For Compuquip’s 31+ years in business we have always had the “use it or lose it” policy when it came to vacation. Well thanks to Jorge Azcuy, our Director of Technical Services, not any more…
As we continue to adapt to the current economic climate as well as the business environment to attract and retain the best and brightest team members we need to stay up to date with our benefits packages. That’s why we recently implemented a vacation buy back program.
Every January we send out a note to all employees reminding them to schedule their vacations with as much advanced notice as possible to help us plan properly. Realistically, most people don’t plan their vacations until a few weeks / months before so it’s tough to gauge early in the year. So as usual, when we approach November we send out a follow up reminder to all employees asking to schedule their vacation before they lose it. We also remind them it will be approved on a first come, first served basis.
The November reminder is what triggers the massive wave of vacation requests for the last two weeks of the year with the comment “I don’t want to lose them so I might as well take them”. Being in the IT Services business makes the holidays the most challenging time for vacation, because everyone wants to take it off. Sure I would love to close our office down for 2 weeks like the schools do and send everyone home to relax with their families for the holidays, but the reality is that our clients are working through the holidays and that means we have to be there too.
So we implemented a vacation buy back program this year that allows our employees to submit their unused vacation days to be reimbursed. So now, they have the flexibility that if they can’t take the days off or if they want a little extra cash at the end of the year, they can submit the days and get reimbursed.
We just announced it and it seems to be very positively received by the team. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
Full Disclosure: I’m a big believer in regular vacations and think its good practice for everyone to take time off and get a break to recharge the batteries. Personally I don’t usually take a full week or multiple weeks, my approach is several shorter vacations throughout the year, mostly 3-day weekends to disconnect. I prefer the shorter more frequent breaks versus the once or twice a year longer vacation. But that’s just me.
