Setting up your mobility program to allow employees adequate time off will bring significant value while they are on assignment. Knowing how to handle the differences in host versus home country vacation policies will help in making the proper adjustments to employees’ contracts. Setting up international assignment holiday standards for your organisation also benefits the company by improving assignee satisfaction.
Requested holidays
It is essential to adjust your vacations policies when an employee is on assignment. It is essential that you know the legal requirements for paid time off in the host country, as these numbers can vary widely across the globe. In general, employees should be given the benefit of observing the higher number of vacation days standard of either country.
In addition, many transferees will ask for extra vacation days when they are in their new home as they look to explore their new environment. For this reason, some employers choose to include extra vacation days for their employees on assignment, in part to offset the extra stress that many encounter when having made a global move.
To get around the potential problems caused by the differences between those on assignment and those who are not, many companies choose to impose a set number of company vacation for all employees. This can sometimes be a benefit to an employee when the company days are over both the home and host country vacation days standards.
Public holidays
Having a good corporate awareness of the host country’s public holidays is vital in knowing what to expect from an assignee’s work schedule. Although it can be disruptive to international teams, having employees take the host country’s holidays is seen as best practices across the industry.
Allowing employees to take the adequate amount of time off is something that should always be factored in an assignment. The combination of global relocation and starting a new position with an unfamiliar team can be extremely stressful. Ensuring that transferees are satisfied with all aspects of their relocation is important to essential to reduce burnout and increase retention.