The American vs. Europe view on vacations and time off is flabbergasting

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Most Americans would like to have more vacation time, but the way the economy and jobs are set up here its just not possible. We lose a ton of money to taxes between federal and state, but see none of the benefits of those taxes the way most European countries do. So we never get paid vacations and we have to work more days to keep paying for our health insurance. Its a terribly broken system.
 
I get two weeks. Which is fine. Plus I take a handful of personal days to take some Fridays and Mondays off to make long weekends in which I take little mini holidays.

Honestly, with the way American workplaces are where everything is cut to the bone and everyone is doing more work and no one knows your job, coming back from a long vacation usually means even more work to do. Which makes me dread vacations sometimes..

American expatriates types jokingly call the standard two week typical American vacation time off--too weak.
 
I get four weeks one week personal three vacation. But we are usally so busy its hard to take time off with out falling behind. When we aren't busy layoffs. :(
 
thats phenominal. i work for a giant company (fortune 70 at this point) and get nothing for paternity leave. anytime i want to be out of the office is vacation time.

Maternity and Paternity benefits in Canada work like this:

15 weeks maternity leave and 35 weeks parental leave. Parental leave can be split between parents however they want.

Benefits scale based on salary and cap out at $501 per week based on a 47,400 a year income (less if you salary is less than 47k annually). That $501 a week is also taxed so most people get about $400 a week take home.

as mentioned some companies top up these benefits. I would argue though that most do not unless you are in a unionized public sector job (my wife is a nurse too).

We cannot tell you exactly how much you will receive before we process your application. For most people, the basic rate for calculating EI benefits is 55% of your average insurable weekly earnings, up to a maximum amount. As of January 1, 2013, the maximum yearly insurable earnings amount is $47,400. This means that you can receive a maximum's amount of $501 per week.

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/types/maternity_parental.shtml
 
Self employed, every days a holiday but you never truly have one because you are always thinking about work. God forbid we go away to another time zone / somewhere without wifi...

I need staff.
 
Its the facade of "work ethic" I'ce been in places where people are proud of their hardwork and dedication to a corporation at the expense of their health and family life yet seemed to live unfufilled, I see a lot of working class people with injuries that pretty much stop them from ever working again becuase they only ever did manual labor (I know that it's personal responsiblity and all but still).
 
America here.

Had great benefits (compared to others here in the states) when I first started my current job. Got an automatic 25 days off a year. It was a use it or lose it policy from year to year but January 1st, you automatically got refreshed to the 25 again. Then we got bought out by another company and now our time off has become the more garbage like system of having to earn your PTO based on the number of hours you work (currently, I get a pitiful 3.5 hours of PTO per paycheck which usually consists of 72 hours).
 
0 days paid vacation, 0 days paid sick leave, 0 paid holidays, no health insurance offered, and no raise in over 5 years. I used to get 34 cents a mile for travel between worksites, but the corporate parasites decided to take that away last month. I'll be taking my first week off since 2005 to get oral surgery in September. Three cheers for the red, white, and blue.
 
The younger generation starting with Millenials in Canada and the States will continue to demand more ... I still get disgusted looks from boomers when I take a sick day but I just don't give a shit and neither does anyone else in my generational cohort (Gen X).
 
When I worked in field service, managers loved people taking long vacations. It gave them a chance to unofficially interview and try out new people. If one of the contractors covering for you was faster, smarter and better than you. They got your job and you were fired.

People were terrified to take even a half day off
 
The younger generation starting with Millenials in Canada and the States will continue to demand more ... I still get disgusted looks from boomers when I take a sick day but I just don't give a shit and neither does anyone else in my generational cohort (Gen X).
Baby boomers for the most part experienced a better economy then us. The only gen that has the right to bitch about others is the "greatest" gen.
 
Work in healthcare, you can schedule yourself to get a week off every month.

My wife does that sometimes. But she works 12 hour days ... Typically she has 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off. Judicious use of vacation days gives her lots of weeks off.

her sick day benefits are insanely good. 23 sick "incidents" a year. Call in sick 2 days in a row? Only counts as one sick incident. Dem government sector union benefits are so good ... Funded by taxpayers though :/. Full pension starting around 55 assuming she stays in the same hospital her full career (25 years or more).

its no wonder folks in the private sector get pissed off.
 
