Chillin in California by Doug Jones
“There was a time, Robyn, when I wanted to travel like you did, but life got in the way.”
So wrote a visitor to this blog when I returned to Bermuda after traveling around the world for a year. The sentiment made me sad. So I thought…why not write about it for my Rock Fever Column? On Mondays. In The Royal Gazette. So I did! And here it is:
How to get time-off. I’ve been working on it for weeks. Weeks? Yes. Have you looked at the papers lately? Depressing. Twenty people lost their jobs. Five people were made redundant. With this kind of economy in Bermuda, I thought, I’m never going to find a way to get people paid, time-off from their jobs.
I was wrong. It wasn’t the first and it won’t be the last.
I chatted with my friend Doug Jones, an insurance broker for Willis in Bermuda. In August last year he took three weeks EXTRA vacation time to travel….and he got PAID!
Doug said: “I always wanted to see the Great Red Woods, I had never seen the Pacific and I wanted to write. I got to do all three of those things.”
Doug Jones visiting the Giant Redwoods in California
I’m sorry Doug? A business that gives employees paid time-off to do…whatever they wanted?
I called Willis’ Bermuda Managing Director, Vincent McGeehan for an explanation.
He said that the time-off incentive, called Willis Choice, was launched last year to save the company money and offers employees up to two months extra, paid vacation.
He said: “We set about a goal. The companies wanted to control expenses and all things were considered. This was one thing (we came-up with) and if people took advantage of it then we would be able to save jobs. We are not overstaffed so we didn’t want to lose anyone and we found we could achieve the savings.
“It saved a great number of jobs and at the same time it turned out to be very, very popular.”
So how does Willis Choice work? Two months is the maximum and the employees’ pay is linked to the amount of time they request.
If he or she takes up to nine days off it is unpaid leave. Wait wait! There is a reason. The employee can take a tenth day as paid-leave. See I told you there was an incentive.
If a Willis worker takes three weeks away from the grind, he or she receives 30 percent of their pay. If they take three to four weeks it’s 40 percent and four up to eight weeks it’s half pay.
But what if the employee cannot afford to lose half of their salary immediately? And what happens to their benefits?
Mr. McGeehan said: “It would have no effects on your benefits at all. It’s just like if you were on holiday. We wanted to make it as user-friendly for the employee as possible. You can take a week off or a day off a week for a period of a month. You could take every Friday off in the summer, for example. And the employee has the option to take the deductions (in their pay) over the year rather than one time.”
There must be some sort of catch? Well, it does have to be approved by management. Mr. McGeehan said: “It’s subject to management approval, but no one was denied. The only reason it’s subject is we want to make sure not everyone is taking time off at the same time.”
So why do the employees take the time? Do they have to have a reason? Nope said, Mr. McGeehan: “You can do whatever you want (with the time). You can sit at home if you want. One person went back to school for two months. Somebody took a month and toured Australia.”
The California Coast by Doug Jones
So I finally found you what you wanted. I found a way to take extended time-off from work. I’m afraid you have to figure-out how to get hired by Willis. I can only do so much with a travel column. But what a unique idea? Giving employees time-off to travel to save their jobs….sounds good to me.
Robyn's Wanderings 