On 7/6/05, Lois Brynes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> WOW. In many (?most?) Museums and all--I would hazard--Universities,
> sick-time does not carry over. We went through quite a hassle at one time
> when staff wanted to "pool" sick-leave for an ill colleague.

Yep. The answer to the time off question is that there is no standard.
It used to be that the "standard" across industry was 2 weeks of
vacation and a week of sick leave per year. After 3-5 years, you'd get
3 weeks of vacation and 2 weeks of sick leave and 10-15 years, you'd
go up to 4 weeks of vacation and 3 weeks of sick leave.

Now I've noticed in industry at least, the trend is to go to a PTO/PTA
system (personal-time-off/allowed) where you get about 3 weeks or 120
hours per year to do with as you please. You don't have to get a doc's
note if you're sick or differentiate between sick leave and vacation
time. It's all one pool. I think my company bumps up to 160 hours
after 5 years and up to 200 hours after 10/15 years. We can carry over
up to the amount we earn in a year.

But there are still some places that don't allow you take off any time
for 3 months to a year after you start unless it is an emergency or
you don't earn any vacation time for that amount. In Europe, the
standard is 4-6 weeks of vacation per year and some places don't have
a sick leave policy. You take off when you need it.

Since more and more places are offering flex time where you can make
up hours and work whatever schedule you want, vacation time isn't as
important. I have flex time so I don't take that much time off, esp.
for doc's aprts and sick days. I can work from home if I can't come in
and I can make-up hours if I miss a day. So if I'm gone a week, I
might only use 2-3 days of vacation time because I make up the rest.

My personal philosophy is you give people what you can afford to pay
them. Smaller companies can't afford to give people generous vacation
time but might be able to make up for it with flex time. Obviously if
you have a museum that is open standard hours, you need people to
cover it, but if you give your employees freedome to cover other
people's shifts and adjust their work schedule to fit their personal
schedule (within reason) they will be a lot happier than if you give
them tons of vacation time.

Deb

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