The bank I'm employed with is FDIC insured. ALL of the employees are required to take a two-consecutive week vacation. Is this the norm?

Click here and scroll just a little bit to "vacation policies".

However, we only require 5 consecutive days including 2 weekends and so far they have been okay with it.

Don't confuse "requirement" with "recommendation". The vacation policy is a recommendation based on good internal control practices. It is not a regulation or requirement. The idea is to adopt a reasonable vacation policy that encourages rotation of duties. If you adopt a reasonable policy, your regulator will likely accept it.

We are thinking of going to 5 consecutive days with 2 weekends also. We hired a new employee who had previously worked at two other banks, and she says that they only required 5 days. I also read somewhere on BOL, which I can't find now, that this is becoming more and more the industry standard. Does anyone else know anything about this?

I've worked at banks that required
1)5 consecutive days (M-F),
2)5 consecutive days (any 5 in a row, but holidays don't count) and
3)5 consecutive days (a holiday would count toward the 5 days).

I liked the last one best, since you only burned 4 days of vacation during a holiday week and essentially got more advantage of your PTO.

I have never worked for a a bank that used such a policy.

So bbsgrant does your bank, or did your bank, require 2 weeks

Three Financials, two different regulators, no such requirements.

Just use 'em or lose them at all three.

This is excerpted from the site noted above.

To reiterate, this is a recommendation, not a regulation. It is meant to apply to persons in positions that could offer opportunities to embezzle, etc., not to the reception desk lady. Your FI can adapt it as necessary and create a policy that will be satisfactory to your examiners.

Time spent out of the office at training sessions can also be counted towards required time off. So a three day conference in Hawaii with two days of vacation tagged on would meet the five day requirement.

Hawaii????

Why on earth would you want to be there... you are basking in a balmy 18 degrees today!

Check your State Regs if you are a state bank. They often still have required minimums for consecutive days out of the bank.

Our bank requires that we take two consecutvie week of vacation time. I was asked by senior amnagement to write a policy and procedure for any exceptions. Would anyone want to share their polices?

A tag line in the section that notes your two-week requirement should be fine. Example:

"Exceptions must be approved by the employee's manager, division manager, Director of HR, and Executive Management team."

At my former bank, we changed the policy from 2 weeks to 5 consecutive days (conference or training time counts for the days) except for cash handling staff who must take the 2 weeks time off. Made for happier employees.

If your only allowed two weeks, then you must burn all of it at once, or take anything else without pay? OUCH!

I have worked for five financials and none of them required such a long time (thank goodness) for either vacation or a combination of training/vacation. One did RECOMMEND one week of consequitive use however it was not enforced.

Tell me about it. Thank goodness I get more than 2 weeks! Although, I can't remember the last time I had vacation....

This topic comes up annually. You can search for other threads.

The bottom line is that employees should be removed from their post long enough for any fraudulent activity to be caught by whoever would fill their post during their abscence. Two weeks seems antiquated to me and may need revisiting.

My FI had a 6 consecutive day requirement until recently when they changed to 5. If for some reason, people don't take their vacation time (NOT an idea to promote) it is their manager's duty to shift them out of their position for the required amount of time on an annual basis.

I went to work at my bank in 1970 and at that time you could take you vacation how you wanted. Around my 2nd or 3rd year there it was changed to the 2 consecutive week rule. I now get 4 weeks and I still have to take 2 consecutive weeks, and the other 2 can be however I want them. I was always told it was required back then, however I have begun to hear that it is a recommended requirement.

Note that Dan's link is to a letter from 1995. This has eased up in the ensuing 13 years. Examiners will look at your policy so you want it to be reasonable and meet the intent of this letter.

At our bank, we have to take two consecutive weeks. For those who have been here more than 10 years & get 3 weeks vacation, two must be taken together & the other can be broken up.

It's true Dan's link is to a 1995 letter, but this is in the FDIC's Manual of Examination Policies

Vacation Policies
All banks should have a vacation policy, which provides that officers and employees be absent from their duties for an uninterrupted period of not less than two consecutive weeks. Such a policy is considered an important internal safeguard largely because perpetration of an embezzlement of any substantial size usually requires the constant presence of the embezzler in order to manipulate records, respond to inquiries from customers or other employees, and otherwise prevent detection. Examiners and bank management should recognize that the benefits of this policy may be substantially, if not totally, eroded if the duties performed by an absent individual are not assumed by someone else. Where the bank's policy does not conform to the two-week recommended absence period, examiners should encourage the board of directors to annually review and approve the policy actually followed and the exceptions allowed. In such cases it is important that adequate compensating controls be devised and strictly enforced. If after consideration of all relevant facts and circumstances it is determined that the vacation policies are deficient, the matter should be discussed with the chief executive officer and the board of directors. Comments and recommendations on the supplemental Internal Routine and Controls schedule may be appropriate.

It appears to depend on your regulator. The FDIC wants it, my info from client banks is that the OCC doesn't even look at it, and for the Fed, I put together a vacation risk analysis position by position and got the Board to approve requiring 5 business days out of the bank (without VPN access). The Fed has been fine with that approach. The risk analysis shows who covers for the position, what their access levels are (it's more than cash handling - I'm a lot more concerned about high levels of IT access), and what mitigating factors are in place (rotation of duties, dual control, etc.) We worked it out so that nobody is required to take 2 consecutive weeks off and HR monitors to makes sure that everyone takes the 5 consecutive days. We report it to the Board once a year when they approve the vacation policy and the vacation risk analysis.

As banks get bigger the OCC will ask about risk management on this topic. They will not insist on a one size fits all answer. Covering high risk jobs and good controls can satisfy the risk.