Looking for a new wrinkle on employee benefits?

More small companies are allowing employees to buy and sell vacation days, a Hewitt Associates survey has found. In 1997, 24% of companies surveyed offered workers the buy-sell option, typically limiting the number of days bought or sold to five.

Understaffed employers take note: 24% of employees chose to buy additional time off, while only 6% sold unused leave back to the company.