In many parts of Europe, it’s common for workers to take off weeks at a time, especially during the summer. Envious Americans say it’s time for the U.S. to follow suit.
Some 66% of U.S. workers say companies should adopt extended vacation policies, like a month off in August, in their workplaces, according to a Morning Consult survey of 1,047 U.S. adults.
34% of Americans responded “grind my body into the ground, capitalism daddy”
I don’t think they even responded, their mouth were probably full.
In Switzerland, on the other hand, we have turned down an additional two weeks of vacation with a majority of 67 % in 2012. Which leaves us with a meager 4 weeks.
Pain
It’s mind boggling that there’s no minimum PTO law in the US
Not when you remember that capitalism is the state religion.
Praise Cash, from whom all blessings flow.
There’s not a law because most professional jobs have PTO at level that would meet any mandatory minimum level.
So it would affect nothing for those jobs and be beneficial to others to have those minimums
What would you say the minimum would be?
In Denmark it’s 5 weeks, a lot (most?) get 1 week extra, some get more days every year they stay at the same employer, and a few get more (common in banking sector).
In the US, probably 2 as a minimum.
As an American, I want that sweet sweet Netherlands lifestyle so bad in the US.
Nederlanders actually are able to talk to each other, come up with solutions to intractable problems, and plan beyond the next political cycle. They also have empty churches.
It starts by having Proportional Vote which then feeds-into and feeds-off a culture of political consensus.
This is unlike all those Potekin-Democracies out there - some worse than others - with electoral circle systems (worse, single representative ones with First Past The Post) mathematically rigged to create a duopoly of power which are associated with a “everything has two and only two sides” political and news culture and passing as “politics” and “ideology” something which is nothing more than a shouty circus of us-vs-them focused on the things that make the least difference, to distract from the absence of real choice for those things which do matter because they dictate lifetime outcomes and every day affect people’s quality of life and how they are treated (tons of bullshit about identity but complete total consensus with total descriminationo on and maximizing the outcomes and dynastic nature of wealth).
I’ve lived in a couple of countries in Europe with different voting systems and of those Nederland is well ahead the others, especially the ones with voting systems using purellly electoral circles (the UK - which has single choice FPTP electoral circles and an unellect monarch - was especially bad) - I firmly believe that real democratic choice is behind a lot of it (though culture too) and think the greatest problem in the West is a lack of democracy were most people trully are represented rather a theatre of “democracy” were all they can do is choose an “evil” (sold to them as the “lesser” one).
True but then again they’ve been supporting the current government, which has been dismantling all the great support systems for so long, whilst being marred in scandals that always ended with the prime minister claiming “I can’t remember doing that”, that I’m honestly wondering what humanity can do to protect itself against stupid…
Let’s revisit this after the next elections.
Yes, we’re doing better than many other countries in many metrics, but we can all see the slide we’re on.
Sounds like a waste of real estate
Get the lighting right and they become real nice market places or bars!
This is such a crock of shit. If NL needed Federal approval from everyone between Portugal and Greece, your solutions would be pretty DOA too. It has nothing to do with some weird Dutch superiority complex.
I’m European and I have 1 month across all the year. I took 1 week during spring, 1 week in July, 1 week in August and I have another week for the rest of the year.
I couldn’t say “hey, I won’t show up during the whole month”.
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You can split your vacation time into multiple parts, but one of them must be at least 14 calendar days. It may be hard to claim a whole month, but two weeks should be possible.
You can split your vacation time into multiple parts, but one of them must be at least 14 calendar days.
That would depend on your country, there is no EU law that makes having two consecutive weeks of holiday mandatory.
It is! It was more convenient for me to have two different weeks during the summer. One of my co-workers is having 3 consecutive weeks this September (she’s getting married).
Yeah good luck with that. In the US capitalism is first and last, it’s god, it determines everything. Votes vote against their own interests because capitalism. Way too many religious persons see Jesus more like a capitalistic investor than the socialist heretic he was. If the rich and greedy can no longer squeeze out the poor and vulnerable then america stops being America.
Never going to happen
Sure it can happen. +60% is a lot of %.
It’s harder to see positive change if you’re not looking for it and even easier to hide behind the excuse that you don’t see change so why even try. My state flipped blue and our governor is great. That didn’t just spontaneously happen it happened because people kept trying. Apathy is just choosing not to help by another name.
