How Many Vacation Days are Normal?
Giving your staff some time off can help them have healthier work-life balances. They can take time off to recharge, so they don’t burn out. But, how many vacation days should you give them?
What does the law say?
In the U.S., there are no federal laws requiring you to give your employees any vacation days. Your state, however, might have specific laws about vacation days or sick leave.
Even though it’s not required on a federal level, 76% of private industry workers receive paid time off. The amount of time off received is typically based on how long they’ve been with the company:
- After one year with the company, workers receive an average of 10 vacation days.
- After five years, they receive an average of 15 days.
- After 10 years, workers receive an average of 17 days.
- After 20 years, they receive an average of 20 days.
Do I have to give all my employees the same number of vacation days?
Choose how many vacation days to give your team based on what’s right for your company and your employees.
You can choose to give everyone the same number of vacation days, or you can increase the number of days based on how long they’ve been working for you. You can also choose to give your salaried employees a set number of days per year and have your hourly workers earn time off based on how many hours they work.
Just make sure you’re not discriminating based on race, gender, religion, or any other protected class.
What if my employees don’t use their vacation time?
In 2017, 52% of American workers did not use all their vacation time. If you think your staff won’t use all their time, you have a couple different options:
- You can implement a “use it or lose it” policy, where any unused vacation time does not carry over to the next year.
- You can pay your employees for any time they didn’t use.
- You can allow your staff to carry over some of their unused days to the next year.
You might be worried that your team will all take the same day off. Prevent that from happening by learning more about how to handle time off requests.
