Jobat What are your options as an employee to get more days off than is currently the case? What about your wages? And are there any other drawbacks? Jobat.be asked Steven Van Meerbeek, Senior Reward Consultant at HR service provider Acerta.
On an individual basis
“In the first instance, an employee can make individual agreements with his employer about the number of vacation days and possibly a little less pay in exchange. This can be done at the commencement of employment, but possibly also later with an appendix to the employment contract,” says Steven Van Meerbeek.
“The agreements on this are laid down in an individual wage agreement, which can be changed later if one of the parties wishes to deviate from it. In principle, there are no limits on the number of days off.”
Read also: Which professions have the most vacation days? And which one the least?
On a collective basis
“An employer can also make collective agreements for the entire organization, whereby each employee is given the opportunity to exchange wages for more vacation days.”
“Everything regarding working hours must always be laid down in an employment contract. A collective agreement on holiday arrangements and working hours must therefore also be included in the work regulations,” says Van Meerbeek.
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Popular perk in cafeteria plan
In addition, there is the so-called cafeteria plan, in which an employer can offer several benefits to its employees.
Van Meerbeek: “Cafeteria plans are on the rise, according to our survey of 500 employers in January: 54 percent of companies will have such a plan in place in 2023 compared to 46 percent two years ago. In addition, extra vacation days are also gaining in importance. In 2021, 28 percent of employers offered this as a benefit, already 34 percent. That is more than a third.”
“We see this question mainly emerging from employers, whose employees can only rely on the 20 statutory vacation days. Young employees are also increasingly asking this question. They are more concerned with a healthy work-life balance than before.”
It depends from employer to employer which benefits are included in a cafeteria plan: these are the seven most important fringe benefits in a row.
Last option: unpaid leave
The wage cost of extra vacation days is not strictly defined for an employer and depends on various factors, Van Meerbeek continues. “Are you a manual worker or a white-collar worker, for example, and what combination is there with other budgets? In addition, the employer decides how many days he wishes to offer, for example expressed in days or in hours. In any case, unused days must be paid at the end. After all, these are equal benefits that the employee can choose. Budget neutrality applies to both employer and employee.”
As an employee, you can always request unpaid leave from your employer. However, this is not a right and the employer may therefore refuse that request. “By offering extra holidays, you as an employer can respond to a better work-life balance for your employee.”
“A cafeteria plan involves paid vacation days, so as an employee you don’t suffer a loss of wages, you don’t have to take unpaid leave and there is no impact on the end-of-year bonus, holiday pay, group insurance and pension accrual. This is the case with unpaid leave. You don’t get any wages on those days, so you have to factor that in. We see unpaid leave mainly as an ad hoc arrangement,” concludes our expert.
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2023-07-13 05:40:00
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