Is it appropriate to show Prior Offer Statements and Benefits from other companies to push for extra vacation time?

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I work work a programmer in IT in a ~100 people company. My company offers 2 weeks of vacation days. Due to various personal, family, and lifestyle circumstances I have the need to request an extension, since my work-life demands more time off.

Knowing the company stance on trying to keep vacation to 2 weeks for all and it being "fair", my immediate boss asked how much is enough before he went to HR. I said more is always better, but I said 3 weeks is enough as it will put me in a good spot and it's not too big of a chunk to where the company will flat out say no way.

Boss went to HR, HR said "no", but offered me to work overtime to make up for extra days off, kind of shift my hours. I am happy with 40 hours work week so far and working more is not convenient enough for me, so ... my immediate boss and I talked about this and he suggested he'd escalate the issue higher up. I don't know how escalating this will work given that it is a small company so there may be more politics and "hard feelings" about things than in a big company but that's more so up to my boss and his relations.

But ... I have received a suggestion from others that it may be a good idea to show my current company letters from recruiters that I get. Those are, namely:

• an almost standing offer from one of the big name IT companies that I keep in touch with, and also possibly
• details of the offer that I passed up before accepting my current position, where my days off and PTO schedule was about twice the size of my current offer.

My questions are:

• is it appropriate to print out those letters, one with offer details, and one with standing offer, and show them to the boss as "ammunition"?
• Do I remove any information from those letters (such as recruiter names, company names, salary requirements), or do I keep them as is?

My boss values me. He does not want to lose me. He has seen a few key people leave the company and he does not want me to go. And I also want to stay with the company. My hope of doing this (showing offer letters), is to have the company ask themselves "do we value this employee enough to want to keep him?" And if yes, "can we give him what he wants?" and this also may be some concrete evidence - what the company needs, and a way for the company justify giving me that extra time off.

Given all this in consideration, will this be an appropriate action? My plan is to show letters and say "I like this company and want to stay, but given that my value is seen as presented here by other companies, I want to make a backing to request ... "

manpreet 2 years ago

It's likely perceived as a threat and I don't know anyone who reacts well to being threatened. I realize you're just trying to show your perceived value, but the only perception that counts is the company you're working for.

At a minimum it seems to be manipulative.