Anyone successfully negotiated more PTO??

MommaP12

I can never win in this area with prospective employers!

At my current job, I asked for 4 more days and they didn't budge due to "policy" crap.   Same for the job before that.

Has anyone successfully negotiated more ever?  Especially when many places have "rules" or "policies" about X amount your first X years, then once you reach Y years you get to the next level.  If so, how'd you do it?

[Deleted User]

No.  And I get it, though it sucks for me.  Policies, especially in regards to HR issues, have to be kept across the board.  

That doesn't mean you can't try.  But larger places with set policies are not likely to budge.

DiveFrog

I had a coworker who wasn't able to negotiate more PTO when he started, but was able to get our company to agree to allow him to take a week of unpaid time off each year the first 5yrs until he qualified for 3 weeks PTO. 

jlaOK

I am currently trying to.  I have 2 weeks PTO total (includes sick) and it is not enough for kids sick days, vacations, holidays (like 1-2 days extra at Christmas), and snow days.  I currently get paid hourly so any time I take off is unpaid unless I want to dip into my 2 weeks.  My boss wants me to go salary because it will be much easier accounting-wise for him.  I told him that I can't go salary unless I get additional PTO.  I think that I have a shot because there are only 3 employees who get PTO at the company and the other two are the owners.  I'm hoping I can convince them but so far it's just been left open-ended.

MommaP12

bellaxanthe said:

No I haven't been able to and it always falls down on their set policy whether it's been a firm of 5  or 400.  I also have a tendancy to jump ship just prior to that 5 year mark where I would start accumulating more. 

Ha, me too!  I was at one company exactly 5 years.  Since then it's been 1.5, 3, etc.  Darn it!  Thanks ladies!  I guess the odds are stacked against me!

FemShep

I negotiated more vacation time as part of my job offer, so I guess I'm an exception. Would you be willing to take unpaid time off? That's often an easier sell. You may also be eligible for more leave because of a promotion.

MommaP12

@FemShep do you work for a large corporation or a small company?  I wonder how much that matters.  How did you tackle it?  Just asked and they said OK?

ss265

I negotiated for more vacation time when I started at my current company. It's a smaller company though. I just asked for more salary and more vacation when they gave me the initial offer and they countered with the same pay but more vacation. I think they felt that they had to concede on the vacation because I was asking for the same amount of vacation as my previous company but at my previous company I had more paid holidays than at my current company.

My previous company was a large corporation though and vacation was set in stone and there was no negotiation.

MommyAtty

I did at a Fortune 200 company with the x days until 5 years, y days until 15, then z days. I negotiated to jump to the y days. They do it pretty commonly, though. It's not a huge exception at my company. But a bunch of people I work with were hacked off when they found out someone else had gotten that. I kept my mouth shut about having it too!

FemShep

I've negotiated for more vacation at smaller companies, where it's an easier decision. At my current company (multi-billion dollar public company), you start with two weeks and go to three at one year. I asked to start at three and they said fine. I'm pretty senior for my position, and I think they saw it as a way to make the offer more compelling when they couldn't increase salary any more.

ksonne

I negotiated for more PTO with my new job. I was starting with only 20 days (holidays, vacation, AND sick time). I asked for 2 extra weeks and got one. It is the hospital policy to have 20 days but they gave me an extra week. I didn't not ask for more money bc I needed the 5 days PTO way more.

BugBugandthree

My boss let me borrow future vacation time. Might be kind of risky for some employers but since I've been there several years, they didn't hesitate. It was just future vacation, and not future sick time. Still need those for kids.

BugBugandthree

Oops. Sorry. Thought I was still in a pregnancy board and question. New to this and lost in the boards. Confused easily.

groovygrl

I would think the only time that could be negotiated without a change in role or promotion would be during hiring negotiations, if a company had any ability to negotiate it....though I suppose who knows, if someone wanted to try to get that instead of a raise or something maybe...