Vacation Benefits in Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Durham

[RedZin]

Originally Posted by bronskrat

It is VERY common to negotiate PTO, especially when coming from a company where you already earned a number of weeks. And especially in IT. Many companies offer increasing PTO with your years with the company but this can totally be negotiated. PTO is part of your package and everything can be negotiated. Other IT negotiations include paid cell phone (if you're in admin), ability to work from home (Citrix access, VPN, etc.), new development machine or laptop, or even an office (if you're a programmer that requires silence although difficult to pull off).

I think this depends on how high you are up the food chain. Director or VP? Sure.

Programmer? If you left a place where you got 6 weeks a year and your new company only offers 3 weeks a year?

Probably isn't gonna fly.

Signing bonus? Extra week or two the first year for part of signing package? Yeah.

[Jkgourmet]

With smaller size companies, I successfully negotiated for extra PTO several times.

First, we agreed upon an annual salary. Then, I divided that salary by 52 for the weekly pay, then subtracted one week from the annual salary. Then, I asked for an extra 40 hours of PTO with my annual pay reduced by that one week.

Worked every single time that there wasn't a written company policy about vacation time (as in an HR Department document).

This was just one of the many reasons that I much preferred working for small employers than large corporate entities. (except non-profits, who regularly gave more than market PTO to help compensate for the less than market salaries.)

[lb27608]

I've only worked for large employers (2,500+ employees) in this area. In all cases, PTO/vacation time was non-negotiable due to established corporate policy.

My previous job offered 4 weeks of PTO (leave for any reason, including vacation/sick time) for employees with <10 years of service. That jumped to 5 weeks at 10 years and then to 6 weeks at either 15 or 20 years. There were also 2 floating holidays available each year. You could carry over up to 6 weeks of PTO from one year to the next.

At my current employer, we accrue 3 weeks of vacation time per year for <10 years of service, then 4 weeks per year after that. Maximum carryover is 6 weeks, and there is also one floating holiday available. Sick time and time away for medical needs (doctor visits, etc.) are unlimited as long as you don't miss more than 10 consecutive days of work.

[newbeginning125]

Thanks everyone for your input. I really appreciate it

[Francois]

Originally Posted by newbeginning125

Thanks everyone for your input. I really appreciate it

As you've seen, the bottom line is, there is no "Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill" answer--it is the same everywhere: dependent on many factors but mostly the industry standard, how desperate they are for workers, and the company itself. In times of high demand for workers, benefits tend to go up to attract workers, but in times of high unemployment, employers realize they can cut some of the benes because people feel lucky to get a job at all. Most company websites will list packages in their Benefits section.

Working for the state has one of the more generous "time off" packages, with extra vacation earnings added with every 5 years of service (up to 20), but as far as the other "plum benefits" that state eployees allegedly get, most have been eroded aaway in the past few years. Insurance plans are better in private industry and working conditions these days are about as stressful in govt as anywhere, IMO.

[butterflies1375]

I work for a large public company. PTO is non-negotiable. The difference in weeks of PTO depend on if you are salary or non-salary. One starts at 2 weeks, the other 3 weeks. More is earned thru years of service.

[cchampagne232000]

I have never had a paid vacation. I need a new job!!!!!!