Are American Vacation Policies Outdated?

GiorgioG asks: "Am I the only one who sees US vacation policies as outdated compared to Europe? If I have 3-4 weeks of vacation time, why is it that most companies won't allow you to take more than 1 or 2 consecutive weeks of time off - especially if you aren't performing a 'mission-critical' function. I find it quite frustrating, considering I only want to take 1 long vacation a year (to visit family in Europe.)" This depends, of course, on the types of vacation policies found in Europe and those types found here in the US. So what do both sides of the fence have to say about what they have seen on the other side when it comes to vacation time?

Comments

Burned out from job hopping

[realgone]

I dunno, the biggest problem I've had re: U.S. vacation time is that in this "new economy", it's commonplace to spend two or three years at a job then move along to another firm. (This is especially true in my chosen field of advertising.) And this is all well and good, except that many firms' HR depts haven't really adjusted and still base vacation time solely on number of years served at that one company. ("Sure, you might be a VP with 20 years experience, but you've only been with us for a year. Enjoy that one week off, kiddo.")

Heck, the agency I'm with now doesn't offer any vacation time during the first year; you have to borrow against the following year's allotment -- which amounts to two weeks spread out over two years. Ugh.

End result: it's become yet another item one has to bargain for when going through the experienced hire job hop. And you might find you'll need to trade away more than you expected (in terms of salary, perks, etc.) if time off is really that important to you.

Well... at least until the job market opens up some; then it's safe to play a bit of hardball again. =)

In some jobs, vacations are mandatory

[splorf]

For example, if you're a banker or accountant, you are required to take 2 weeks vacation every year and let someone else do your job for you while you're gone. It is not optional and postponements are not allowed--when your vacation time comes, you must go whether you want to or not, and you're not allowed back in the office til the vacation is over.

The reason is obvious: if you've been cooking the books, you won't want to let them out of your sweaty little clutches, so it's a basic security precaution that you be thrown out of the office every so often, letting somebody else take over your work materials so they'll notice if you've been trying to pull a fast one.

Kind of different from programming, where managers are constantly trying to get you to postpone or skip or shorten your vacations.

In Australia

[dregs]

At my place of employment, a University I get 4 weeks leave, which can be banked up to 8 weeks, at which point it sits there and wont go any higher.

I get 15 days sick leave a year.

After 10 years I get long service leave which is 3 months at full pay or 6 months at half pay off.

I can also cash in 4/52th of my pay and have an extra 4 weeks giving me 8 weeks leave per year.

As well we work flex time, and I can flex up to 1 day a week per fortnight (= 2 weeks in Australian)
i.e. work 9 days in every 10.

I do get payed significantly less (approx 25% excluding Super which when added in makes the difference about 10%)
than I would in an industry job, but with 2 young kids, and a Doctor for a wife (who works for her self, and get no paid
leave, its great to have such a flexable job.

Dave...