My wife does that sometimes. But she works 12 hour days ... Typically she has 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off. Judicious use of vacation days gives her lots of weeks off.

her sick day benefits are insanely good. 23 sick "incidents" a year. Call in sick 2 days in a row? Only counts as one sick incident. Dem government sector union benefits are so good ... Funded by taxpayers though :/. Full pension starting around 55 assuming she stays in the same hospital her full career (25 years or more).

its no wonder folks in the private sector get pissed off.
Nursing is super hard work. 12 hours of actual labour rather than 12 hours of browsing GAF and looking busy :p If I was sick I'd rather be treated by a well rested nurse than a half dead or sick one. >_>
 
American here, I get

-12 holidays (7 or 8 of which are from Christmas Eve to January 2nd)
-120 PTO hours, a little under 14 days with the 9/80 schedule

That office shutdown in December is fantastic but I wish we had more time off. I used 20% of my PTO when I had this weird bug/food poisoning and I've been hesitant to take a week off in case something comes up. I think I'm going to try and tough it out until the new year so I can roll over 40 hours. That way I can take a trip to Europe next summer and see if I wanna move there!
 
we go to work for 1 half hour 2 half hour, then we have cigarette and a couple bottle of wine and take in the street life
 
Nursing is super hard work. 12 hours of actual labour rather than 12 hours of browsing GAF and looking busy :p If I was sick I'd rather be treated by a well rested nurse than a half dead or sick one. >_>

oh I know its hard my wife reminds me all the time :p. With that said there are plenty of hard jobs out there that don't get the massively generous benefits they do. Its the same for most government jobs ... In Ontario at least public sector employees are payed way higher than private sector for similar work.
 
My vacation time is based on how many hours I work. The more hours I put in, the more I accrue to a max of 180 hours. At which point I can cash them in en masse for extra paychecks if I want. Best system I have ever seen, motivates people to put in the overtime to gain those extra days for when they need them.
 
I read an article earlier this year from a nurse about the last regrets of her dying patients. She said every man and most women said they hadn't wasted as much of their life working. And this was Europeans who have a decent amount of paid time off.

But hey, at least Americans can feel good about how hard they work for someone else's benefit.
 
I live in the UK and get 29 days to take when I want, 5 floating Fridays to take when I want and 7 statutory holidays (xmas day etc)

The guys that never use their annual entitlement always weird me out.
 
I get 10 or so days off a year at the moment but generally take 1 or 2. I'm the only one in my position so taking a day off just puts me behind. Not to mention the position itself doesn't really let me take time between the 1st and 15th of a month because of time sensitivity.
 
In Finland we get 5 weeks per year. Usually people take a month off in summer and a week off during christmas or spring holiday. But this year I used all 5 weeks + 3 weeks parental leave. After that I started missing work...
 
I only get 10 paid vacation days a year :-/ I make more then most in my area, but still vacation time is the one part of working for a small business that sucks.
 
I get ~28 days of vacation/personal/sick time per year, but I get holidays off as well, which means Independence Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, a couple days for Thanksgiving, a week or so for Christmas, New Year's day, and Good Friday.

This is in the USA, so I guess I've got it pretty good in terms of time off.

Edit: my salary is lowish even within my relatively low-paying field, so I consider my time off a reasonable compensation for that.
 
what? Are you talking about the US? I know two recent mothers, neither got paid for their leave and one works for the VA and she didnt get paid. My fiancés sister is pregnant and she elected to have the government(she's a judge in New York) withold like 35% of her paycheck for 6 months so she can get paid while she is on leave.

My fiancé will get no paid maternity leave either. What I have seen them all do however, is save up their vacation and use that first before their maternity leave kicks in.

Ive never heard of paternity leave for a new father at any of the companies ive worked at so far.


its not just evil corporations, its the laws. Plain and simple, when even the government doesnt give paid leave something is wrong.

Both my wife and I got paid family leave that was not paid by either of our employers. We got 60% of our pay. Maternity leave is 30 days before the due date and I think 3 or 4 months after. Paternity leave is 6 weeks I think.

he's talking about Canada. We have legislated paid maternity and paternity leave, about one years worth that can be split between mother and father paid out through employment insurance at about 55 to 60 percent of whatever you make. I think though it gets capped at about 400 per week.
No. Ilive in the US, not Canada.
 
I can't imagine having that much time off, thats almost equal to working four days a week and calling it full time. Damn, fuck my company.

Worth bearing in mind that national holidays (of which we have one on Monday, as it happens!) are included as part of those 28 days; your numbers might count them as extra instead.

I'm making the three-day weekend into a five-day weekend with judicious application of flexitime.
 
Because of my job (working in tv news) I have to 24/7 shift based job, I on paper get something like 26 days off a year, with off days from my shift I can spread that out to have (if done wisely)two weeks off in the summer a few five off days here and there through out the year.

But in the summer and Xmas time it is a first come first served kinda deal.
 
I get paid quite well but I have 0 days PTO a year. Pros and cons of contract work.

Yeah. I'd imagine the same for small business owners. I was talking to a dry clean owner once and he told me he never took a day off in 20 years--7 days a week.
 
No vacation time and sick day limits plus our terrible healthcare system is only adding to chronic diseases such as heart failure plus it puts and incredible amount of stress.
 
What? That´s not right at all. In Denmark women get 9 month paid leave, and men get 6 month paid leave FOR EVERY CHILD THEY BIRTH.
Wow. That wouldn't work in the US. We are much more fertile. My dad would have gotten 6 1/2 years paid vacation over a 18 year span. Is that what Europe calls productive? And with that incentive who's telling how many siblings I'd have instead. I can't even remember their names as it is.
 
