How Many Vacation Days Did You Use This Year?

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how many vacation days did you use this year

How many vacation days did you use this year, readers — and what did you DO with your vacation? As this year comes to a close, it's always a great idea to review your vacation days to make sure you're using them properly (especially if they're use-or-lose!), and we'd love to hear how many of you are already planning for vacations next year! When we've asked in the past about vacation time, 40% of you had used less than 50% of your time for the year (whoa!).

I've never had the luxury of working a job where vacation days rolled over, so I've always tried to make the most of vacation time by taking a lot of long weekend vacations and staycations. For the past few years with the kids, I've told myself to just buy airline tickets as soon as we have the school calendar, and deal with hotels and research as the trip gets closer — to force us to actually go places — but I'm still struggling to master the vacation that is planned really early. We're looking at some international travel this summer, as well as a trip to “Harry Potterland” (Universal Studios) that my 7-year-old may or may not accept as a viable Christmas present, but we've yet to pull the trigger on anything.

For those of you who are great at vacation planning (or finding fabulous vacation packages), I'd love to hear from you: How many months ahead are you planning? If you get, say 20 days of vacation for 2019, how many do you vacation days do you “use” ahead of time? For those of you with partners, if you get more vacation (or less) than your partner, how do you deal? 

Since the stock photo features a bag — and it is the season for gift-giving — anyone have any favorite travel gear to shout out? I've heard great things about Away luggage but I haven't tried it yet.

How many vacation days did YOU use this year? If you're wondering what's normal vacation use is for career women -- and want to see how they make the most of their vacation time -- then this is the post for you! Lots of comments from women lawyers, professors and more!

87 Comments

  1. I have what corporate America would consider very reasonable vacation time . . . so where does it all go? I have not taken more than 3-4 days at a time in forever, but I plan to take a 10-day trip next year when my daughter is studying in France. The last few years, I have been taking a day here and 2-3 days there for college visits and travel sports. As I type this out it sounds kind of sad, but I am not sad. This is just where my life is right now, with two kids in college on opposite ends of the country and another playing travel sports. I am OK with this.

  2. Good question! I took my birthday off, 4 days to Mexico, 6 days to Ireland, 4 days to Italy, 2 days for the firm retreat, and maybe 4 more days total for working half days for kid-related stuff.

    At my firm, we can pretty much take as much time as we want as long as we hit our hour and money targets for the year.

      1. Well we go away for a long weekend. But I do not really have a vacation allotment so I do not have to report it to anyone. I just count it for myself as days I took off…

  3. I have a unicorn situation for this board. Military lawyer in Canada with 25 days, minimum, and I take them all. (My husband has the same). We also get extra leave for working outside of regular hours and a couple of free days at Xmas….So we take three full weeks in the summer, three full weeks at Xmas and usually a week at march break, plus a few long weekends of Fridays or Mondays off through out the year. Stats help stretch it out.

      1. I’m in Canada and have 3 weeks (+4 sick days and one personal day), which is more than the legal minimum of 2. I like my job and my life (and health insurance) but just a warning that the above poster has a unicorn situation even for Canada.

        1. Absolutely. Definitely unique even in Canada. I have to explain to my husband all the time that most Canadians are lucky to get two weeks of vacation. I pursued this job, aggressively. I had high student loans (for Canada – 75K) and could have barely afforded to one kid, let alone four if I didn’t seek out this job.

          1. Wait – isn’t two weeks the stat minimum? Then 3 weeks at 5 years with an employer? This is the case in Ontario at least – I didn’t realize other provinces didn’t have a statutory floor of 2 weeks.

          2. I *think* it generally is the minimum (without looking it up) but SO many people have jobs that are structured to avoid it. Basically my entire extended family works in forced “part-time” jobs where they aren’t guaranteed a full time job and work just under those hours and therefore they are given any paid vacation. You also need to be in the job for a year to accumulate the leave (you do get the pro-rated vacation pay per pay period), so I know a number of people who get hired and let go seasonally who never qualify.

