Interesting BBC article on US vacation time

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11139960

Nice read about how employees' vacation time in America will probably never change. . .

Whenever I get quizzed about why Americans don't travel outside of North America more often, I just mention the limited holiday/vacation time most people get.  I usually always get astounded and pitying stares of disbelief.

I didn't read about how it was never going to change, as the reporter never mentioned any facts/figures/trending.

In fact if you read about companies like Netflix, which a lot of companies are looking to as the future of business, you'll find that there IS change happening:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/7945719/Netflix-lets-its-staff-take-as-much-holiday-as-they-want-whenever-they-want-and-it-works.html

Maybe it's because I work for a Canadian company here, but I only get 4 days more than I was getting in the US when you count total paid days off. The only difference is now I take/need every day I can get to see family!

I didn't read about how it was never going to change, as the reporter never mentioned any facts/figures/trending.

No but he does say "Anyway, things aren't likely to be getting better in the US." and given the way businesses look to sack employees any way they can, I'd imagine he's right.

In fact if you read about companies like Netflix, which a lot of companies are looking to as the future of business, you'll find that there IS change happening:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/7945719/Netflix-lets-its-staff-take-as-much-holiday-as-they-want-whenever-they-want-and-it-works.html

Sadly, it only lists that they don't track the hours of the salaried employees.  No mention of those on hourly pay such as any admin.  I'm an Executive Assistant and get paid hourly.  Most of the salaried people I work with don't track time off either, but I'm held to only 80 hours (10 days) of paid vacation time.  If I take any more for any reason, I lose out on money as it will have to be unpaid.  I wish I could believe that it was getting better here in the US, but I'll believe it when I start seeing it.

Maybe the answer is to be a government worker.      My ex is up to 8 weeks vacation a year now.  Ok, that's after 25 years but it's still darn good.

Another trend in the US is allowing (encouraging) folks to move to 11 month, 10 month, or even 9 month contracts.  You get the proportionate reduction in pay, but get to keep your twelve-month health benefits so it is quite attractive for workers who would rather have decent vacation time in return for a reduced salary.  I work at a college & a number of us did that, so they didn't have to lay off as many people as they originally thought they'd have to.

Maybe the answer is to be a government worker.      My ex is up to 8 weeks vacation a year now.  Ok, that's after 25 years but it's still darn good.

The thing is, even government workers (or others who somehow manage to have that sort of vacation time) have a lot of hoops to jump through in trying to use it.  I suppose it varies by department, but my mom's a nurse at a state hospital, and it's all based on seniority.  All vacation has to be requested in January, so it's still really difficult to get, say, a weekend off because some family thing comes up.  People lower down the tree have to wait to see what dates are still open and schedule their vacations on whatever dates are left.  And, this is just a guess, but I'm betting that if someone wanted to take a full 8 weeks off at once, their manager's head would spin around.  It's just not done.

This was my experience as a federal government employee. If you wanted the more 'interesting' work as opposed to shuffling paperwork all day, you couldn't take much time off. It's just not a cultural norm.

The people who are really passionate about travel will save up money, quit their job and travel for several before coming back and couch-surfing for a few months while looking for a new job. It works if you're young, single and don't have a mortgage (and are healthy enough to go without health insurance) but doesn't work for the rest of the population.

My BF just got his first job and when I told my parents that he gets 24 days holiday every year, they were amazed. Somehow they didn't realise how little holiday americans get, possibly because they never had anything/anyone to compare it to.

The thing is, even government workers (or others who somehow manage to have that sort of vacation time) have a lot of hoops to jump through in trying to use it.  I suppose it varies by department, but my mom's a nurse at a state hospital, and it's all based on seniority.  All vacation has to be requested in January, so it's still really difficult to get, say, a weekend off because some family thing comes up.  People lower down the tree have to wait to see what dates are still open and schedule their vacations on whatever dates are left.  And, this is just a guess, but I'm betting that if someone wanted to take a full 8 weeks off at once, their manager's head would spin around.  It's just not done.

That's how it was for my father, who was working for the US Postal Service for 20+ years. He accrued quite a bit of time off over the years, but every December he and my mother would have to sit down with a calendar and plan their holidays so that he knew when to request off. He generally got those days because he had the most seniority at his branch, but there were times where they couldn't be sure and would have to wait to book travel until his requests were approved.

hiya

I've worked for 3 US IT/Software houses 1999-2008 here in the UK - Each one of them had Holiday and benefits for the USA staff that was exactly the same terms and benefits as us here.

It is definitley not the norm, but in my direct experience as the world operates on a more global level, USA companies that go multi national do seem to up the benefits for their US staff to match countries and territories they operate in.

What you must remember is that from a business point of view, time taken off by staff still costs the business money. So whilst the employee runs off on holiday and flies abroad etc for leisure time, the business owner still has to find the money to pay them, the overheads and the taxes and contributions - It is of course nowadays taken for granted you'd get holiday time, so I can see from both views.

If I was totally ruthless in a company I'd say have time off, but it'll be unpaid! but I'm not, I'd rather give more time off when I know that person is dedicated and contributes to the business.

That said, theres also an awful lot of 'fat' that could be trimmed from companies operating in the UK, what with lazy staff, unproductive staff, extra sick leave staff.

Just to put it all in perspective - when I was involved in a family business, we calculated the cost of all our staff who took a sneaky extra 10 mins at lunch, 5-10 mins at break times, and who turned up at 8.59, clocked in and wasted 15 minutes getting a tea and coffee and reading the paper and starting 'work' at like 9.15. It came to an astounding £70,000 ! over the year - we paid a good hourly rate to them.

Have a little think about the 'other side' as well

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

I think the vacation situation in the US is so completely variable by industry that it's hard to properly compare it to the UK.  I have worked in academia in both the US and the UK and here in the UK, I get 36 days off including public holidays.  In the US, I had 48 days off when you added in public holidays and the paid time off when the university shut down.  It'd be great if the US had a better minimum standard that applied to everyone, but some industries can and do provide above and beyond what you get in the UK. 

I think it depends on the industry but yes the majority of Americans get maybe 2 weeks vacation time a year and that counts for sick time as well (my husband is in that group). However, I work in the legal field and get 25 days per year plus all holidays which equals roughly to over 6 weeks a year. Europeans have it right.

I just left my job as a dental receptionist because my fiancee and I are moving to Scotland for him to attend school. At that job I was offered 2 weeks vacation time, which I thought was really good. However, there was never any time for me to take the vacation time (everyone else was always taking thiers) and I still have 32 hours of vacation time left.

It was the only benefit they offered-no health insurance, nothing-just this vacation time. And now that I am leaving, they told me I can not be compensated for the 32 hours that I never used. I worked there a year and never called out sick, not once. Thanks American Mobile Dental- really appreciate it.