The junior members of our accounts team feel that they are not being provided with a standard and fair amount of study leave for their professional accounting exams (CIMA).

Currently we pay for the training and we provide the following study leave:

1/2 day on each occasion to sit 4 exams
An additional 10 days of study leave per year (equating to 2.5 days per exam). In total therefore 14 days of study leave.

Any further study leave they require, including attendance to study for the course, they need to take out of their annual holiday.

In contrast our Technology teams self study, often at home to keep up-to-date on the latest technology and only infrequently take paid for courses in work time.

We also take a fairly lenient approach to failing and re-taking these exams.

Contractually we are only obliged to ‘support’ professional qualifications.

I would be grateful if anyone could advise on how this package differs to that offered by their company and whether this seems fair and resonable – or if anyone has found any innovative ways of tackling this.

This is an extremely sensitive issue at the moment and has led to one accounts assistant going home in tears!

Thank you.
Lynn Hebb