          3. Oh that’s true, I forgot how many companies take the fake part-time approach. That is so annoying.

      2. There are days when I pinch myself. We have amazing benefits and pay. The pension is crazy and we receive 93% of our salary for one year mat leaves (with option to spread same amount of money over 18 months). Everyone is expected to take the mat leave and we aren’t permitted to carry over, or not use, annual leave. Oh, I and absolutely love the work. Exciting and interesting. Now…I did do Basic Training as a doughy 32 year old after 8 years of private practice and left for it the day after I got married, spent the first year of my marriage away from mu husband, and we moved 7 times in ten years…but je ne regretted rien!

        1. See, I am also Canadian and I think it would be really cool to work for the military in a non-soldier capacity, but it’s the basic training that gets me. It would probably kill me.

    1. I work for a bank in Canada and I get 23 paid vacation days per year plus unlimited sick days. I can also work from home as often as I want, which is nice when I’m tired or just not feeling like getting presentable.. or when it’s cold/snowstormy — the company VPN has crashed more than once during a snowstorm on account of everyone working from home lol. I can’t imagine working in any other conditions (except my cousins in the UK who get 5 – 8 weeks off every year…!)

      1. Oops forgot to add what vacation did I take. I take every single vacation day, but this year they changed how you accrue days, so everyone got an extra 18 days. So far, I’ve taken 33 and am hoarding the 14 days because I have two major trips next year (London & Copenhagen in the spring, Australia in the fall — yayyy having friends and family abroad!). I usually take the two weeks off at Christmas, but I’m just going to work from home for the two weeks. I have a lot of strategy and thinking work I need to get on to plan for the upcoming year — it’s the perfect time for me to do that and still get to go to yoga every day.

    2. Definitely unicorn!

      Canadian as well and I get 20 days of vacation plus 2 personal days and at least 1 lieu day/year. I use them all: sometimes going away (FL next month!), sometimes to run errands (Black Friday shopping!) and sometimes to stay at home and just deal with all those house things that pile up and you can never do during a regular week.

      As well, I can work from home as much as I want (minimum 3 days/week) and take as much time off for appointments as needed (I generally make up this time but don’t feel guilty taking 4 hours to see a surgeon in the middle of the day) and going home right after).

  4. Quick threadjack but I’m having a tough day. Yesterday, I found out my ex suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. We were together for many years and ended things a few years back, but this is still hitting me harder than I thought it would. Part of me feels like I don’t have the right to be upset since we’ve both moved on and made other lives for ourselves (he got married, I got cats). Anyway, I’m having trouble getting through this work day (I have to be at work today for our holiday party, ugh; going to take off tomorrow). Any advice for getting me through today?

    1. You have every right to be upset. A friend who you were incredibly close to for many years passed away unexpectedly. My advice would be to try to be in the moment as much as you can and enjoy the Holiday party. Eat some yummy food. I’ve been dreaming about potatoes for days. Don’t imbibe too much and the day will go by quicker than you think.

    2. I think this is a huge event although I can understand why it could feel a bit surprising. My high school boyfriend’s best friend (I knew him very well; think of two couples hanging out together for 3 years) died unexpectedly of a heart attack in his 40’s. Although I had not seen this person in 20 years, I was devastated to hear the news. It honestly haunted me for weeks. And I’m very practical, definitely skew towards the non-emotional plus he was not *my boyfriend.”
      Hang in there. I’m so sorry for your loss.

  5. We always have an influx of vacation days, fridays off, and half days during December at our company. I realized last week that I still had 6.5 days of PTO that I have to use or lose by the end of the year, so I’m working 3-day weeks this and next, and taking off half days during Xmas to NYE. For Monday and Fridays, I am taking kids to daycare so I get a real day off! It’s amazing!

