A vacation is simply a leave of absence, either from regular employment, such as a job at a store, factory, office building, etc., for the purpose of tourism or recreation. Normally, people take a vacation either for certain festivals or celebrations, or on particular vacation observances. However, vacations are also frequently spent by families with friends. When we speak of vacations, we almost always refer to days when people go on vacation to spend time off from their regular jobs. But a vacation can also be a planned period of time away from home, either for traveling purpose, such as a cruise or a holiday in another state, or just out of a personal feeling of relaxation.
We have all heard stories about employees who take weeks off for vacation. They return from their trip with more tasks than they had before they left, and their employers find them to be under-employed and ask them to return to work after several weeks of vacationing. Vacation is not only for the employee. It can also be for the employer, who can use it to reduce his or her staff complement, save on training costs, and reduce employee turnover. VACATION PAYTHROUGH is an initiative that many companies, both large and small, are undertaking. This allows both sides to benefit: the employees get to take their vacations while the employers get to cut their staff and costs.
Vacation policies vary from company to company. However, in general most companies allow employees to take vacation days off, either as paid holidays or as sick days. In addition, some companies may pay employees who work off-site (on vacation) an additional vacation day off. The latter approach is especially common for employees working in Information Technology departments, where they are regularly offsite for periods of time (as much as 8 weeks out of the year).
Vacation days off for vacation is a relatively new concept. Only recently has it begun to catch on at a large scale, and many employers are still catching up. One of the reasons employers haven’t caught on yet is because they don’t understand the benefits of allowing their employees to take vacation time off. The fact is that it is an excellent way to both reduce costs and improve productivity.
Employers generally lose productivity when workers are given paid vacations. Not only do employees feel unappreciated when they are let go after a long period of time, but employers are not likely to give their employees paid vacations if it isn’t convenient for them. In particular, companies with a small geographic area usually have trouble offering vacation days off. In this case, employers must provide vacation days off that coincide with their employees’ regular work hours, which often conflict with the employee’s scheduled overtime. By allowing their employees paid vacations, employers are better able to avoid having to provide unnecessary overtime and avoid incurring additional costs from employees who are not using their vacation time effectively.
Many people believe that employers shouldn’t be allowed to give paid vacation. However, just like everyone else, employees deserve to get paid to enjoy spending time away from work. Giving employees paid vacation days makes good business sense and reduces overall costs associated with a work force that is not taking advantage of vacations. When employees have access to paid vacation days, they are more likely to use these days to break up long work weeks into meaningful breaks.