Graduated from college with BS in engineering in Spring '06 and been working since Fall of 2006. Employer is small private engineering firm (~25 people). How much vacation should I have/did you have in a similar experience? In addition to vacation we get 7 paid holidays, and sick days are take/given as needed at my manager's discretion. Thanks in advance
I don't have similar experience but since there has been no replies, I'll give you my situation. I've been with my company (30,000 employees) since '02 and get 19 paid vacation days (including 2 personal days) along with 9 paid holidays. Sick days as needed. I think that's pretty good. You should at least get 2 weeks. Someone that's been with our company gets 13 days (including the 2 personal days).
I interned at a ~200 employee manufacturing company as an Engineering intern. My boss got 10 days of vacation a year when he started, and that number did not increase over time. I believe he said his boss, the head of engineering, got 3 weeks.
did wrote:
Graduated from college with BS in engineering in Spring '06 and been working since Fall of 2006. Employer is small private engineering firm (~25 people). How much vacation should I have/did you have in a similar experience? In addition to vacation we get 7 paid holidays, and sick days are take/given as needed at my manager's discretion. Thanks in advance
I graduated with a BS in engineering in Spring '07 and have been working since summer '07. I work for a small private engineering firm (~30 people). I got 8 paid holidays and 14 days of PTO (sick and vacation days). At the 4 year mark I get upped to 19 days of PTO.
Three weeks of vacation, minimum, to start. Increasing to 4 weeks after two years.
No less than two weeks of paid sick time.
No less than one week of paid family illness time. You'll need this if you ever have kids. Also related to kids, make sure you get at least two paid days to participate in school functions.
No less than 10 paid holidays.
Unlimited paid appointment time. Example: If you have a dentist/car repair/personal business appointment that takes you out of the office for two hours, you get that time paid without dipping into your vacation or sick time.
If you take anything less than this, you're either a sap or about to land employment with an unscrupulous company. Get everything in writing.
I don't know how much you should have, but here's my situation.
I work for a large, public research university. I get 22 days of paid vacation per year (4.4 weeks), sick/medical leave when I need it, and 11 paid holidays.
The company I work for 15 employees. 8 Paid holidays.
10 days vacation first 5 years.
After 5 years 15 days. After 10 years 20 days paid vacation. Can rollover vacation days. 6 sick paid days but they are use it or lose it.
You must be in a public sector union.
Don't Get Jerked Around wrote:
Three weeks of vacation, minimum, to start. Increasing to 4 weeks after two years.
No less than two weeks of paid sick time.
No less than one week of paid family illness time. You'll need this if you ever have kids. Also related to kids, make sure you get at least two paid days to participate in school functions.
No less than 10 paid holidays.
Unlimited paid appointment time. Example: If you have a dentist/car repair/personal business appointment that takes you out of the office for two hours, you get that time paid without dipping into your vacation or sick time.
If you take anything less than this, you're either a sap or about to land employment with an unscrupulous company. Get everything in writing.
Whatever dude. Guys at Goldman aren't getting that kind of vacation but they can retire at half the age you will. Big saps they are.
Well I don't know about super lucrative finance jobs, but if it comes down to a bit more money or a bit more vacation time I'll take the vacation hands down. I like to spend my vacation days getting out into the hill country, and while I'll probably still be able to do some of that stuff at 50+, it won't be at nearly the same level and probably won't be nearly as fun as it is now in my 20s.
Anyways, I graduated in 2009 with a BSME, started Feb 2010 at a 3000 employee company. I get 10 paid holidays, 15 days paid vacation (20 after 6 years, can accrue 50), 15 days paid sick leave (use it or lose it). Occasionally I have to work on a holiday, in which case I can save it to use later as a vacation day.
That plan works pretty well for me, as it gives quite a few long weekends which is my choice way of taking vacation.
'get 19 paid vacation days (including 2 personal days) along with 9 paid holidays.'
Hey? What's the difference between vacation days and holidays?
I work as an engineer for a 60+/- person manufacturing firm and the PTO schedule is 5 days after 6 months, 10 days per year after 1 year service, 15 days per year after 7 years service. 7 paid holidays per year. No accrual, "use it or lose it". There is no sick time on the books, but its understood that employee is paid when they're sick so long as it's evident the employee is not abusing the policy. Some people will say this is pretty meager/punitive but the company makes money which makes me feel secure about the job. Jobs aren't welfare so you can't expect your employer to treat it as such.
The difference between a holiday and a vacation day: A holiday would be a paid day off for, say, New Years Day, Thanksgiving Day, or Labor Day. A vacation day would be any old workday you schedule off and your employer pays you for that day.
Vacation time is the easiest of all things to negotiate on the way in. I think typically, employers give 2 weeks initially, 3 weeks after 5 years, 4 weeks after 10 years. But it varies.
Anytime I've ever transferred jobs I've asked for 3 weeks and received it. That might be more difficult if you are fresh out of college, but if you transfer later in your career, odds are you can get it just by asking.
Thanks for the input, very much appreciated as I go into my year end review this week. Based on the responses and some info from other people it seems the biggest reason for my vaca discrepancy (I have 10 days vac on top of the 7 paid holidays) is that I work for a small firm as opposed to a big company
At one of the companies I worked for, we got 20 days...this was for everything, vacation and sick; it was just PTO - you didn't have to give the reason. On top of that, 9 company Holidays.
At the other end, I worked for a company that gave us one week off, and you had to be there for a year first.
DocLove wrote:
'get 19 paid vacation days (including 2 personal days) along with 9 paid holidays.'
Hey? What's the difference between vacation days and holidays?
Vacation day is a day you choose to take off and still get paid (often with approval from supervisor)
Paid holidays are days you don't go to work (like Christmas, Labor Day, etc.) but you still get paid.
kartelite wrote:
Guys at Goldman aren't getting that kind of vacation but they can retire at half the age you will. Big saps they are.
Hahahaha. The "guys at Goldman" that you are talking about aren't taking ANY vacation at all. They live, breath, eat work.
I work at a car dealership. Most dealerships don't offer much in the way of benefits anymore. I get 10 PTO days a year that have to cover everything, holidays, sick days, vacation. On top of that my health insurance is $790 a month for my portion. I have been here 19 years. It sucks but at my age it isn't so easy to switch companies, and most other dealers are not much different.
I get 25 days + 8 days public holidays (work in accounts)
This is average for uk - the legal minimum is 4 wks + everyone gets the public/bank holidays days
Read it and weep America!
Of course half the country is dossing at home on benefits