Totally normal in my Fed office. New hires tend not to take vacations until they cross their one-year probation.

Agree with 3 day weekends with him, but also can you take a trip with the kids? I’ve done this for various reasons.

My DH took a job like this, but our limit is up in April. It sucks! He gets every other friday off and can bank stat days. So we are doing some long weekends (he's on friday, takes thursday as a banked holiday, fly out thurs AM and fly back sun PM) and a week with banked days and maybe 1 unpaid day (fly out after work on thurs, off friday, mon/tues as banked stat, maybe wed as unpaid, fly back wed).

Life lesson: Always have a vacation planned (or say that you have one planned) before accepting a new job.

I would just travel without my husband. Unless my kids were rely little/ more work then I would taka a solo vacation.

But if your don't want to do that then a few quick weekend trip to the beach or mountains would be a nice alternative.

Anonymous wrote:As a fed that's pretty common. We get 4 hours a pay period and you start at 0. So to get a week off it takes 20 weeks of saving. Instead a lot of them ask for leave instead of cash bonuses.

Normal in my old-school corporate role! You can’t take any vacation during your 3 month probation period AND you can’t take vacation until what is essentially a calendar year of accrual because you have to have X days to start using them. So anyone who started this September would not be able to use days until January 2025.

In my case they do allow you to use your 3 personal days and your sick days, so I had to dole them out very carefully to make a couple of weddings happen. I started there at 30 so it was peak wedding sesson in my life. I was so relieved for people to schedule weddings on big holiday weekends and New years’ eve!

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like white people problems to me.

Interesting. I thought black people took long vacations - no?

I would do three day weekends. Your attitude on them seems ridiculous. Then I would take a trip or two with my kids alone.

As a fed that's pretty common. We get 4 hours a pay period and you start at 0. So to get a week off it takes 20 weeks of saving. Instead a lot of them ask for leave instead of cash bonuses.

Agree with pps that you need to rethink 3-day weekends. Also, take one of your kids on a weekend trip for one-one-one bonding. I did this with my DS1 to NYC, and it was really special. DS2 is excited about his turn.

We don't take yearly vacations so no big deal.

We’ve done 3 night trips to Dominican Republic and Cancun (Playa Mujeres). Take the early flight there and late flight back, once you’re at an all inclusive it’s relaxing right away and can maximize a short window.

Anonymous wrote:Are you open to taking vacations alone or just with kids? we have taken longer vacations were DH was not available the entire time so he would would fly out for just a few days.

+1 I'd do this but also there are a lot of places good for a 3-day weekend -- NYC, Philadelphia, Richmond, plus beaches or Shenandoah National Park.

The policy is bizarre. Are you sure he's understanding it correctly? Like maybe he have accrued days to use before then, but not a full weeks worth?

I would do 3 day weekends, driving Friday as early as possible and coming back late Sunday. Boston, NY, Lancaster, Hershey, Shenandoah, Deep Creek, Philly... Maybe start out together and then you stay an extra couple of days.

As for if a "staycation" is worth it... depends on what you do. You can just fill your weekends with fun things and day trips. I don't think you need to label that a staycation.

The first issue is with your husband’s employer. Not allowing a professional to take any time off for a whole year seems extreme. Is he sure he completely understands the policy?

The second issue is with your mindset, that a vacation doesn’t count unless it’s a long way away and for an entire week. There are plenty of three-day weekends he can use; go somewhere by plane and/or close by and you’ve got a portion of Friday to play with as well. NYC, Chicago, Boston, Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia — anywhere with a short, direct flight would be a great weekend trip for the family. Or plan to take the kids somewhere for a longer period, and have DH join you Friday night-Monday morning.

Ask further questions of HR. Then get creative. This is a solvable problem.