Conventional wisdom suggests that workers in European countries have considerably more time off than those in the US. Obviously, there is a lot of generalization in that statement, but is it based in fact?
If it is, what would happen if the workplace culture in the US moved to similar amounts of vacation?
I suspect that tourism would likely increase overall. The volume of travellers would probably ‘smooth out’ over the whole year, instead of concentrating around the holidays, since people would not be so pressured to make the most of their vacation days by tacking them on to holidays.
In the U.S., do children get half-term school breaks? (I guess you would call them mid-semester or something). Because here, things like flights and resort accommodation get markedly busier and more expensive during those weeks. There’s one half-term week between New Year and Easter, one between Easter and the summer break, and one between summer and Christmas (although when those weeks fall varies by region). I think if people here had less vacation time, those half-term weeks would not be in such demand. People would reserve their time off for summer and Christmas and maybe Easter.
Oh, sure. It varies by school district on the exact dates, but generally you get a couple of weeks at Christmas and a week somewhere around Easter, plus various days off, at a bare minimum. Our local district has a week of fall holiday and two in the spring, I think, and three at Christmas–they have a longer school year to accommodate all the time off.
It varies by state and sometimes county. In the northeast it is (or was when I was a kid) normal to have a week off in February or early March (depending on when Easter falls) and various long weekends. In the southeast, there generally is no February break, but the term ends in May instead of June. Also, some districts have year-round school, where there is no big Summer break, but several multi-week breaks arranged more or less evenly around the year. That sounds like the most sensible option to me.
I think most kids would hate it. At least those used to the old ways. For me thinking about it, I would much rather have the summer off. Yes, having more breaks during the school year would be nice, but for kids summer is a magic time. It is there chance just to be kids and not worry about homework for 2-3 months.
I dunno. Parents seem to be booking their kids into all kinds of crap. This camp, that camp, play dates, enhanced learning blahblahblah. Then of course there’s internet porn.
My family moved to Yorkshire when I was 11 and my brother was 9: at the time their school system was closer to year-round, with about 2 months off in the summer and longer breaks throughout the year. My brother and I didn’t mind the change one bit, nor did we have trouble going back to the US system two years later.
I work in Canada and I started my job I received 15 days (3 weeks a year) for the first 5 years. After the first 5 years every year I would acrue a little more each month on the aniversary of my start day.
So I’ve been at my job for 11 years and I now get 24.5 days a year (almost 5 weeks). There are people I work with that have been here for 25+ years and they get 35 days a year!
Taking Europe to mean the Scandinavian countries and everything West of Germany*:
Spain - 1745
Portugal - 1675
Great Britain - 1652
Ireland - 1541
Italy - 1523
Austria - 1481
Belgium - 1449
Denmark - 1423
Germany - 1362
France - 1346
Norway - 1328
Sweden - 1316
Netherlands - 1309 Average - 1473
Since the US is 1777, that’s a difference of 304 hours or 38 eight hour days. So essentially Europe gets a month more vacation time than the average American, per year. The average American, supposedly, works 45 forty hour weeks, meaning that we get 7 weeks of vacation… I suspect that the average work week is actually a bit less than forty hours.
I think most people consider “Europe” in questions like this to refer to the non-former USSR, non-Balkan territory which has, generally, more liberal policies and a higher average income.
At my workplace, no paid vacation days for the first 2 years, although you do get the same paid holidays as everyone else. (2 days at Thankgiving, Christmas-New Years Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc.)
5 paid days for 2-4 years seniority.
10 paid days for 5-9 years
12.5 for 10-14 years
15 days for 15-19 years.
I’ll have fifteen years in June, kinda sobering that it’s taken me this long to get as much vacation time as you walked in the door with. Although, we do get 40 hours personal/sick time annually (at one year seniority) separate and distinct from vacation time, as well as the paid holidays. Are you counting things like that all together or separate?
I am a fairly typical Civil Servant in London (Department for Transport) and I get 30 days of “annual leave” plus 2 and a half “privilege days” - the half being a bizarre ancient entitlement on Maundy Thursday (which is traditionally spend down the pub). That’s 32.5 days off a year. And that would be the same for someone who started yesterday: there’s no building up to it over a period of years. On top of this, there are the usual Bank Holidays.
As a bloke on his own, I always find it difficult to use up my full leave entitlement, even if I don’t have to cover for my manager who was off for 6 weeks with meningitis last summer. At the end of last year, I still had 11 days left, which I was able to carry over to this year, so that I now have 43.5 to take before 29 January 2010.
Under exceptional circumstances, they will agree to “buy” leave off you but I have opted to make an effort to use it all up this year. I am on a concerted campaign to work as few Fridays as possible!
I work at the bottom of the totem pole in a bookstore in central London, and I’m entitled to 28 days. This can’t roll over into next year unless HR is feeling very nice, or there are exceptional circumstances. They very nicely allowed me to roll a week over last year, as I was taking almost all my holiday in one lump.
At my place of employment in the UK, a new starter would get
25 days paid holiday to be taken when they desire (with sufficient notice etc)
8 bank holidays a year - 2Xmas, 2 Easter, May Day, Spring Bank, Whitsuntide, New Year’s
as much paid sick time as is necessary - I don’t really know what the limits of this are as I’ve never had reason to investigate. I usually can manage a year without needing to take a sick day, and have never taken more than 2 - 3 in any one year.
My working week is Mon - Fri 7.5 hours a day, although I am salaried so if there is an emergency/deadline etc, extra hours are not remunerated. Travel time is also not re-imbursed unless it takes place on a non working day. By travel time, I do not mean to the office, I mean if I am off site elsewhere in the UK or further afield in Moscow or wherever.
These numbers do not go up with length of service.
In McDeath’s home province of British Columbia, how vacation, sick time, and statutory holidays are treated is outlined in the BC Employment Standards Act. All Canadian provinces have similar statutes that do the same thing; and the general rule of thumb is that these statutes set out minimum standards that exployers can exceed if they wish, but that they cannot go below or ignore completely.
Looking at BC’s Act that I linked to above, I see that McDeath gets nine statutory holidays per year (you can find them specified under “statutory holiday” in the Definitions section), and is required to be given two weeks’ vacation after one year of employment (section 57). Obviously, his employer has chosen to exceed the minimum standard. It’s worth noting also, given that you mentioned your personal/sick time, Queen Tonya, that McDeath is entitled to five days a year unpaid that he can use to look after “the care or health or education” of a family member (section 57)–I’d guess that this would be his sick leave. But again, his employer can choose to exceed this standard: by offering more days, or paying him when he takes them, or both.
As a general rule in Canada because of statutes like this, vacation days, sick days, and statutory holidays are treated separately. Somebody who tells you that they have say, three weeks’ vacation isn’t including sick time or statutory holidays unless they specifically state such.
Disclaimer: This post refers to a commonly and freely available statute and to generalities stemming from it and similar statutes and practices. This post is not legal advice, and should not be construed as such. For competent legal advice on this matter, consult a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.