Oh I would agree but I guess I just got very cynical with age… I see so many severe problems that are caused by assholes, supported by large groups of Facebook armchair retards that will suffer from said problems the most… I’ve gotten to the point where I feel like humanity deserves to suffer because it calls it upon itself.over and over.
Lets vote the devil himself for president because we believe in Christ! I mean… What? How?
Climate change is a hoax! Said by so many famous people during the hottest day of the hottest month of the hottest hear in recorded history… My teeth are grinding.
Let’s curb human rights because… Eh… ah yesz to protect the children! Always claim to protect the children! Whenever you see a bill these days claiming to protect children I’ll automatically assume it’s to be able to rape children because that’s how humanity rolls these days.
Let’s invade another country to play land grab and show off to the world how powerful I am!oh fuck, it’s fucking up? Well let’s continue a full fledge 3 day special operation into day 386something with tends of thousands of deaths because hey, we can’t show weakness here now can we?
I’ve seen too much shit, I’ve started to avoid the news because it’s just too depressing.
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Well… factorys and stuff usually close down entirely for 3 weeks… but stores etc is still open… in sweden we also have alot of young people who have 10+ weeks of holiday who works a few weeks in the summer to help out, get some cash and work experience… ita highly regulated though… no shift work, no dangerous work etc… So society still runs like normal… but perhaps a bit slower…
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Am from Europe, I can confirm. The whole continent turns into a paleolithic society for the month of August.
I’ve always wanted an ooga booga vacation.
In Sweden atleast we usually get 25 vacation days and are entitled to 4 weeks in a row. So you can take a month off if your employer accepts it at the time you want it. Not everybody takes the same 4 weeks and not everyone takes 4 weeks in a row. I took 2 weeks last month and I’m saving 2 weeks for christmas.
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You usually get 25 days and you can use them whenever or wherever you like, as long as your employer aprooves of it. People usually only use 20 of the 25 days as you can save 5 days each year. There is a limit on the amount of saved vacation days and also how long you can save them for.
With sicknes we dont get paid at all the first sick day but after that we get 80% pay, after one work week we need confirmation from a doctor if we need to stay home longer.
Same in Denmark
Well crucial services like public transport and water keep running. Some people also take off in July, or September if they don’t have kids. But life definitely slows down in the summer. Lots of smaller businesses, especially restaurants will often just be closed for a few weeks. Large grocery chains stay open of course. It all depends on the amount of manpower to be able to spread out vacation periods.
In Estonia we get 28 vacation days every year, and companies are free to give out additional free days. For example I get three additional health days per year. It’s compulsory to have one vacation that is at least 14 days long, and the rest can be used as you wish.
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In the Netherlands, people get 4 weeks mandatory paid leave (set by law), which is valid until july next year and usually 1 week ‘optional’ which is valid longer. (when working full time, 40h/week, when working 36 or 38h there will be more days leave) Schools close for 6 weeks during the summer, when it’s hottest. (august) Also there is a 3 week period in each region for building companies to be closed. This period falls within the summer holiday of the schools.
Most workers with children (and those working at building companies) take their leave during the summer, when it’s usually quiet anyway. Those without the need to go on holiday during those periods, usually stay at work and catch up with the work that was left behind by those that are on holiday. (and enjoy their holiday when it’s cheaper, outside the high season)
Employers are required to allow personnel to take at least 3 weeks off, when requested, as personnel tend to get overworked when they can’t wind down, which is not beneficial to the company as well costs the country money. (loads) On the other hand, personnel can be forced to take time off when they are overworked and have paid leave left. Mandatory leave usually expires after 18 months with no financial compensation (unless the company didn’t allow leave, which is against the rules anyway), optional leave expires after 5 years and gets paid out.
It takes planning, but apart from schools, the building industry and very small businesses, nothing closes. This is well, as nobody would want to be on leave all together, the black saturdays we have are terrible enough as they are. (started as a French phrase for the busiest saturdays on the road due to holiday traffic and spread across Europe)
Yeah it’s false, at least for The Netherlands (as that is my point of reference). Maybe you can have the whole month off if you save up your days but the majority of the working population does do some work in August.
