Would you like to get cash instead of taking a vacation?  If your co-worker needed time off for a tragedy would you donate your time?  Well, time they are a changing and now apparently companies are pursuing such ideas to be more flexible for their employees and to save themselves some green by allowing their workers to buy and sell vacation time..

This approach has existed in some arenas already but not as an actual work perk.  However, a soon-to-be released survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 9 percent of employers allowed workers to cash out unused vacation time. Five percent let employees purchase additional vacation days through a payroll deduction. An additional 7 percent allowed employees to donate vacation time to a general pool that can be used by other workers.

The approach is even more popular with employers that have "paid time off" or PTO plans that combine vacation time, sick leave and personal days into one comprehensive plan. About 52 percent of employers reported offering such plans. Of those, 19 percent offered a cash-out option and 15 percent offered a donation program. One percent give their workers unlimited time off.

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