Vacation benefits are not mandated by state or federal legislation. But, they can help recruit and retain good employees. According to BLR’s latest nationwide survey of employee benefits, standard vacation practice is:

• Employees receive 2 weeks of vacation after 1 year of work.
• The majority of employers require employees to work for 5 full years to qualify for 3 weeks of vacation.
• The majority of employers require 10 or more years of work to qualify for 4 weeks of vacation.
• About one-third of survey respondents offer a fifth week, but more than half of them make eligibility conditional on 20 or more years’ service.

Business & Legal Reports, Inc. offers several model vacation policies in The Personnel Manager’s Encyclopedia of Prewritten Personnel Policies.