How often do you guys take it if you take it at all?
Pretty sure I have negative vacation days if you count weekends worked. I do have two weeks with optionality for more depending (no set rule – that’s a benefit of a small firm) but basically I work all the time.
I use my four weeks every year.
I carried over 11 days this year and 7 the year before. my resolution is to use all my days this year.
Err… so I just checked my balance and I have 40 remaining vacation days. Not including the week long “mandatory leave” that I’ve already scheduled… Uhh…
I get 24 days a year and generally try to use it all up, but normally carry over ~5 days. At the moment I think I have 27 saved up.
I get two weeks. I try to take a full week in the summer and then scatter the rest throughout the year. I’ll extend 3 day weekends into 4 or 5 days or take an extra day when I travel for weddings.
My firm has a max 5 day rollover,
Is it wrong to take a vacation? i feel guilty asking for them…there is always work to be done.
I get 5 weeks plus a couple of floating holidays. Official policy is use it or lose it, but off-the-books carryover is provided on a case-by-case basis depending on individual performance. I use around 4 weeks and eat the rest, although anything over 2 consecutive days off tends to evolve into a working vacation.
Vacation days are pretty much a formality. I can go somewhere if I want, but if there is stuff to be done then I will do it. I have definitely done client calls and due diligence visits while technically on vacation. On the flip side, I like to spin business travel into vacation…like if I’m going to Singapore or California, why not take a week off and go to Indo or SD/SF? I work in a specialty area at a big bank, but I do not have mandatory vacation like Ohai.
I was transferred a few months ago and got jobbed with my vacation days. Not that I’m a big fan of taking vacations considering that traveling with two pre-schoolers is a nightmare, but still.
I get 15 days a year and 3 floating holidays. Our firms policy is that you can only have a max of 22 days banked, so if you hit 22 days of vacation, you stop accruing hours until you drop below the cap. The 3 floating holidays are use it or lose it.
Honestly I probably won’t take any time until November. Until then I’m too busy with CFA exam, followed by my 4 CPA exams that I have to take before Thanksgiving. Then I’m taking a week off to go sit on a beach somewhere, haha. I have to use my 1 floating holiday by July 1, so I was thinking of taking that the day before the CFA exam.
Do you guys have a backup when you’re off or do you have a pile stacked up when you comeback?
I get 4 weeks and try to use it all. I fall under some crazy Fed policy that requires me to take 10 consecutive business days off a year and technically I’m not even supposed to talk to anyone from work during that time. Oh to work at a G-SIFI/TBTF bank.
Uhm, 2 weeks I think but since it’s a small firm, pretty lenient as far as flexibility? I don’t think I’ve ever taken the two full weeks and I don’t think I’ve ever taken more than a week off (at a time) since I started here.
No backup while I’m gone. Generally expected to keep up with reading / news / portfolio while I’m gone, and (though I try to book vacation when things are slower) there’s generally an expectation that I’ll be a bit busier once I get back.
I usually take about 2 weeks. A week off in the summer and random days here and there.
Yeah, taking days off becomes an issue when you are the only person who does a certain job. You could train someone else to cover for you, but 1) that takes a lot of effort, and 2) this ultimately diminishes your importance, since your skills become less exclusive.
I’m not saying that you should intentionally withhold information from your coworkers, but eventually, every aspiring BSD becomes “the guy who does job ABC”. Inevitably, there will be somethings that only you know how to do, or that you do better than everyone else.
Anyway, the result is that people don’t use their vacation time. So either the vacation time goes away, or it spills over into the next year, where it also goes unused…
so BSD-ness is an increasing function of carry-over days (assuming equal carry-over rules). Guess I’m only a midsized-SD compared to some here.
I don’t think it means you are unimportant if you take a lot of vacation. This is just a recurring phenomenon that I’ve noticed for some people. Obviously, other things matter also (like paranoia).