your five unverified days by calling in sick when you really aren't.

lreeves 15y ago
It seems to me that the reward for no sick days would create an incentive for people to come in with a cold/flu and spread it around.

ctdonath 15y ago

Indeed, don't tell me vacation/sick time isn't tracked unless it really truly isn't tracked. I, and the company, found this out the hard way. While some management may try to be nice about it, there very well may be legal & contractual issues which force enumeration and tracking of sick leave. After a lot of hand waving "don't worry about it" answers to preliminary queries about sick time logistics, I was told (after the fact) I had to take open-heart surgery as a vacation day.