    I have 15 days PTO/yr based on number of years with the company, but since I was out on maternity leave I didn’t use any for the first three months of 2018.

  6. I have a lot of vacation days and I take them all! 27 vacation days plus two personal days. This year it was two two-week trips, two one-week trips, and various other long weekends. Plus I took two weeks family sick leave when my husband had a bad bike accident in the fall. I almost never get sick and this year was no exception.

    Government lawyer, been on the job a long time. Our vacation policy is use it or lose it, and the culture is to take it all.

    1. Wait do I not know how to do math? Isn’t two 2 weeks 10+10 days, two 1 weeks is 5+5 so that’s 30 days right there? And then you also had other long weekends?

      Jealous over here….

    2. I hope your husband is doing okay from the accident! I had a crash a few weeks ago during a race and fortunately got away with what looks like a minor fracture. You’re very exposed out there on the bike (especially if you ride on the road; I’m mostly in the off-road side of the sport).

      1. Thanks, cbackson! He has a few cracked ribs and a couple of cracked vertebrae and a nasty bump on the head. He’s coming along but when the neurosurgeon (who didn’t, mercifully, have to operate) said “you’re going to feel lousy for weeks and weeks and weeks,” he was right.

        And believe it or not this crash was on a bike path!

    3. IIRC, aren’t you in CA? Use it or lose it vacation policies are unlawful in CA, since accrued vacation time is considered a form of wages (although employers can set an accrual cap). Not knocking on you taking all your vacation, but you should check to make sure that the policy is legal!

  7. Big law in Canada. I get 4 weeks (20 days), and I typically take 1 week in March, 1 week in the summer and the week before Christmas + the 2 days the office is open during Christmas week (i.e. 2 weeks off but only about 7 vacation days used). So I have 3-4 vacation days to spare (often the spring or summer week is only 4 days because of a holiday).

    I find it is easier to use vacation days in chunks, because then people will try to plan around it/have coverage as much as possible, as opposed to a long weekend here or there – since everyone is expected to work weekends, it doesn’t really allow for anyone to cover for you on files. I also would rather have a week in a place so that if there are 2 days I’m working 10 hours plus a few hours each day, I still have lots of time to sight-see/etc. – versus planning 3 or 4 days somewhere only to spend half or more of the time working. My firm is at least good about not caring if you use all your vacation days, provided you meet hours and ensure things don’t fall through the cracks.

    1. Guess I should specify this doesn’t count sick days, which are unlimited (barring long periods of leave which would then turn into some other type of medical leave).

  8. I have one of those law firm jobs with unlimited vacation time (with the caveats that unless you specifically work it out ahead of time, you are expected to be available on your vacation, and you are not supposed to be out of the office for more than a week at a time). I usually bill 2-3 hours a weekday when I’m gone. This year I took 2 days off in January to visit my family, 2 days off in March for a conference, 2 days off in May for a conference, 4 days off in July for a conference, 3 days off in September for a conference, 2 days off in October for a wedding, and 3 days off in November for a conference, plus the Friday after Thanksgiving. I also probably took about 5 days off, scattered through the year, because I was feeling ill enough I didn’t want to come into the office.

    1. I forgot the fun stuff! I took an additional 3 days off in March for a friend vacation, and an entire week off in June for an international trip with my boyfriend (the June vacation was notable because I billed fewer than four hours the whole week).

    2. This doesn’t sound like you took any REAL vacation at all! Probably the real intent of the policy…

      1. Some states quantify vacation earned as compensation earned, so I always feel like this is a ploy to get out of paying people out when they leave or are fired.

  9. There wasn’t any cap at our company and people tended to roll their days over year after year and company culture is such that no one goes anywhere more than a week at a time (typically during Christmas/New Year). Next year they will start to put a cap on our rollover to encourage folks to take days off. Well I said scr3w company culture now and used all of my 20 days per year on 3 international trips (one was really an emergency trip home, helped by comp time and rollover from previous year). Without the emergency trip, I usually save about a week for said emergency or random days when I don’t feel like coming in.

