Only 13 per cent of employers offer a paid week off between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, according to a survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
The survey, which looked at the practices around workplace leave in the United States, found that providing Christmas Day and New Year’s Day as paid holidays is almost ubiquitous, with 99 per cent of respondents offering it. However, only 45 per cent offer Christmas Eve as a paid day off and 23 per cent offer New Year’s Eve.
Read: All your employees really want for Christmas is . . .
Nearly half (48 per cent) of respondents provide floating holidays, usually one or two days, so employees can choose when they’d like to celebrate a holiday or take a day off.
Employees who feel the pressure to use their vacation days before the calendar turns over for the year can perhaps rest easy, as the report found that 83 per cent of respondents allow employees to carry over some or all of their unused paid time off in the form of a paid-time-off bank. When it comes to standalone vacation plans, 74 per cent allow hourly employees to carry over remaining days and 77 per cent allow salaried employees to carry over unused time.
Employers that allow employees to sell unused time back to the company is a much rarer benefit with only 14 per cent of respondents doing so and 16 per cent allowing the practice for hourly workers. For employers that offer paid-time-off banks, 20 per cent allow employees to sell unused time back to the company.
Read: A third of U.S. employers offer paid-time-off programs: survey
Another rare benefit is allowing employees to buy extra days off. Among respondents that offer paid-time-off banks, eight per cent allow workers to buy more days off. And among respondents that provide standalone vacation plans, six per cent allow workers to pay for more time off.
The survey also found that, among respondents that offer paid-time-off plans, their employees receive an average of 17 days after being with the company for one year. That number expands, on average, to 22 days after five years, 25 days after 10 years and 28 days after 20 years.
Among respondents that don’t have paid-time-off plans, the average allotment of vacation is 12 days after one year with the company, 16 days after five years, 19 days after 10 years and 23 days after 20 years.
Read: Canadians work an extra 21 hours before and after a week of vacation: study