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We had people from foreign countries (employees, not H1-Bs) in our organization - Central and South America, Ethiopia, and India - who would take three to almost four weeks of time off in order to return home to see family, or so they said. Either way, these people were in other countries during their time off, so absolutely unreachable, and their PTO wasn’t at the end of the year when it’s slower or anything like that. There were no issues, some grumbling from people who picked up the slack, but no issues with the amount of time they took off. It shouldn’t be since it all has to go on our team and project availability calendars and get approved. They did it almost yearly as I understood it.
There definitely seem to be different standards for foreigners traveling home to see family, particularly if they're from anywhere in Asia. I hear it all the time..."it takes so long to get there," "wifi is spotty," "we're having rolling blackouts," etc.
If anyone else (and this includes European & South/Central American employees) wants to take 3-4 weeks off at a time and "work" remotely for part of it, they're laughed out the door.
Yes, I've spoken with my direct supervisor and higher management; all I get as a response is "unlimited within reason" with no answer about how "reason" is defined.
It is interesting how many people mention the two week vacations; I really never thought of that as a concern at all. I've known a lot of people with set vacation amounts (like 4 or 5 weeks a year) who always take their vacations in one big lump (so like they take a single 5 week long vacation once a year and that's it)
I'll discuss with my supervisor again and try to be more explicit instead of just asking a generic "what do you consider reasonable"
I do one 2 weeker a year and usually a 1 weeker but it is all about how you plan it.
For example, I do my 2 weeker around thanksgiving - I get thanksgiving off and the day after, so my 2 weeker becomes only 8 days off work, rather than 10.
Same with my 1 weeker ... I do it over presidents day, so I only miss 4 days of work instead of 5.
I agree with the several others who have said that two 2 week chunks seems excessive. We get 5 weeks a year at the highest accrual tier, and you can bank up to 6 weeks, so it's not like people don't have a generous amount of time off. But it's rare to see someone gone for 2 weeks at a time more than once per year, and not always once per year. My guess is that is what stood out more than the total number of days. But to be on the safe side, I'd take no more than 4 weeks next year, and only one 2 week chunk, even cut that back to 10 days total (including the weekend in between) and see if that gets you back under the radar.
I agree with the several others who have said that two 2 week chunks seems excessive. We get 5 weeks a year at the highest accrual tier, and you can bank up to 6 weeks, so it's not like people don't have a generous amount of time off. But it's rare to see someone gone for 2 weeks at a time more than once per year, and not always once per year. My guess is that is what stood out more than the total number of days. But to be on the safe side, I'd take no more than 4 weeks next year, and only one 2 week chunk, even cut that back to 10 days total (including the weekend in between) and see if that gets you back under the radar.
I get what you’re saying. However, some people travel internationally and when traveling overseas, a week just isn’t long enough. There’s a whole wide world beyond the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. I’m trying to see it. If I have the money and the time, I should be able to do go as I see fit with it, especially when it has been earned and approved.
But I get it, America is a live to work culture. They should add the stipulations onto PTO when a person comes in the door. At least there wouldn’t be surprises on either side.
I get what you’re saying. However, some people travel internationally and when traveling overseas, a week just isn’t long enough. There’s a whole wide world beyond the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. I’m trying to see it. If I have the money and the time, I should be able to do go as I see fit with it, especially when it has been earned and approved.
But I get it, America is a live to work culture. They should add the stipulations onto PTO when a person comes in the door. At least there wouldn’t be surprises on either side.
Two weeks is enough for most trips even if you need to limit trips of that length to one per year. And while it's nice to combine different destinations in one trip, there are still lots of places where you can go for a week at a time (including weekends on both sides) and get to see a big chunk of the world.
Bottom line is that OP's company made it clear that he's taking too much time off. Not America, but this specific employer.
Two weeks is enough for most trips even if you need to limit trips of that length to one per year. And while it's nice to combine different destinations in one trip, there are still lots of places where you can go for a week at a time (including weekends on both sides) and get to see a big chunk of the world.
Bottom line is that OP's company made it clear that he's taking too much time off. Not America, but this specific employer.
We’re just going to agree to disagree. I realize some people travel and lay on a beach all day or visit family for a few days. After a while, they are ready to come home. If I traveled to the same destinations every year, I’d be bored as well. Others look to explore and get the most out of the culture, the sites, the food, and various surrounding areas. They have places they are looking to go. Two weeks can work in some cases, not in all. A company is not going to dictate my bucket list of destinations, LOL, that’s crazy.
And it definitely is an America thing. I don’t have to get into how other countries get entire months off to holiday while we’re here discussing the wisdom of taking more than one two week vacation in year even with more than enough vacation time to cover!
But, I’ll just leave it here. I’m passionate about travel...
OP, I already gave my advice. Good luck and hopefully it all works out for you.
We’re just going to agree to disagree. I realize some people travel and lay on a beach all day or visit family for a few days. After a while, they are ready to come home. If I traveled to the same destinations every year, I’d be bored as well. Others look to explore and get the most out of the culture, the sites, the food, and various surrounding areas. They have places they are looking to go. Two weeks can work in some cases, not in all. A company is not going to dictate my bucket list of destinations, LOL, that’s crazy.
And it definitely is an America thing. I don’t have to get into how other countries get entire months off to holiday while we’re here discussing the wisdom of taking more than one two week vacation in year even with more than enough vacation time to cover!
But, I’ll just leave it here. I’m passionate about travel...
OP, I already gave my advice. Good luck and hopefully it all works out for you.
Stop being ridiculous. You can travel without taking a month off. You can travel multiple times per year for 3-4 days per trip.
A month and a half ago I saw a cheap ticket to iceland, I flew there on a whim for 3 days. You can just *travel* throughout the year without planning month long excursions.