The thing is if you try and stay on work in August (Which is totally an option, the officers are not normally actually physically closed) you end up butting up against the fact that everyone else has left, and you can’t talk to anyone. So unless your job can be done 100% by you with zero input from anybody else you can’t get any work done.
Other companies and other departments are closed, so you just end up not doing anything anyway, so you may as well be off.
Besides is the one time of the year that you can guarantee all your friends / family will be available at the same time to go on holiday together.
Its not exatcly how it works( at least in poland ). You usualy get x amount of free days( 20 or 25 depending on how much you worked )that you can take plus free days for public reasons weddings,blood donation etc… Its just that its usualy june/july/August. Some companies opt out to just give all their employees days off on the same day since they cant really function if half of their worforce wants to go on vacation at the same time and those that need to function all the time do the nescessary magic to somehow maintain the nescessary pepole. In essence its not mandatory but rather customary and non tourist cities( or non tourist areas ) in Poland(europe) kinda die off for a month or two.
Hey, no you get to pick when you take that “month off” I get 26 days leave + bank holidays. I get to pick how to spend the 26 days. Bank holidays are mandatory. So I could take more than a month off in a row if I wanted to.
Italy here. Usually factories and many offices shut down for at least 2 weeks in August. Essential services obviously stay open.
Some other services may or may not decide to close, like a butcher may decide to close for a few weeks in the summer. Same for some bars/restaurants etc. Not all of them, some of them.
Also there’s a huge difference between where you are. If you live in the industrialized north, then what I described it’s more or less true, but if you live in the south, it’s all completely different. August becomes the busiest period for the tourist-centric south, with bars and restaurants working at maximum capacity, beaches and cities all full of tourists and service workers actually increase in this period.
It’s obviously not 100% all society shuts down, but if you are an American company trying to do business with Europe in August, just keep in mind that lots of stuff will be postponed to September.
German here: I have yet to witness these “European-style” vacations mentioned in the post title.
Most workplaces seem to frown at people taking >2 consecutive weeks of vacation, esp. if they don’t have kids and do it in main travel season / during school holidays. Handing in ~3 weeks of holidays often at least needs some kind of explanation to the team-lead, e.g. “I have school kids who have their summer holidays and we need to keep them busy until school starts again.”
I have yet to see a single company going easy on someone saying “I’ll be off all of August KTHXBYE”.
I work in IT for a major telecom provider in Scandinavia, and almost everyone takes 3 weeks summer vacation, mostly at the same time.
Management recommends taking as much as possible over the summer, as we have a 5-6 week “slow period” when people’s 3 weeks don’t align.
Other than that, it’s common to just take the rest during other school holidays.
We get 6 weeks by default and earn our way up to 7 weeks after 5 years.
I work in the automotive industry in the US, but we regularly interact with German suppliers (software and hardware). In my experience, in August especially it seems like half of their office is just out the entire month. I’m sure there’s tons of industries where that isn’t the case, though.
I love paid time off. But the summer when tons other people are off and everything is busy/expensive/hot would be my very last choice.
I’m all about that off season.
Agreed, I was on vacation earlier this month for a couple weeks since it was the only time that made sense with my work schedule. It was just brutally expensive to stay anywhere because things were booked up.
We don’t specify when you go on vacation in Europe it’s just 5 weeks of paid time off
Is there a story behind your username?
I actually got slightly told off last year because I hadn’t taken enough holiday off. I got made to take paid leave.
Considering that it’s an EU law, if my company doesn’t give me all the days off I’m entitled then they could get into legal trouble. I bet any company would want to avoid that.
They can just pay you your time back that is allowable as long as you agree. But they didn’t want to do that.
No, they cannot – you must take the legally mandated amount of leave.
(Any excess, over and above that minimum, can be paid.)
I was in that boat this year. I ended up taking every Friday off this summer just to reduce my PTO time so I wouldn’t lose it.
Switch “companies should adopt” for “the federal government should mandate” and you might be a bit closer to what you need.
Expecting companies in the US to voluntarily make your life better is a hiding to nothing.
I used to live and work in Washington DC and that place shuts down in August, as all the politicians vacay at that time.
I’m gonna assume the remaining 33% prefer to have a vacation other than summertime.
Then don’t vote for Republicans.
“OOO”?
I assume “Out Of Office”
