Originally Posted by
Kate_Canuck
That sounds like a pretty good deal. You might want to see if you can get the flexibility either to fly home every 90 days or fly a significant other or family member out to see you every 90 days (either business class for one, or economy class for more people, within the limit of the business class ticket).
Also, what kind of leave are you being offered for trips home? Being able to fly home once every 90 days doesn't do you much good if the time away is sucked out of a pathetic allotment of vacation days.
When I worked for a tax-funded international organization, we had 6 weeks' annual leave (plus 10 stat holidays plus the week between Christmas and Jan 1), plus 2 weeks' home leave every other year. I would think that for a one-year expat assignment, you should be given at least an additional 2 weeks' leave (on top of a decent vacation entitlement like 4 weeks) for trips home.
The flexibility you mention is actually already part of the policy. As far as leave, I have to use my vacation days (16 days/yr), or go into work. Unfortunately, I will not be traveling back to my work location on my trips home, so I have to use vacation time. I'm single and new to KS, so I go back to TN to visit my family and friends there. I do get Japanese holidays, and there will be about 25 of those, compared to the 12 I get now.