so what are your average working hours and annual leave? mine’s about 1880 hours per year (considering the 14 days annual leave and 10+ holidays, not including the 14 days sick leave which might not be used.)
actually i’m just peeved that they want **five ** weeks leave when i only get two!
on preview/search - found two related threads on annual leave:
I’ve been at my job for about 4 years. In that time I’ve never taken more than 2 vacation days in a year. Since I mostly work alone, being out sick would mean closing the office. I’ve gone into work with the flu and sat at my desk with a blanket wrapped around me. I also don’t get a lunch break.
Our paid holidays are Christmas and New Years Day(when not on a Sat/Sun), Memorial Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.
So at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks that’s 2080 hours. Minus the paid holidays is 2040 hours. Minus the 2 vacation days I take is 2024 hours a year. Holy crap! I need a new job.
We get eight paid holidays (64 hours) and two weeks’ vacation (80 hours) plus two personal days (16 hours). We don’t have a set amount of sick leave; it’s basically just “be sick if you need to, but if we think you’re sick too much, we’ll call you on it.”
The ambiguity of that wigs me out a little.
Anyway, I gotta tell ya, my work ethic is going straight down the toilet, because time was I’d work as much (unpaid) overtime as I needed to without a second thought (when I lived with my mom and sister, Mom used to send Sis to my office to make me come home if it got to be “too late”–i.e., 8 pm or so).
Now . . . not so much.
I mean, if there’s something that MUST BE DONE NOW, sure I’ll stay, but if I can in any way put it off until tomorrow, I am outta here at 3:45. And don’t even get me started on how antsy I get if I’m in a meeting that’s supposed to end at 4:00, but lasts until, like, 4:10. Last Friday, I actually walked out of a workshop that was supposed to end at 3:30, because it was already 4:10 and all I could think about was how far along the Highway Towards Home I’d be if the damn thing had ended on time. I mean, it was FRIDAY, for cryin’ out loud!
(And to be fair, other people had already left, but I still felt a little work-ethic-deprived for doing so, since I don’t have kids to pick up or anything–basically I just left because I wanted to go home, dammit!)
Not to insult my Australian friends (they have a beautiful place and I really love it there), but Australia is one of the most laid back countries I’ve ever been in.
Try the high-tech start-up world. Assuming the article in the OP has correct numbers, I’ve already worked more hours than an Aussie does in his entire lifetime. And I’m 40.
I’ve never had it as bad as those poor bastard working at EA, but I have worked tons of overtime without, you know, overtime pay or comp time. I once worked 36 hours straight. :eek:
Let’s see…I’m scheduled 36 hours a week. Sometimes I leave early, sometimes I stay late, but it usually works out about even. This time does not include lunches or other breaks, but only time that I am actually working. I get two weeks of paid vacation a year, and get three paid holidays (the clinic recognizes 6, but I have to work three of them.) At least one of the holidays I have to work will be on a day I normally have off, so I work extra for that. So, 36 hours times 50 weeks is 1872 hours, minus 18 holiday hours…1852 hours. That’s if I don’t pick up any extra shifts to cover for people who are on vacation or quit or whatever, and I usually pick up at least one extra shift every other month. So add at least 54 hours to that, for an average of 1906 hours worked a year.
And no, I don’t think I’m working myself to death. I work those hours, manage to keep the house reasonably clean and the yard in not too bad a shape by myself, take care of the critters, and still usually find at least a little time to do the fun stuff.
I’m Australian, but I work in the UK. I bill my company for 50-60 hours of work a week. My English SO does the same hours, or more.
OTOH, I’m effectively self-employed, so I’ve taken about eight weeks of holiday this year. My boyfriend’s company gives him about seven weeks annual leave, but this is exceptionally high because of the long hours he works.
Theoretically, I could work as little as 1696 hours per year.
If we started with a base of 40 hours times 52 weeks to get 2080 hours.
I get five weeks of vaction per year: 5x40 = 200 hours
I get 4 hours of sick leave a pay period: 4x26 pay periods = 104 hours
I get 10 holidays a year: 10x8 = 80 hours
Total paid off days per year: 200 + 104 + 80 = 384 hours or 9.6 weeks
However, in real life, with overtime factored in, I probably work inexcess of the base of 2080 hours.
I rarely take sick leave, and I am banking my annual leave and holidays for when I finally graduate (I’m on the 20 year plan). We can carry over our annual leave to the next year (up to 440 hours or 11 weeks), so as a graduation present to myself I plan to take all my annual in one fell swoop and drive to Alaska (from Texas).
I work 2,275 hours a year, minus a week for vacation…so…2,235 hours a year. No sympathy from me. But I am definitely for mandatory vacation reform. I got it pretty good though. It looks like I work a lot, but in essence, one week I work 37.5 hrs within 3 days, and the next week is 50 hrs in 4 days. So I work many hours, but get plenty of days off. 4 days of time off every other week, 3 days off the next.
52 weeks x 40 hours = 2080
less 6 weeks x 40 hours= 240 (vacation)
less 2 weeks x 40 hours= 80 (sick and personal leave)
less 8 misc holidsays = 64 (misc. holidays)
Total hours worked annually = 1696
I really like my new job and am enjoying this entire week off for Thanksgiving and I get another two weeks off for Christmas!!
Let’s see here. 2080 standard work-hours per year. Subtract 7 paid holidays (New Year’s day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day): 2024 hours. Subtract 3 ‘floating holidays’: 2000 hours. Subtract the 3 days of Paid Time Off I’ve actually used this year: 1976 hours. Add in the fact that I’ve been working 50+ hour weeks for the last 3 months or so: approximately 2100 hours…
grr…
In fact, my boss told me the other day “You know, jweb, you’re the only person in our department that’s taken less vacation then I have this year”, said on the same day that our company not only laid off 10% of our IT staff but the same manager openly discussed the possibility of mandatory Saturday workdays… yeah, I’m a bit bitter.
I’ve only worked at this company for 3.5 years, and I have 33 days of vacation in the bank as I type this. And I’m getting 20 more next year… I’ll have to take a significant amount of vacation next year, if only because I can’t carry over more then 40 days from one year to the next.
Depending on whether I take my vacation or cash in the $$. 2 Weeks a year is supposed to be the minimum but it’s actually been over 2 years since I’ve had a week off. So in reality 2258 but I don’t want to be an opposite-bragger. I haven’t called in sick in about 4 years.
Average work week: around 60 hours, or 3120 per year
Two weeks paid vacation (only paid for 40 hours) - 3040 hours
I’m supposed to get 8 holidays, but I’m only going to get two this year (Thanksgiving and Christmas) - 3024 hours
I’m saving my vacation from this year so I can afford to take 3 weeks next year for my wedding and honeymoon, so I’ve only actually taken 2 days off this year, which leads us to:
My total hours (projected) worked this year:3088
Total hours in a year: 24x7x52=8736
I spend 35% of my year at work, about 30% sleeping, about 1% commuting, which only leaves around 34% to shower, eat, cook, and waste time here. Crap.
Just an aside, but again I find myself surprised at how little vacation time some American workers get. I can’t imagine working with less than four weeks off a year (and I’ve always had at least six weeks off, plus public holidays). What on earth do you look forward to when you’re working week in and out?
