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Extra Vacation for Candidate
Recruiting & Staffing
Extra Vacation for Candidate
Exchange ideas about sourcing, screening, interviewing, finding passive candidates, measuring your results, and more.
We are filling a difficult position and found a candidate that we like. We offer 3 weeks vacation but he wants an additional 5 days. I don't really want to set this precedent but don't want to lose th
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Forums » Topic Forums » Recruiting & Staffing » Extra Vacation for Candidate
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Extra Vacation for Candidate
posted at 6/25/2010 11:11 AM EDT
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
ewilliams4, I know exactly what you're saying, and I know it first hand.
I worked for a company that had a strict policy about vacations. We couldn't take part of a week off and we couldn't take more than one week consecutively. We had to request the time well in advance and it needed to be approved. We were not allowed to accrue vacation time, if we did not use it in the calendar year, we lost it. After 15 years I had earned the maximum 4 weeks vacation. We were understaffed and being a veteran employee, I was experienced enough to be able to fill in for a variety of positions. Consequently I was asked to reschedule my vacations 3 times to accommodate my employer's needs. The year was coming to an end and I was faced with losing a week because the only weeks off that worked with other people's vacation schedules were consecutive. No one was willing to switch. My employer made an exception and let me take off two weeks in a row. They did not think it would be fair for me to lose the time because I only did what they had asked. But this lead to perceptions you describe, my coworkers saw it as favoritism - even those who I had filled in for. I ended up quitting because my boss would not take a stand against the petty bullying that followed. This is why flexibility is so important; if policies are rigid, exceptions breed resentment. And fear of resentment shouldn't dictate how to make a business decision. |
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Extra Vacation for Candidate
posted at 7/2/2010 6:14 AM EDT
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Posts: 2
First: 4/9/2001 Last: 7/2/2010 |
HRBTH, I have taken Management 101 (and have 30 years experience) and rarely am I able to answer "why not" questions "to the employee's satisfaction." Frankly, your answer wasn't much help to the poster. How would YOU answer the "why not?" question? |
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Extra Vacation for Candidate
posted at 7/2/2010 7:10 AM EDT
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Posts: 1771
First: 10/24/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Wow, feeling a little hostile this morning, are we?
Given that I only have 20 years' management-level HR experience, I still believe that treating employees fairly and equitably does not mean treating them all exactly the same. Maybe when I get to 30 years this belief will change (though I somehow doubt it). When an employee comes to me and says "X just told me she has three weeks' vacation, and I only have two weeks' vacation, why can't I have three weeks' vacation too? I say: "First, I'm a little surprised that X is talking to people about her personal compensation package. That's kind of unprofessional, and I may have to speak to her about that. Be that as it may, though, the reason that X has more vacation time than you is that that's what she negotiated with us when she was hired/offered a promotion/at pay increase time. If you're really interested in getting another week's vacation time, talk to me again when it's pay increase time and/or you're being offered a promotion." In 20 years, I have had only one employee continue to bother me about this and it was because he didn't get it that if he negotiated an extra week's vacation time, he would probably have to forfeit some/all of his pay increase. When I explained this to him in greater detail, he opted for the pay increase instead of the extra week's vacation. (As most employees evidently do.) So there's your answer. I don't care one way or another whether or not you approve of it, as long as this response continues to work just fine for me, I will continue to use it with employees. (And BTW, in the last 18 months we've hired several - at least four - employees with extra vacation time, and only one has been complained about in the entire time. I gave my complainer my standard answer, and I haven't from her since on the subject - and neither has anyone else.) I hope your day gets a little better for you. |
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Extra Vacation for Candidate
posted at 7/2/2010 10:44 AM EDT
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
It is a poor management practice to reward everyone the same, equitably yes, but not the same. People are motivated by different things. People bring different talents to the table and the table needs different things at different times. Strawberries cost more in the winter, you either pay more or you go without.
Every good boss I ever had was able to help me understand how to get the rewards I wanted and it was always based on a business need. If this is a difficult position to fill, either no one internally wants to do it or they don't have the requisite skills. In this case it's easy to answer "why not" - because it is a difficult position to fill and we need to fill it to remain competative, productive, and viable. |
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