I’m in the process of planning and paying for a wedding, so right now, more money.
Well, I’m sure you already have an inkling where I come down on that equation ;).
I already have a reasonably European-style job in that like Jodi I work for the government. I get four+ weeks of vacation ( and I’ll be adding a day a year until I max out at five weeks in four years ), 15 holidays ( one floating ), 13 sick days, and one floating personal day ( birthday ). I also have farily decent pay ( professionals like lawyers are a bit underpaid in government work, but trades-type positions are a little less affected ).
I can make an argument for more money ( to buy a house ), but since it would have to be a LOT more money to make a serious difference in my area, trading a couple of weeks of vacation for more cash would hardly be worth it.
And I wouldn’t do it anyway. I have a very flexible boss, co-workers hungry for overtime and a staffing situation that makes it inevitable that any leave must be staffed with overtime. Consequently my boss really doesn’t care if I take off two weeks scheduled six months in advance in September or a day next Tuesday - he has to budget for any time off anyway. So I like having the freedom to take off willy-nilly as I please for “mental health” reasons. In fact I’m taking off this Saturday primarily because I just feel like it :p.
By contrast, I’d happily take a 10% pay cut for another week or two. I don’t dislike my job, but I’d rather be off all things being equal and a 10% pay cut would only require relatively minor lifestyle adjustments.
Really, my biggest preference would be to go to a compressed work schedule ( which I had for exactly one year ) of 4/10’s. I can do ten hours at my job standing on my head and like clairobscur I found the psychological benefits to be immense. Sadly staffing issues once again prevent any such possibility anymore.
Lived yes, worked no.
Nope. I like the Bay Area a lot and you know me and my linguistic shortcomings :). Since I already have a decent situation I wouldn’t really consider changing it unless I had to. Inertia is my friend.
- Tamerlane
Money. I’ve got over 20 days stored up as it is, even after taking a lot for taking my wife to the doctor the past few months. I’ve found that vacations are a lot more fun when the whole company is off (which we are July 4th week and between Christmas and New Years) so you don’t have to spend three days catching up.
I’d take vacation, hands down. The last place I worked at gave me a total of something like 25 days in PTO or floating holidays and I loved that aspect of it. My new job is better than average for the most part, but not nearly as good and I miss that extra time. Just knowing that I could take a day off for a concert or something stupid like that was great.
More money. I’ve been at my job long enough that I get 3 1/2 weeks vacation time a year, plus various float days. I can’t take easily them all in one chunk, so I tend to sprinkle them throughout the year.
I work at a college, and I get about 5 weeks of vacation a year. It all basically has to be used in the summer and over Christmas, spring and fall breaks, but it’s still a sweet deal. I’d definitely take the money.
Not just for the job opportunities, no. The thought of picking up stakes and moving anywhere on account of a job is baffling to me. I love where I live, and I’ve got family here. I can always find some kind of job where I am.
In theory - more vacation.
In practice, even though we technically have quite a bit of vacation, it can be difficult to schedule it and use it - which is a problem that I don’t have with money.
I’d definitely take more vacation. I currently get 20 days/year for combined vacation and sick leave. I use it all for vacations, so if I ever actually get sick I’m screwed. I used to work for a University and got 24 days/year of vacation plus a day or so a month for sick leave (that you could accumulate indefinitely). That was a lot nicer.
Yes, I’d consider it, but I don’t think my family would, so I’m stuck here, at least for now.
More vacation, absolutely.
I get ten days now, plus sick days and holidays. I work for a university, and during winter closure we have to either take vacation or work in a dead zone. That really only leaves about one week to use during the rest of the year. Sick time is reasonably generous, though.
Of course, my current job is a major step up from my last one, where we got no vacation for the first year, five days after a year, ten days after three years, and fifteen days after six years! Oh, and skimpy holidays, too–we got the 25th of December off, for example, but not the 24th. What a drag.
Eva Luna, I think you work at the same place I do; we have the exact same benefits, and I know they have a lot of workers in Chicago. I’m working out in the NW suburbs, m’self.
…anyway, seeing as we have the exact same plan, and possibly the same employer, I would so prefer to have more vacation time. I have a sneaking suspicion, though, that no matter how much vacation time I have, it’ll never be enough ;). That being said, we don’t really earn enough to do long vacations (well, not unless I convince my husband that doing the hostel-thing would be fun). What I’d really like would be the option to choose between more money and more vacation. At least then I’d feel like I had some flexibility; it seems like everyone in this big freakin’ company gets the exact same vacation deal. Bleh.
With twelve years seniority, this is the year I get a 3rd week’s worth of vacation, plus the dozen or so holidays annually. Which is pretty generous, for here anyway, but considering I usually have to burn a vacation day for sick pay or school functions, I’d take more vacation time over more money.
Salary.
But then, I like to work.