Take a day off after attending a conference 5

[petkammi]

I was supposed to do market research in a particular field and attend any conferences related to that field. After good research found that a conference was held in Very-Nice city. Got permission from the manager to attend it.

Later I thought, going so far anyways, why not take the friday off and go sight seeing over the weekend in this Very-Nice city (ofcourse, spending from my own pocket). Got permission to take a day off. But when I said that I was going to spend the day in Very-Nice city, he said that it could be unethical and would need the VP's permission!

Respected professionals, please help me as I am a budding engineer and want to be in the ethically strong group. I am thinking very hard to see how my situation could be unethical. Could anyone please shed some light.

 

[Ron]

There's no coincidence that conferences are usually scheduled in Very Nice City as opposed to Very Bad City....That "extra" tourism is not only condoned by most employers, but somewhat expected, locally. Often families are brought along for that very reason.

Being a resident of a tourism heavy state and having one city in particular with major theme parks, you can see why their convention center is also one of the largest in the country.

As long as your employer is aware and you are footing the bill for the extras, there should be no other consideration necessary. In my opinion it has no ethical implication. The act of allowing the extra day or so on such a trip is often considered by employers as being a little extra compensation for being away from home and is a good morale booster.

 

[Beggar]

JMW, I actually had one trip where the boss sent my wife.

He cancelled my vacation to send me to Europe for a meeting. In exchange, he paid for my wife to stay with me in Holland. When the meeting was over, the wife and I hopped the train to Paris for 4 days.

The train and Paris were on me. The flights, Holland, and time at DeGaulle waiting for flight were on him.

It was a nice trade-off.

--------------------
How much do YOU owe?

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

--------------------

 

[GregLocock]

Ron, the only conferences I get invited to are in Melbourne (big deal), Birmingham UK, and Detroit.

Is somebody trying to tell me something?



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[IRstuff]

ditto, well, similar.

How come engineers don't get conferences in Vail DURING ski season?

TTFN

 

[zdas04]

Very Nice City has a LOT of hotel rooms, if they can fill them during slow times (like summer in Vail or Park City) then the bottom line for the hotel looks better and better. It will be the rare big-draw confrence scheduled during the high season in any particular Very Nice City--they'll shoot of summer in Vail, hurricane season in Florida, Fall in Las Vegas, etc.

David

 

[IRstuff]

I understand the part about off-season.

My point is that my wife, the doctor, gets conference announcements for Vail, DURING ski season, and the conference sessions are timed to allow people to ski in the afternoon, or some such.

TTFN

 

[SomptingGuy]

Greg,

No nice conferences? I would have thought you might go to Traverse City for the biennial golf tournament that mascarades as the NVH convference.

 

[Ron]

Greg...You've obviously ticked off too many people!

You're always welcome in Sunny Florida....next time you get invited to Detroit, tell them Orlando has to be included.

Ron

 

[HgTX]

'I will stay clear from being noted as the "person who wanted a day-off at Nice City"'

Why? What normal person wouldn't want a day off in Nice City? It's on your time, you're covering the cost of the hotel & meals, and if you're on a vacation day, the company shouldn't be liable insurancewise.

Especially since it was your manager who sent you to Nice City to begin with; no one can possibly accuse you of going to the conference just to get your vacation travel expenses paid.

Hg

p.s. I must be looking at different airfares than the rest of the world, because I haven't seen different prices for a Saturday night stay in years, let alone a difference big enough to make up for an extra day of hotel. Maybe that's mostly for Business Class?




Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[davidbeach]

Hg, I don't know if it is an explicit Saturday night stay anymore or not, but airfares vary day to day. In my case cited above, it could just be that there is more traffic into DC on Sunday than there is on Saturday, so the airlines can push fares up on Sunday, and pull them down on Saturday to shift some of the traffic from the peak day to the off peak day. Any given route there will be lower and higher traffic days and the fares will fall and raise correspondingly. Sometimes the savings is to go a day or two early, other times it would be to stay a day or two longer; but in either case it can pay to check airfares for multiple travel days.

 

[spciesla]

The work-related conference you are attending starts on Monday morning. You have to fly cross-country to attend. Do you fly during work hours on Friday? On your own time Saturday or Sunday?

 

[epoisses]

Nothing unethical about this as long as you pay the extras yourself.
And while you're at it, out of curiosity, just ask your VP where his board meetings are held. You'd be surprised.

 

[jmw]

Air fares?
use any of the online "cheap flights" seaech engines that do a "(+/-) "x" days" search and look at the varition in fares....
Note that it is sometimes cheaper to fly overseas than internally.
One guy found that by booking a connecting flight that stopped at his home town and just not completing the follow on leg he got his tickets cheaper than booking a flight to his home town.
Airlines have some very imaginative (incomprehensible) pricing policies - exploit them.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[plasgears]

I have done my best sightseeing during business trips. I usually scheduled them at the end of the week, returned on Sat evening, and enjoyed experiences not possible otherwise. At the time there was an air fare break for return travel on Sat.