In the meantime, I read in Sunday's Wall Street Journal supplement to the Denver Post that asking for time off is an alternate way to be rewarded when there aren't any raises or bonuses to go around. The article suggested a few ways to do this, the first of which is to ask to use vacation/personal time before you've accrued it. Some employers, they noted, aren't keen on this, because if the employee must be laid off (or leaves) before they've earned that time off, it has to be garnished out of severance or due wages. An alternate way to ask for time off is to present your business case for taking the time--will you have all your work done by the time you leave? Who will handle your duties while you're out? Will it allow you to serve the community/profession/family? If all else fails, you can ask for time off without pay: "I'd like X amount of time off for Y--I'm not asking you to pay me while I'm gone, but I want to make sure that I have a job when I get back."
I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, time off instead of a pay raise might be just the perk that could benefit you and your employer in tough times. On the other hand, I'm hesitant to recommend being gone a whole lot--if the company realizes that they do quite well without you, guess who might be out of a job? Thoughts?
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