Officially I only work 195 days a year. Approx £30,000 (~$46719) but unofficially I work about 250 days. My official holiday is 65 days a year (not including weekends). My partner and I will both be taking maternity/paternity leave when we have our first child.

The only downside is that my official holidays are the most expensive times of the year, so I tend to do a lot of UK/European city breaks during the weeks off earlier than the July/August rush.
 
Lol already a dude talking about hard working murca. Good job feller. I an sure the CEO has a framed picture of you on his wall.

You work hard all your life, break your back for your corporate whip....loving employers without paid-vacation, and you can be a CEO one day too.



5 days vacation. 5 days sick leave here.
 
Wow. That wouldn't work in the US. We are much more fertile. My dad would have gotten 6 1/2 years paid vacation over a 18 year span. Is that what Europe calls productive? And with that incentive who's telling how many siblings I'd have instead. I can't even remember their names as it is.

Seems extremely productive to me. Happy, well compensated, and well rested workers will be much more productive overall.
 
The stereotype that Americans are suckers or ignorant continues to hold true though. I can't even count the times a fucking idiot has whined to me about not having any time to spend with the family and when I eventually mention unions they talk to me like I'm some Soviet spy. Corporate propaganda has done a number on this country.

Well, that can result in you losing your job. Also I remember trying to get a job at a grocery store, after taxes and union dues I would get paid something like 5.50 an hour.
 
Wow. That wouldn't work in the US. We are much more fertile. My dad would have gotten 6 1/2 years paid vacation over a 18 year span. Is that what Europe calls productive? And with that incentive who's telling how many siblings I'd have instead. I can't even remember their names as it is.

It's not what is calls productive in output of goods but as a society, yes, it does. People are not just another form of capital to be exploited until they are fully depreciated. A company has a responsibility to provide a living for those that work for them. Having children and caring for them is probably the most vital activity a human can do for the sustainability of a healthy society. If private businesses are forced to support that then that is what it takes.

If it weren't for regulation businesses would treat people like another machine. Why would that be your goal as a society?
 
Both my wife and I got paid family leave that was not paid by either of our employers. We got 60% of our pay. Maternity leave is 30 days before the due date and I think 3 or 4 months after. Paternity leave is 6 weeks I think.


No. Ilive in the US, not Canada.

my bad!

but that's not standard in the US is it? I'm assuming those type of benefits fluctuates from state to state, company to company.
 
Wow. That wouldn't work in the US. We are much more fertile. My dad would have gotten 6 1/2 years paid vacation over a 18 year span. Is that what Europe calls productive? And with that incentive who's telling how many siblings I'd have instead. I can't even remember their names as it is.

why wouldn't it work? It works in Canada ... We get 50 paid weeks (35 of which can be split between husband and wife) per child. Keep in mind that having and raising a child is something you are giving back to society and its future social and economic well being. Many governments recognize this and this is the reason those societies gives back financially to new parents.
 
my bad!

but that's not standard in the US is it? I'm assuming those type of benefits fluctuates from state to state, company to company.

US has no real standard ot state to state law. For the most part, the company can dictate whatever they want. Hell, technically, they can't fire a woman who is pregnant or just gave birth without a good reason but there are plenty of companies that see that the due date is coming up and "find" a good reason.
 
US has no real standard ot state to state law. For the most part, the company can dictate whatever they want. Hell, technically, they can't fire a woman who is pregnant or just gave birth without a good reason but there are plenty of companies that see that the due date is coming up and "find" a good reason.

wow I never realized how tough it is in the States for new parents. I would imagine many just have to push back when they are going to have a child ... Or give up period... My wife and I have pushed it back even knowing we get these benefits ... I'm not sure we could ever afford it if the safety net wasn't in place.

edit: and in Canada firing a pregnant woman is an almost guaranteed lawsuit.
 
Hell, technically, they can't fire a woman who is pregnant or just gave birth without a good reason but there are plenty of companies that see that the due date is coming up and "find" a good reason.

Firing a pregnant woman in the UK is just asking for trouble. Even if a company has a legitimate reason it would avoid this because a lawyer would be all over them. Some people say that it actually hurts women's chances because a company fears being unable to fire someone. Not sure how much evidence that has though.
 
why wouldn't it work? It works in Canada ... We get 50 paid weeks (35 of which can be split between husband and wife) per child. Keep in mind that having and raising a child is something you are giving back to society and its future social and economic well being. Many governments recognize this and this is the reason those societies gives back financially to new parents.
You guys are poisoning my mind with your socialist views.
 
Honestly though, is there a reason why Americans don't really seem to protest? Between the crappy working conditions, high student loans, no universal health care, the NSA scandal, you'd think people would be rioting the streets. At least you have cheap electronics and food I guess.

Because they're told they're better off without them by the small number of very rich people who'd lose out if they had them.
 
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