  10. I only had 10 days this year. :/ I spent 4 on the flu. 1 on a hangover, and then, when I realized I would be quitting my job and moving elsewhere, I took of 2 days for fun, and one day with a stomach bug. And, I lost 2 days in the end. At my current job, I get 12 days next year. No plans for them yet. I just hope I don’t get the flu again!

    Last year I took off 5 days around Christmas to go on a road trip visit my parents and my SOs parents and some friends, but that was so exhausting I don’t think I’ll ever do it again.

  11. I have 25 and I used all of them. 10 were for maternity leave though, to extend my 12 weeks parental/sick leave for 14 weeks total. Then 5 days in Maine, 5 days in the Caribbean and 5 days (not all at once) for assorted family long weekends. I thought I would have an easier time accruing vacation now that I have a child but that hasn’t been true at all – we still travel, plus now we have extended family that really wants to see the baby!

  12. None :( I spent the first half of the year miserable in a PhD program (absolutely no PTO for lowly research assistants), subsequently quitting said miserable program, and then got a new job in June. Lots of good things about the new job, but major downside is that it only gives two weeks of vacation and no personal days (versus the nearly four weeks of vacation + 5 days personal time I had at the job I was at prior to entering miserable PhD program… it’s been a year of much regret!) As of now I’ve accrued almost one week of vacation time. I’m saving it up for a trip to Italy next year.

    1. Reading other comments above, I should add that I am grateful to also get decent sick time in addition to vacation, so I am lucky to never have to ‘spend’ vacation time on things like the flu.

  13. I get 15 days. I took 5 for a summer vacation, one for Good Friday, 4 between Christmas and NYE, and 10 because my mom died. Grateful for an understanding firm that let me.

  14. Not being able to just take days off is one of the hardest parts about being an attorney in my opinion. This year I took 4 for an international trip and 3 for a domestic trip. That’s pretty normal unfortunately I think, and I couldn’t have done much more and hit my hours. I sometimes wish I had a job where you can actually take a “vacation day” or “sick day”.

  15. I get 15 days (plus one extra day as compensation for a training day) and I’m going to use them all. I used 11 days over the summer, 1 for my birthday long weekend, and 4 this Christmas. Plus my office is closed for a week over Christmas (paid) so I’ll have four weeks off this year in total. I’m not a lawyer.

  16. Corporate world 20 days used them all, but wow they go quick
    February – took by grandmother out to Palm Springs so she could spend a few weeks with my parents and then made the return trip back = 5 days
    April – vacation with DH to France & Spain = 8 days (and could have stayed longer)
    June – 1 day off to take niece and sister-in-law to Taylor Swift, because I’m the cool aunt
    September – 1 day for DH and my annual camping trip, because he likes to camp and I like the smores
    December – 5 days for the holidays, majority of time will be spent with DH, my parents, my sister’s family on the beach in Mexico

  17. Trade organization in DC. I took:
    7 days in January for a school trip to the UAE (10 day trip total)
    2 days in March to extend my time in Texas after a conference
    1 day in May to attend my college reunion and see my family (both in Massachusetts and it was over Memorial Day and I took a WFH day so it was a five-day trip)
    1 day to go to Mexico after I finished my MBA in August (I had the weekend and two more days for Labor Day, so it was a four-day trip)
    3 days at Thanksgiving to have a full week off with family
    And I leave next Thursday to go to Europe for 15 days for the holidays (total of 7 days vacation, some of it in 2019, thanks to office closures)! 21 days total, which is about how much I accrue in a year but I carried vacation over from last year and will do so again in 2019.

  18. I work in higher ed and get 5.5 weeks of PTO, the week between Christmas and New Year’s off, a few holidays, and summer Fridays (half days from May – August). This was an odd year because I used all of my PTO during my maternity leave but generally I roll over a small amount. I joke that I am stuck here forever because once you get used to this much paid time off, it’s difficult to go elsewhere, even when the pay is higher.

