Q I need some advice on best practice for home leave for assignees. Contractually, the home company offers the assignee four home-leave visits for them or their family per year. The home leave is via business class. Simple as this sounds, this has caused a lot of misinterpretation, generally over: what is the definition of family; whether it’s four visits per family member per year; whether you can downgrade the business class for two or three economy seats; and whether leave can be carried over if it isn’t used.
I need some best practice advice on the administration of home leave. Obviously there is a lot to consider and I want to be as fair as possible to assignees.
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A With regard to each area:
Generally, family is defined as the immediate family (spouse/partner and their children).
No, it’s not four visits per family member per year. Few companies pay flights for other members of the family.
Regarding the downgrade of flights, this really depends on the relocation policy, but very often this is not an option.
Check your relocation policy and see whether there is anything specific on carrying home leave over. If not, it is at the company’s discretion, but I would not be surprised if the answer was no.
