Thursday, February 11, 2010

Mandatory Vacations

When studying for the CompTIA Security+ (SY0-201) exam, you'll come across this objective.

  • 6.4 Identify and explain applicable legislation and organizational policies. One of the policies you should understand is: Mandatory Vacations.
In my years in the Navy, we often had events that were referred to as mandatory fun. This was often accompanied by the phrase "all leave and liberty will be cancelled until morale improves." This isn't quite the same thing.

Instead, mandatory vacations are designed to ensure that someone gets out of the office for a period of time requiring someone else to perform their job. The goal is to reduce the incidents of fraud or embezzlement.  If an employee knows that someone else will be covering their work for a period, they also know the risk of being discovered is much higher.

Mandatory vacations are frequently required in different banking institutions. Employees are often required to take a vacation of at least five consecutive workdays. 

Good luck in your studies.

Darril Gibson