  19. I’m a government lawyer and get 19 days of vacation a year (and 13 sick days that I never use). I took 5 days for a vacation in January, 8 days for a vacation in October, and I’ll take 4 days off the week of Christmas. I took one random day off in the summer too.

  20. All my PTO this year went to orthodontist appointments, writing my thesis, or medical appointments (sick days are okay for unplanned illness/unable to work, but PTO must be used for planned tests/procedures). I’m also a caregiver and unable to travel for pleasure from 2015 until…whenever he dies.

    No wonder I’m cranky.

  21. I’m 100% commission so, I have either no or 365 vacation days, depending on how you want to spin it. That said, I also I can never, ever take a true unplugged vacation. Woof.

  22. Engineering, entry-level
    15 vacation days, I took all of them. I also had 10 sick/personal days that I used all of between the flu and wisdom teeth surgery.

  23. Solo practitioner. Took 5 days in July and will take 7 days post Xmas.And the week before Xmas nothing really happens anyway. Took a couple of one days off other than that.
    Not enough!! Need to take more time next year. But I do love my job and I feel like I’ve got a lot of flexiblity.

  24. I currently get 20 days of vacation and 3 personal days (and 9 sick days). We accrue monthly and I don’t think there’s any cap to what we can roll over. I didn’t take any big trips this year but a lot of it went to maternity leave (I got four weeks paid by my office, 4 weeks of STD, and and I used 12 vacation days beyond that. I’m a big fan of random days off. My husband is in his first professional job with true PTO so 2019 will probably be the first year for real family vacations.

  25. I get 25 PTO days / year. 1 year carry over allowed, so last year (2017) I took a few days off but was still taking hours from 2016 and didnt eat into my 2017 accrual at all. So I had a max possibly 50 PTO days to take this year. Plus the whole company gets the full week off between Christmas and New Years plus ~10 holidays. It sounds like amazing benefits, especially given how much we work, but I know almost no one who actually takes much of it. There’s one person who does, and then everyone on the team gets annoyed that she’s always gone–that’s just sort of the environment.

    The PTO I booked this year looks to be about 13.5 days (plus my holidays), and I will take off the week between Christmas and New Years. Unfortunately, that means I lose a whole lot of PY accrued PTO that I can’t carry over again (~11.5 days worth).

    I took a week-long trip to Europe the week of July 4th and left my cell phone and laptop at home, and the freedom and relaxation was AMAZING. I also did a week-long solo road-trip through the American southwest around Labor Day, but billed about 10 hours that week. Lost a few more half-days to working at home with the flu. And took a couple of mental sanity days.

    Next year, I’ve made it a goal to not lose any of my carry over time from this year. So I’ve already scheduled several weeks of PTO, including 1 week in July, 2 weeks in September, and 3 weeks at Christmas, plus a few random days scattered throughout the year. Now I just need to stick to it and actually disconnect!

  26. Junior associate at a midlaw insurance defense firm (6 months in), started the job with regular accrual basis, they changed it about two months ago to “unlimited” as long as you make your hours, and so far I’ve taken one for a long weekend. Not really sure how I’m going to take any meaningful vacation if I have to literally make it all up, since it’s quite feast or famine here and all the feasting goes to the trusted senior associates.

    Previously I worked 2 ish years at a small (5-8 people on average) corporate defense firm, with the standard two business weeks. Didn’t take any vacation for 1.5 years because the work was batshit crazy and I was afraid I would get vindicative emails about the place burning down each day I was away, but ended up taking 10 days (inclusive of weekends), about two months before quitting. Still got vindicative passive aggressive emails, which definitely encouraged me to fast track to quitting.

    Basically trying to ride out this law firm life until I’m competitive for in house positions, which is where my interests really lie. I love breaking down a legal question or complex set of facts, but make me listen to opposing counsel drone or have to talk them down and I am already SO over the whole concept.

