The competition for talent is prompting many employers to offer more vacation time, according to the Washington Post.

Companies that cannot afford to pay large salaries, such as smaller companies and nonprofits, can especially benefit from offering more vacation time as a way to attract candidates.

"It's hard to attract experienced people if you only give them two weeks," said Janet McNichol, human resources director at American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, a nonprofit organization. The Washington Post article explained that the Association is offering approximately 20 days of vacation per year to new hires. "We can't do stock options, so instead we offer more paid time off," McNichol said.

According to the Post , the Department of Labor reported that in 2005, on average, employees with one year of service were eligible for 8.9 days of paid vacation. This figure rose to 19.3 days for employees with 25 years of service.

In the article, a number of online job site representatives advised job seekers to broach the subject of vacations in interviews, including asking about how much time the prospective employer offers. One expert suggested that experienced, sought after professionals might be able to negotiate their amount of vacation time with prospective employers.

Source: The Washington Post