Posted on 08/20/2006 7:19:26 PM PDT by blam
Take a holiday, companies tell worried American workaholics
By Harry Mount in New York
(Filed: 21/08/2006)
Americans, who are already the hardest workers in the Western world, are taking fewer holidays than they have done for almost 30 years, a survey says.
In a country where most employees only get two weeks off a year plus 10 public holidays, many people are now so ambitious or so terrified of losing their jobs that they have to be forced to take their meagre allowance.
According to the Conference Board, a private research group, 40 per cent of American workers are taking no summer holiday at all this year, the lowest percentage recorded for 28 years. Even President George W Bush, celebrated in previous years for taking most of August off at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, spent only 10 days there earlier this month.
About a quarter of American workers in the private sector do not get any paid holiday at all, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. It said a third of all American workers only take one week-long holiday a year. In a separate survey, the Travel Industry Association found that the longest summer trip for the average American lasts only six nights.
"The idea of somebody going away for two weeks is really becoming a thing of the past," said Mike Pina, of the American Automobile Association. "It's kind of sad, really, that people can't seem to leave their jobs any more."
The problem has become so severe that several large companies now close down at holiday periods to force obsessive workers from their desks. The accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers shuts down all its offices for 10 days at Christmas and five days for the Fourth of July.
The firm also logs employees' holidays so that they are nagged via their computer if they do not take their full complement. Posters in the office extol the joys of a lazy holiday.
"We aren't doing this to push people out the door," said Barbara Kraft, a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner. "But we wanted to create an environment where people could walk away and not worry about missing a meeting, a conference call or 300 e-mails. It has taught our people what it is like to have unencumbered time."
The attitude of the Americans, who take an average of just 16 annual holiday days, including public holidays, differs greatly with that of some European nations. The Italians, for instance, take an average of 42 days, while the Germans take 35 days. The average in Britain is 28 days and the French take 37 days.
One major advocate of holiday time is Pope Benedict XVI, who quoted from the writings of St Bernard of Chiaravalle in his Sunday address. "We have to guard ourselves, the saint observed, from the dangers of excessive activity, regardless of the office one holds, because too many concerns can often lead to hardness of heart," the Pope said.
"many people are now so ambitious or so terrified of losing their jobs that they have to be forced to take their meagre allowance"
I'd rather live here and take my "meagre" allowance than put up with your country's BS. And one more thing telegraph, it's EARNINGS not ALLOWANCE.
oops got that all wrong. *red faced*
ROFL. I hate it when things get lost in translation...in English.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we considerably more productive than most of Europe? Wonder if those numbers have anything to do with that?
"...aren't we considerably more productive than most of Europe?"
Yep. Most Americans work a full 40 hours per week or more. Many European countries cap the work week at about 30 to 35 hours.
My husband works at a place where they usually force them to take the week between Christmas and New Years off, out of their own vacation time of course, I'm sure a lot of them resented being forced to take the vacation time at the time of management's chosing rather than their own.
I believe that Winston Churchill said that we are two peoples, separated by a common language.
Rather people (young men especially) were working hard, than setting fires to autos, and performing other destructive acts.....WORK is one of the best things in the world for MEN!
Celebrated for it?! Where? In what hemisphere? Most of the MSM (on both sides of the pond) mocked him for it.
LOL. Churchill, brilliant as always.
"England and America are two countries separated by a common language."
George Bernard Shaw
I find a lot of Euro economic data is supsect (even the Germans got caught cooking unemloyment statistics), but the French have a lot of natural advantages in a lot of luxury or top end products (think agriculture, haute couture, perfumes, cosmetics, etc.) and the EU has given them a much larger market in areas where they have a natural or historical monopoly. They have also bent or broken EU policy to their advantage whenever possible (think EU ag subsidies).
Their per-capita GDP is much lower than hours, but that is mainly due to the fact that they work a lot fewer hours than we do ( around 1450 vs. 1950 per year, if I recall) and because of the high unemployment.
If you have a decent job (like most French boomers do) and have some inherited property (like many do) you can live very well in France for someone with a modicum of education and not much ambition.
Innovation, research, investment, and intolerance for corruption. Working ourselves to death isn't how we got here.
More projection of Yankee envy by those on the east side of the pond. And part of the reason they are clueless as to why their per capital GDP is much lower.
"Unbeleivable!"
I can believe it.
My father was a workaholic. He was warned it would kill him. At the age of 90, it finally did. If only he had listened to reason.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.