The Trouble With Vacation Time
Who owns vacation time, the company, or you?
In Did You Miss Out on Vacation This Year? You’re Not Alone, Noam Scheiber describes the impact of Covid-19 on business policies regarding ‘carrying over’ — or losing — unused vacation time at the end of the year:
Many companies that already allow employees to carry vacation days into the next year — like Goldman Sachs (generally up to 10) and Spotify (generally up to 10) — have not felt the need to change their policies.
The same is true for some companies that pay workers for their unused vacation days.
Neither General Motors nor Ford Motor, whose hourly workers can cash out unused vacation days at the end of the year, is making changes this year.
But many workers may find themselves unable to take vacations that they postponed: Salaried workers at both automakers ordinarily lose unused vacation days at the end of the year without compensation.
Other companies have taken steps that could defuse a potential human resources headache and, they say, benefit their work forces in difficult times.
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Several experts said a philosophical question loomed over vacation benefits: Is the point to ensure that workers take time off? Or are vacation…