Stop being ridiculous. You can travel without taking a month off. You can travel multiple times per year for 3-4 days per trip.
A month and a half ago I saw a cheap ticket to iceland, I flew there on a whim for 3 days. You can just *travel* throughout the year without planning month long excursions.
I agree with both sides. Yes, we can travel on a whim on shorter trips, and we've done that as well (Iceland for 5 days, over a weekend, with the timezone difference I was able to finish work on a Friday on the plane, spend Saturday through Tuesday in Iceland, and be back online by lunch time Wednesday)
But there are some trips that can't be done in only a few days. Eventually we want to go back to Iceland to do the Ring Road, and that's a minimum of 10 days. We also love to cruise and there are a lot of cruises that are 10-12 days on our bucket list. I know we can't do like a 4 month around the world cruise until we retire, but there are some trips we really need at least 2 weeks for.
The two two week trips we have for this year was a trip to Singapore (9 day cruise, 3 days in Singapore, 2 days flying time) and the next trip is a 12 night trans-Atlantic cruise.
Stop being ridiculous. You can travel without taking a month off. You can travel multiple times per year for 3-4 days per trip.
A month and a half ago I saw a cheap ticket to iceland, I flew there on a whim for 3 days. You can just *travel* throughout the year without planning month long excursions.
You stop being ridiculous. You don’t get to tell me how I should travel. You continue to take your company limited, “hit it and quit it” trips. Of course, I could take 3-4 days trips. I do that to visit the Caribbean and certain parts of the U.S. Not sure how I would have fared in Dubai or Egypt or Istanbul or taken a Mediterranean cruise, let alone Australia or Bali, but if you have some special technological secret where I could do those individual trips in 3-4 days, and truly experience those places, by all means share it with the rest of us. Dubai was my shortest trip of the above mentioned at 6 days and I took off 5 from work. I was going to spend 10 days traveling Morocco, but that trip was put on hold.
Unlike some, I don’t take off from work to go to the dentist/doctor or take the car in for service and I don’t have small kids where I need to plan for school activities and off days. I can get that stuff done before going to work or after work or over the weekend. I may take a sick day if I really am sick and for family emergencies (death or hospitalization) but otherwise, I’m at work. I don’t even take off for the holiday season. Most of my family is nearby so I don’t need to travel to see them. Why would I want to be off just to be off when it’s freezing cold that time of year where I live? And working just to take “staycations” just so I can be recharged enough to go back to work once again means I’m just living to work and I. don’t. live. that. way.
That’s fine if that’s what you do. I’m not going to judge your Iceland trip. And I never said I needed a month to travel - that was regarding co-workers who stated they were going back to their home country to visit family and they did it every year. Neither did I say every single one of my trips were 2 weeks. However, there is nothing wrong with a 2-week vacation when there is sufficient advanced notice. The fact that I’m getting jumped on about it just tells me how others feel about travel. It’s nothing surprising though. I discuss this with a lot of similar minded travelers who experience the same thing.
As I already said, I get it that people travel differently and depending on how their environment is, they either adjust or work where a two-week, a one-week, or 2-day vacation isn’t going to break the office environment.
You live how you live and I’ll continue to live how I will. I need to pack to fly to San Diego in the morning.
Last edited by mangomadness; 05-31-2018 at 06:11 PM..
You stop being ridiculous. You don’t get to tell me how I should travel. You continue to take your company limited, “hit it and quit it” trips. Of course, I could take 3-4 days trips. I do that to visit the Caribbean and certain parts of the U.S. Not sure how I would have fared in Dubai or Egypt or Istanbul or taken a Mediterranean cruise, let alone Australia or Bali, but if you have some special technological secret where I could do those individual trips in 3-4 days, and truly experience those places, by all means share it with the rest of us. Dubai was my shortest trip of the above mentioned at 6 days and I took off 5 from work. I was going to spend 10 days traveling Morocco, but that trip was put on hold.
Unlike some, I don’t take off from work to go to the dentist/doctor or take the car in for service and I don’t have small kids where I need to plan for school activities and off days. I can get that stuff done before going to work or after work or over the weekend. I may take a sick day if I really am sick and for family emergencies (death or hospitalization) but otherwise, I’m at work. I don’t even take off for the holiday season. Most of my family is nearby so I don’t need to travel to see them. Why would I want to be off just to be off when it’s freezing cold that time of year where I live? And working just to take “staycations” just so I can be recharged enough to go back to work once again means I’m just living to work and I. don’t. live. that. way.
That’s fine if that’s what you do. I’m not going to judge your Iceland trip. And I never said I needed a month to travel - that was regarding co-workers who stated they were going back to their home country to visit family and they did it every year. Neither did I say every single one of my trips were 2 weeks. However, there is nothing wrong with a 2-week vacation when there is sufficient advanced notice. The fact that I’m getting jumped on about it just tells me how others feel about travel. It’s nothing surprising though. I discuss this with a lot of similar minded travelers who experience the same thing.
As I already said, I get it that people travel differently and depending on how their environment is, they either adjust or work where a two-week, a one-week, or 2-day vacation isn’t going to break the office environment.
You live how you live and I’ll continue to live how I will. I need to pack to fly to San Diego in the morning.
You already said "when traveling overseas, a week just isn't long enough", which isn't true, in my experience. I'd actually say 2-3 weeks is too long to stay in one place at one time without getting restless.
You don't need two weeks to 'fully experience' a place. You're not getting jumped. People are disagreeing with you. either of us are right or wrong, we just have different opinions. Honestly, if a person lives to travel, I'd hope they eventually find a job they enjoy, so they aren't counting down the hours until their next vacation in their day to day life.
Last edited by Lekrii; 05-31-2018 at 06:55 PM..
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