Are American Vacation Policies Outdated?

GiorgioG asks: "Am I the only one who sees US vacation policies as outdated compared to Europe?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

I wish I got paid vacations

[markwelch]

As a self-employed consultant, I don't get paid vacations at all, and when I did get paid vacations I usually didn't use all the days.

When I was a reporter working on a monthly magazine, I got paid vacation (I think 1 week for the first year, 2 weeks per year after that) but guess what, during the month when I took the vacation I pretty much had to write the same number of words.

Later, when I was an attorney, I got paid vacation time but again, my billable hour 'guidelines' for the year didn't really seem to reflect any weeks off. (Later, working for the same law firm, I switched to a straight model of getting paid per billable hour, instead of a salary, and ever since then I've had no paid vacations at all, nearly 10 years now).

Ultimately, paid vacation is just something you negotiate for, and it's part of the equation for how much your employer thinks it can pay. Unfortunately, vesting rules for vacation days often create a perverse incentive for a manager to actually fire someone (just before the days vest).

I suspect that a majority of Slashdot's readers can really pick their own vacation schedules, and if they wanted 5 weeks of vacation, they'd get it, but they'd get paid 3/52nds less than if they just took 2 weeks of paid vacation, all other things being equal. A substantial minority may work for anal-retentive corporations that won't allow any special cases, even unpaid days off during periods when there is no critical need for that labor.

Sigh. Last September, I took my first real vacation in more than 5 years -- and my first-ever vacation to Europe. Surprise! My week-long vacation was extended to two weeks because my original return flight was scheduled for September 12. I'm sure that 90% of employers would be understanding in that extraordinary situation, though it's unclear how many would give extra paid days of vacation.

I must admit that vacation and days off are less important to me, than for many folks, because I don't have a spouse or kids. Trying to book vacations when there are so many schedules to work with, and when so many "personal days" may pop up to deal with kids' medical needs or competitions or whatever, must be a nightmare.

Finally, my understanding is that the way much of Europe deals with those four weeks of vacation, is that everybody has to take them at the same time, and business essentially shuts down during the month of August. Is that the model we aspire to?

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 Sweden...

[Kidbro]

...we're more or less encourage to take most, if not all our vacation in one large block, usually during July. This so called "industry vacation" usually means that the entire country grinds to a virtual halt during the summer months. Quite distressing really...

Anyhoo, it's of course up to the employer to accept your vacation request, but I'd be surprised if anybody was denied vacation (even five consecutive weeks or more) unless a project depended on it.

Oh, and btw, five weeks is the legal minimum. I've had two employers so far that offered six week vacation contracts.

Yes....

[twilight30]

they are outdated. I have worked in three countries (Canada, Japan and the UK), and the policies in North America fall somewhere in between Japan and Europe.

Note that there is considerable variation within Europe itself (ie/ the UK was thought the 'workaholic' of the EU -- strange but true), between Canadian provinces and between US states. Moreover, it would make more sense to speak of a spectrum of vacation attitudes and sensibilities.

To generalise though, there is a stronger work ethic in the US than in Canada and Europe. Calvinist Protestantism at one time was thought to be a prime source (cf. Weber), as well as the free-market capitalist orientation. In my personal experience the European attitude is preferable, as I feel that living in a culture goes beyond the confines of just working, working, working all the time. It is much more in tune with how I would like to be. Others may differ, and that's fair enough.

In all honesty, I'm going back the first chance I get. You *can* have the best of all worlds.

Work to live, don't live to work.

[Deagol]

For me, my job is a means to an end, not an end unto itself. As such, I value vacation time. I have a wife and kids, and I prefer to spend my time with them over time in the office.

My current job (at a State University) started me at 3 weeks per year, and if I stick around I'll get to five weeks per year. I can bank up to something like 1040 hours (26 work weeks), then it's a use-it-or-lose-it scheme. I also get 2 weeks of sick leave per year, and that can be banked to 1040 hours as well. It's also pretty lax with flex time. If I work a late night or weekend fixing or installing a machine, it goes into a under-the-table vacation bank (sanctioned by my manager, of course), which I use for extra vacation/sick time.

My last job at a small software shop started at 2 weeks per year and you could only bank 4 or 6 weeks before you lost it. There was no distinction between sick and vacation time, just a generic "leave" bank, which was really lame.

I'm getting paid less here (or at least I was when I left the last job), but I feel far better off now.

My plan is to transition to a more consultant/freelance self-employed state over the next 5-10 years, so that I can spend even more time with my kids as they get older (and before they leave the nest).

I guess it's all about your priorities. I know people my age with far different priorities, who take little time off, have no kids, and easily make twice my salary. I know guys in sales (yuck!) that work pretty much when and where they want to.

So here in the States, you have to taylor your job to fit your life goals. The government won't enforce anything more than minimum wage and safe workplaces, which I suppose is fine (I have too much of a libertarian tendancy to expect/want anything more).

Re:Australia

[cafeman]

People do leave their jobs here - in many positions, it's hard to get a reasonable raise unless you change roles or companies / departments. However, there are plenty of people who have been with the same company for 15+ years.

The 3 months off you're talking about would be long service leave, and I believe it's a statutory requirement. I think it might be longer than 3 months though, and I'm not sure it takes 20 years to get it (I think it might be less). I don't know though, as I've changed jobs a few times b/c of changing focus and interest in a pay-rise, so long-service leave doesn't really figure in my decision making process.

4 weeks per year is the legal requirement, plus public holidays (around 10 a year), plus sick days. Figure we only really work 44 weeks a year normally (8 weeks off between public holidays, sick days, and vacation time). You may get paid more in the US, but you *sure* work for it in comparison. In many ways I think the US is quite backwards - Oz and Europe have similar policies towards work (except I think Europe in general is even better for the employee than Oz).

outdated indeed

[archie]

In the Netherlands, about 23 days per year is the minimum by law. I've got 31 days, with an option to buy upto 21 extra days, or sell at most 5 days.

You're "expected" to take one big holliday of 3 weeks, but you don't have to. You just have to coordinate with your boss.

When you buy 21 days, you can work 4x9 (instead of 5x8, which is normal), or you can just do 3 vacations of 3 weeks and still take the christmas-week off. :)
Most IT-jobs are less flexible, just 23 days is often what they'll give you.

Chris

You pay for it!

[kruczkowski]

In Germany (from what I heard) the gov requiers people to take a 6 week vacation. I recived a job offer from a German company and took it - 6 week vacation, company BMW (with paid 1000km a month for private use) med and dental.

The downside to all this - I was taxed 55%. I quit after a year becouse I was working for a tax, it was so depressing looking at your statment and seeing all that money go away.

So the moral of the story, in the end you pay for that vacation with your taxes!