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Post by the_only_way_is_up on Feb 5, 2012 12:33:36 GMT
Hi, sorry all questions keep coming via the forum but my reloaction advisor is not particularly forthcoming with information and doesn't answer my emails... I'd like some clarification regarding annual leave. I understand that it is calendar days rather than working days, therefore you have to count weekends when booking time off? I also believe that if you work one day in the working week, then the following weekend is "free". In the uk i'm used to having 20 days/4 working weeks holiday, so if i go away for a week i book 5 days off work and am away saay to saay. Am I right in thinking that if i were to use the same principle at aramco and go away on the weekend (Thurs) for a week I would have to use 8 days holiday instead?! 3 whole days more than I would in the UK? I think my main ? is basically what is to stop me lying? What if I were to just book off the working days and fly in/out on the weekend days anyway? I assume we're not under surveillance while on compound so it's nobodies business where i am on the weekend anyway? Surely this is what everybody does anyway? Do I have to count the day i return to the country as a days holiday too? If i went away during the August Eid holiday would i have to count the weekends before and after Eid as vacation time or are these free?? Why dont they just say four weeks holiday, it would make life much easier!! Sorry I know there's a million micro questions in here but im confused and trying to work out how much holiday i actually have...! I feel like they sell it as 30 days just to make it seem more attractive on paper when in fact i'll probably be worse off than i am now. Maybe i'm mistaken... Thanks  |
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Post by doonhamer on Feb 5, 2012 12:49:11 GMT
As an example if you took a 1 week vacation Feb 19-26 inclusive, you work Feb 18, therefore the following weekend (Feb 23/24) is "free" as you worked one day of that week. You return work on Feb 27, therefore you will need to use 6 leave days. The rule is you work at least one day of the week and the following weekend is free
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Post by henpecked on Feb 5, 2012 14:08:42 GMT
Hi there Good to hear from a fellow Brit! Please be assured no one is trying to confuse you, they just work things out differently here. It is very unlikely you will get less leave here than you do in th UK. I've had a look at the 2011 calendar and there were 11 days of 'Aramco holiday', some for Eid, some just randomly distributed on Saays (like Bank holidays). You then get your leave days. The Eid holidays are great as you can add on a couple of days and have a whole 10 days off! and this happens twice a year! The random days off are also great as you can go somewhere nice, but local, for a couple of nights. You can use your leave days for extended repats, in some departments the guys are encoued to take at least 3 weeks off at a time to get a real break. Or you can use leave days for short breaks. For example we are off to Oman for 3 nights over the kids 1/2 term at a cost of 2 leave days. In the summer the kids and I come back to the UK for the summer holidays. My husband will come back to the UK with us for 2 weeks as his repat, then come back out to the UK to see us during Eid but will still have a pile of leave left over for the Winter break. PM me if you want to ask more.  |
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Post by gareth0127 on Feb 5, 2012 18:30:37 GMT
Another thing to bear in mind, but I'm not sure if this applies all over aramco or just where I work, on your last working day you can typically leave work at 11am and on your first day back in work people usually come in around 9-10am. This means you can maximise your vacation by looking for flights that suit these times.
Trying to incorporate eid holidays into my vacations usually allows me to have 6-7 weeks off per year.
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Post by SugarLandTX on Feb 6, 2012 5:03:30 GMT
Please note that regular schedule is 8 hr/day for 5 days plus 2 day weekend (Thursday & Friday). 8 hr are still charged in the system for the weekend. So if an employee checks his timesheet, it will show 240 hr charged for any month with 30 days.
Please refer below for the detailed description of 'Id Holidays and Bridging for 2012.
‘Id Al-Fitr Holiday: Saay, August 18 – Wednesday, August 22
The ‘Id Al-Fitr holiday is expected to commence on Saay, August 18, and extends through Tuesday, August 21. A Special Holiday is given on Wednesday, August 22. This change results in a nine-day weekend/holiday period (August 16-24).
To comply with the Bridging Policy, employees should work at least one day in the week starting August 11 and one day in the week starting August 25, to receive regular pay for the weekend of (August 23-24) in conjunction with the ‘Id Al-Fitr Holiday.
‘Id Al-Adha Holiday: Thursday, October 25 – Monday, October 29
The ‘Id Al-Adha holiday is expected to commence on Thursday, October 25, and extend through Sunday, October 28. Since two of the ‘Id Al Adha holidays fall on the scheduled days off (October 25 and 26), they are given as rescheduled days off on Saay, September 22 and Monday, October 29. The later date will result in a five-day weekend/holiday (October 25 –29).
Bridging may be authorized in conjunction with the ‘Id Al-Adha holiday so that an employee will receive regular pay for the weekend of November 1 and 2, provided that the employee works at least one day in the week starting October 20, and one day in the week starting November 3.
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Post by Carolina on Feb 6, 2012 6:30:45 GMT
o
Thank you so very much SugarlandTX as I get confused when my husband tries to explain all of this but the way you have written it makes sense and is clear - so I have actually printed off your posting and it is on my wall to remind me.
To those of you coming from the UK - yes indeed we get much more time off than working for a UK employer and as the other posting have said we do enjoy our two or 3 day break going to places like Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman etc
Carolina
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Post by GroveWanderer on Feb 6, 2012 8:20:52 GMT
Aramco calculates leave (or days off) starting from your last day of work (LDW) to your return to work date (RWD). The days in between are categorized in various different ways but the most common ones for vacation travel are Travel Days, Earned Days Off, Aramco Holidays and Vacation Days.
