What is the real story on unlimited Vacation now? Are we still held, in an unwritten way, to the old policy (2 weeks, 3 weeks @ 5 years and/or B4, etc.)? If so, what are the consequences of going beyond that a couple days?
25 replies (most recent on top)
The existing "Unlimited Vacation” is just a simple LIE. The “Unlimited Vacation” policy just gives HR Plausible Deniability to state they do not have a QUOTA (which they do), and forces it on the manager to be the jerk who denies vacation, as they are told VERBALLY by HR, that there is a limit on vacation, and the manager is held responsible for employee vacation excess. Just a LIE. Nothing more or less. A Lie. HR again does the “verbal” policy statement, then says “look at the policy, there is no quote, it is up to the manager”, yea, exactly, which the manager is told they will be fired if “business” is impacted negatively within their group, so, they deny vacation. Happens all the time, don’t believe the mo–n management shills on this site, they will sell their children for their 2.5X, 4X and 6X MIPS, and their restricted stocks. As Band 4’s fight for crumbs for a 5% MIP, and Band 3’s get a goose egg. The Platform is burning, it is called Honeywell.
In Supply Chain we call it "The most vacation you can never take"
It's a joke. Unless you're European they have no challenges in taking their 6-8 weeks off.
Read the policy in HR Direct. Since vacation isn't unlimited they can ask you to work during vacation
You can take as much as you want but hey if they call you you have to work
I'm fortunate that my manager doesn't understand my work so he rarely asks questions even when I am in he office. I'm a band 4 director and will take a total of 6 weeks because I am a 31 year employee. And at Christmas if it's slow I will tack on a few more days
I took 6 weeks 2 days last year and will do at least that this year. Other poster is right on two counts. Plan/schedule way in advance and be brave as the May target you for RIF
I have 4 weeks taken now so I stay ahead of the curve they would have had to pay me under old policy
Only a few more years to retirement or RIF
Just another cash benefit they dont have to payout when you leave the company.
The only thing they did was trade a real vacation benefit for an empty promise of unlimited vacation then said they were doing you a favor. Just like all the other benefit squeezes.
@2qnd. Really a junior level director... and you took off over 6 weeks off last year and are working toward 7 week off this year, and you set this up in January and put it on your boss to work around your schedule...? I say B.S., vacations are being denied now for the mortals of this company, who have not put the mandatory hours in. vacation is now basically what was called comp time. In other words if you do not put the extra hours in, you do not get those hours back as vacation.
For your situation all i can say it sounds like you have no impact on business and could probably take six months off, without your effort being missed. Don't confuse director level (and above) entitlement with the situation the worker are dealing with.
My department got rid of vacation for Q3. You have to make up any hours you are away. Even sick leave.
Unlimited also means limited at Honeywell. On a whim. Because of a metric. Boss doesn't particularly like employee, etc. You earned nothing, and are owed nothing. It's another smokescreen.
Schedule way in advance and keep your EEI up. The company will have plenty of time to work around it. If something comes up last minute just move your vacation immediately after that need date. You’ll actually get more vacation time this way but your work days will be longer. One 10 hour work day plus one 8 hour vacation day gets you to 1.125. EEI satisfied and you get a vacation day for each day worked.
You should be able to pull off 8 weeks minimum of vacation a year without issue.
The joke is that there is no paid vacation at all,
one just receives some of the excess EEI hours worked.
Before and after one's vacation, make sure you get the EEI to where it needs to be !
30+ year employee junior level director with 15% MIP. I took 6 weeks last year and will take 7 weeks this year. Key is to plan way in advance If possible 3 or 4 months in advance. I am taking all of next week off and scheduled it in early January. Therefore if my manager couldn't schedule around it then it would show they are bad managers. Unlimited vacation was listed as a benefit therefore you should be taking at least as much as Band 3s. 4. Weeks at 10 years, 5 weeks at 20 years and 6 or more weeks at 30 years. I may press it and take 8 weeks
Other key is you need to be willing to be RIF'd which would be fine with me. House paid off, kids out of the house, no car loans, no credit card debt... No handcuffs on me
It’s not unlimited vacation - it’s undefined vacation - you are guaranteed 0 days
Isn’t it grand working for a company that resents and detests irs employees? There’s no fixing this, folks. Go get another job while the getting is good. This company went from being a great place to work to toxic. Corporate greed.
Boss told us unlimited at his descretion. When i have taken vacation i come back to a pile of work not done and asked for my plan to get it done. One of these times I think i just won't come back. Im getting on in age and really tired of it all.
OMG, you mean I get to take a paid day off, not at this company.
Any vacation time over your expected amount (based on the # of years at the company) will penalize your yearly merit increase unless you have worked boat loads of EEI. If you are working that much EEI, it's better to find a new job at a company that actually cares about its employees. You'll get more time away from work that way.
It probably depends on your site location, and if your boss is a doosh bag or not. Our site has been pretty lucky SO FAR. The rule of thumb is take what you normally got before the “unlimited” c-ap started. So far I have not heard of anyone here being denied vacation.
You get to cash out 0 PTO once you leave the company - as unlimited cannot be cashed out
Of course you won't get your vacation specially if you had 30 years in. Those days are gone. So much for "unlimited". Did you really believe they would let you take it?
Pretty much the same as @ecg noted. Accurate...
#UnlimitedVacation rants... here on thelayoff
Band 4 principal indirect. Previously 6 weeks. Held to 4 last year and anticipate same this year. Manager won’t say it directly.
I did overhear an aero manager at Deer Valley in the hall tell one of his employees to be very careful not to take more than three weeks because “someone’s keeping track of all of this”. COE begins with F ...
I see no reason with using unlimited vacation to its fullest when your EEI is maintained and your meeting your committed dates.
If you work 52 hours the first week you can then take a vacation the next week and you will make an EEI of 1.15. You can take every other week as a vacation week and still make EEI. Plan on taking lots of vacation! Just plan ahead so Honeywell is able to schedule accordingly and you are able to load your work level properly. Every other week is obviously a stretch but 6+ weeks per year should be easily doable.
Most people at honeywell are “vacation on duty” anyway.
I'm a Phoenix area T5 manager (Aero in ES). My folks have been taking vacation at about the previous accrual rates. There were absolutely no complaints when I let a couple of them have extra days last year. They both had been over the 2018 1.1 EEI goal, with good yield, and without even looking at the metrics, they had worked their butts off with good results for the business. But this year with the switch on emphasis from yield to daily direct labor, vacation now has a negative impact on the metrics. So I don't know if I'll have the same latitude this year. We're not at the 1.15 EEI goal, so I'm guessing I won't