  27. 28 days, took them all. A couple long international trips, a couple short ones, some padding around Christmas and NYE… It’s the first year I have taken all my holiday, and I’m really happy I did.

  28. Also can I just vent about something that happened years ago that I’m still mad about?

    I was an associate at a firm and of course I never took my vacation so I had, like a month or two of vacation built up. Probably worth in the very low five figures at that point. Under the laws of my state, if I’d quit they’d have had to pay me for those days, of course. Well, I was made an equity partner. So I’m no longer an employee. And I had to put up a bunch of money to buy in to the partnership.

    And those vacation days? Poof! They just disappeared. Didn’t get paid for them, didn’t even get the value applied to the buy-in.

    Still irked about that…

  29. We technically get 3 weeks, but I don’t think anyone tracks it or cares as long as you meet your billable hours requirement for the year (lawyer). I usually take close to that, usually with two week-long trips and a few scattered long weekends or days off around the holidays. This year, I took 10 days for a honeymoon trip to Africa, 2 days for my wedding, 2 days early in the year for a long weekend trip to NYC to see Hamilton,and may take a few days off for Christmas depending on how my hours are going (we get christmas eve and christmas day off regardless). (it was a pretty awesome year in terms of how I used my vacation time)

    1. Oh, and we get 9 paid holidays, so if you’re staff where days off actually matter more than for the lawyers, my firm is really quite good by American standards. But still not as good as my European friends with their minimum 28 days…

  30. Tech in UK. I get 26 days, and buy an additional 5. This year I will use all 31 – which is typical as it is rare to get approval to carry over. I had a week in January (post Christmas/OH birthday) 2.5 weeks in Feb/March for honeymoon in US, a week in September for anniversary within UK, plus some long weekends in March, August and October for hen parties and family holiday. I have a week off for Christmas left to take.
    I will have 31 days next year and currently have 1.5 days not accounted for.

  31. In-house lawyer. I had 24 vacation days this year and am taking them all. I took several long weekends and 3 one-week vacations. I generally end up doing a bit of work on vacation, but that doesn’t tend to bother me.

  32. Gov’t lawyer in DC, I took 26 days off this year and will take another week off for the winter break, so that’s 33 days total.

    Breakdown is two weeks off all at once in August (which was glorious and done by pretty much everyone in the office), a week in November, an upcoming week in December and various days here and there. I love my job and my leave!!

    1. And that doesn’t count the 11 paid holidays plus the 5 days of sick leave I took this year….

  33. My DH and I were JUST talking about what a failure I am at taking vacation. We have unlimited vacation at my company, and can WFH/work remote pretty much as needed. This basically translates to never unplugging and never taking a proper vacation because, “I can just work remote! I’ll just check a few emails” and then 2 hours later you’re still on your laptop.

    So I’ve basically taken 1-2 random days “off” for a long weekend here and there. But like, if you need me (which, really, in my position, you don’t) I’m around. I think I managed to say that I took 7 days of PTO this year. It’s really my own failing. Thus, I am now trying to figure out a proper vacation in 2019 in which I take off 1-2 weeks. My boss actually hates unlimited vacation because no one takes a proper vacation, which bodes well for me to actually sign off. I am going to take the week of Christmas into New Year’s off, but since some of that is company holidays/weekend, it’s actually only 3 PTO days.

    1. I know there has been a lot of backlash (maybe too strong of a word) about companies offering unlimited PTO and people not taking, but I still have to say that I would loooooove to work for a company offering unlimited PTO. I get 20 days of PTO, but that’s a lump sum for vacation and sick time, which basically just encourages everyone to come in when they’re sick, which is really irritating. I’m able to work very efficiently in my current position, and get just as much done when I WFH (more probably), but it’s important in my field to be present in the office even if none of my actual work requires it. I think I would be so much happier if I could take more days off or work from home more often, and I’m confident I would get just as much work done.