As you have already mentioned, if you work at least one day in the week before your departure, the first two weekend days count as Earned Days Off. In addition, if you are taking your Annual (Repat) leave and are from the UK, you get two travel days. Everything else would be Vacation Days (also known as "L" days) or possibly Aramco holidays, if any fall within the leave period. (There are other categories like M, P, X or Z days but those are less common so we'll ignore them for now). There could also be Business Days if you combine a company-approved business trip with your vacation.
So to calculate how many actual vacation days you would use for a given period, just count the days between your LDW and RWD, subtract any Travel Days, Earned Days off, Business Days or Holidays and the remainder is the number of "L" days you are taking.
I don't understand what you mean by "lying" about your days off or people checking when you leave camp. Your last working day and your return to work date are known (and verifiable) by your supervisor, timekeeper or both. If you're not at work on a day when you should be, they're likely to notice.
Everything else is days off, categorized as above. If your last working day is a Wednesday, your first day off is Thursday. It doesn't matter whether you leave camp on that day or not, it is still a day off - in this case an earned day off. Whether you were to leave the camp and/or Kingdom on the Thursday, Friday or even Saay, it would not affect anything regarding the calculation of your vacation days.
Similarly when you return, any day before the day you go back to work is a day off, so if you come back on a Friday and started work on Saay, the Friday would be normally be counted as an "L" day - unless it somehow falls into one of the other categories, or if you have gone out over one of the "bridging" holidays as described by Sugarland.
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Post by the_only_way_is_up on Feb 6, 2012 9:05:56 GMT
Hi everyone,
Thanks for all your explanations. I think I get it now. The way it was initially explained to me (by an aramco rep), made it seem as though you would be at a disadvantage if you started your vacation on a weekend rather than a week day hence my confusion.
It does in fact look like I can probably get around 6 weeks vacation a year if I time it sensibly.
Thanks again :-)
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Post by doonhamer on Feb 6, 2012 12:45:18 GMT
Many people start their vacation on a Sunday - work Saay so that the following weekend are earned days off and return on a Tuesday to work the Wednesday and have that weekend earned.
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Post by jp_fizzer on Apr 9, 2012 23:03:10 GMT
Hi, I have read through this thread and I thought I understood how it worked, but my recruiter is saying something different.
From what I am hearing, in order to have your weekend count as "Earned Time" or what I would consider just a regular weekend off, you need to work at least one day in the week prior. However, when I was talking to my recruiter about that she says that it not correct, she says that it works the exact same way as it does in the U.S. If you take a 5 days off (Sat-Wed) you are just charged with 5 vacation days, you are not charged for any weekend (Thu/Fri) days. Likewise, if I were to take two weeks off, for example, fly out on April 12th and return on April 27th, I would only be charged 10 vacation days (14,15,16,17,18,21,22,23,24,25) as the weekends (12/13, 19/20, 26/27) are weekends and do not count against vacation alotment. Is she correct?
thanks,
-jeff
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Uman
Senior Member
Posts: 161
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Post by Uman on Apr 10, 2012 1:31:39 GMT
calendar days i was told......therefore weekends included.
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Post by azraeil on Apr 10, 2012 4:37:26 GMT
Your recruiter needs to read the IR manual before giving people wrong advice.
Annual leave in Aramco is Calendar Days based and not working day based.
Let's take this week for example, if you have worked one day this week (say April 7th), then the weekend of April 12-13 is Earned weekend and is not counted against your annual leave so if you take a 5 day annual leave (and return on April 15th to the office), then only 5 days is counted against your annual leave.
If you extended your leave past the second weekend (April 19-20) and return to work on the Saay of April 21st, then the 2nd weekend will count against your annual leave so instead of 9 days of annual leave if it was a working day system, it will be 11 days counted against your annual leave.
That is why people almost always return to work on Wednesday so that the proceeding weekend is not counted against the annual leave.
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Post by jp_fizzer on Apr 10, 2012 7:49:50 GMT
Thank you azraeil for clarifying. I will speak to her again about that. That is unfortunate as I currently get 36 "working days" which equals 7.2 weeks. Sounds like with this system I would end up with less actual days off.
Is this a common system outside of North America? I have never heard of having to count weekend days as vacation days in Canada or U.S. I guess this pretty much limits you to a maximum of 10 consecutive days off at any given time. The only time you would be forced to burn those weekend days would be during the mandatory 14 day repat vacation?
What happens if you take 3 full weeks off (last day worked - Apr. 4th, return to work - Apr. 28th)? Under normal North American rules this would cost you 15 vacation days but at Aramco it would be 19 vacation days? You would lose 2 weekends worth of vacation?
thanks,
-jeff
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Post by azraeil on Apr 10, 2012 10:06:18 GMT
Technically the 38 days (36 + 2 extra days) given to you is equivalent to 5 weeks or so BUT if you take short leaves say the one I mentioned like taking Leave starting Sunday (Last day of work is Saay) and coming back next Wednesday (return to work on Wednesday), then your leave count is similar to a working day leave (about 8 days) and this is what most people do for short trips.
Most people also save their leave for the long summer repat where the 1st weekend is earned, and an extra 4 travel days is given as well.
Take for example this year's summer plans
For example, if I were to start my leave on the 29th of July and returning on August 27th, my annual leave count is actually just 19 days because 6 days was earned by the 1st weekend and the 4 days travel days and 5 days is also given because of the Eid Holidays. Not too bad I would say.
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Post by jp_fizzer on Apr 10, 2012 16:15:41 GMT
In the offer it says between 9 and 11 paid holidays per year. These 5 days for the Eid holidays that you are talking about are included in that 9 to 11, or are they additional?
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