Hi, obligatory not a native English speaker, so English is probably going to come off extremely formal. I also apologize if this is the wrong sub for this, I just don't know where else to post this. I'm currently in the middle of serving my two-month notice before onboarding to a new company.
I'm leaving my old company for a lot of reasons, but the main one being they told me I had ten sick days and ten vacation days when I first accepted the job. However, they failed to inform me then about utilization.
Basically, if I wanted to take a vacation day on a Friday – that's 8 working hours – I needed to work 10 hours on Monday, Tuesday, etc. to offset my leave. Otherwise, it's going to take a toll on my utilization.
I initially thought this was just about bonuses, like keep it at 97 percent up to earn certain bonus. I got my assessment for last year though, and was surprised to see that it's one of the four components judged for your rating. I nearly maxed out my sick leave last year (Covid sucks) and took 3-4 days off around Christmas and New Year, and I barely got a passing assessment in my utilization. I feel the need to add that this is in spite of us working through holidays, with unpaid overtime. This assessment is kept into consideration for raises and promotions, so it's vital to have a good score.
I had originally thought I was entitled to those day-offs with no extra effort in my part.
I wanted to post this to know if this is a common thing in workplaces, as I am a just a year into working and I can't consult any family or friends as none of them are in my industry (software dev). If it is, I can probably wrap my head around it and adjust but I want to have well-informed expectations of my new company. As such, do you need to work extra to earn your leaves?