      1. I think you’re confusing FaceTime/WFH and PTO. I assure you no one with “unlimited” PTO is out more than 20 days a year.

      2. HR here, I looked into unlimited PTO a while ago. Statiscally, people are taking only 16 days in average in companies with unlimited PTO system, mostly because of approval process. Managers are not approving more. They do it unconsciously being savvy about firm’s resources, but still. And if you to leave the company no paycheck for unused PTO for you.

  34. I’m not sure how many days I actually have. As long as my numbers are okay and I’m meeting client needs, it doesn’t matter, and we don’t track it. I’ve taken a ton this year (including two trips to Europe and a bunch of travel for bike races), but a large portion of that was visits related to the death of a close family friend – multiple trips to see her during her last few months, travel to support her during her daughter’s wedding, travel for her funeral, and travel to support her immediate family in the weeks after she passed. I’m really grateful that I didn’t have to worry about tracking those days.

  35. I have taken 9 1/2 days and I’m grumpy about it.

    I’m in management and am senior. I am given 20 days per year, combined PTO and sick, but there’s an additional allotment of 3 sick only days because I’m in CA and that’s the bare minimum under the law. I’ve taken two sick days, but only because I was in the hospital for both of them (surgery.)

    My plan was to take three more days, so about 12 total, but I ended up working for 2 1/2 days of my 5 day summer vacation. And I’m grumpy that they charged me for that half day because I only put in 5 hours rather than 8 hours that day.

    I’ve been working for 30 years and this is bullsh1t.

  36. I work for a health system, so technically we are never closed and therefore don’t have traditional holidays. We get 29 days of PTO to use for holidays, vacation/personal days and sick time. It is “use it or lose it” though they typically allow you to roll over 40 hours for a sick bank (I have 40 hours in mine from a previous year). This year, I took off 4 days for Spring Break to Cancun, 5 days for a summer trip to Colorado, 3 days for a fall beach trip to Florida, 2 days for a trip to Texas to see my family, 9 holidays, and I’ll take the rest of time off at Christmas. I take all of my days if possible. It’s hard not to when you have school-aged kids.

  37. First year in fed government, and I get 13 days (with time accumulating per pay period). Since I started in July, have only taken a few hours here and there to be at home to meet the plumber, etc (no telework for the first four years in my office!), but otherwise have been saving up to take 2 days at Xmas and 5 days in April for a vacation.

    Came from a firm with unlimited vacation and super flexible policies (lots of work and usually had to do at least a little work when on scheduled vacation, BUT no one cared where you were as long as it got done), so this whole limited vacation days and no telework policy is killing me!

  38. Private practice attorney here. We get 20 PTO days a year. I took one (because I was too ill to go in to work). Next year I’m definitely planning on taking more time off.

  39. I have yet to determine if there is an official vacation policy at my firm and I have been here a bit over a year. I’ve never seen anything written, but partners just say take whatever as long as work gets done, and we don’t track it. We also don’t have a hard billable requirement. This year I took about five weeks total, and no one comes in between Christmas and New Years so I plan to take those weeks as well.

  40. I get three weeks of vacation annually and 2 weeks of sick eligible time. We are shut down from Christmas Eve-New Years Day which doesn’t count towards PTO. I haven’t taken an actual sick day in probably 3-5 years as I always “work from home” with low expectations. Rolled over 40 hours last year and I’ll be rolling over 32 this year. They cap rolling over at 40. Vacation this year:
    2 days for a long weekend in CA
    1 Day for my part-time grad program July
    1 Day for part-time grad program in August
    1 “My Choice Holiday” Given by employer for LDW
    5 days for vacation with DH which I ended up working some of
    4 days for various bachelorette parties
    2 Fridays for Friends’ Weddings (Thank God I’m almost done with being a bridesmaid!)
    2 days for a trip to NYC

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