US at Very Bottom in Vacation Days

ABC News ^ | June 25, 2003 | Catherine Valenti - ABC News

[txzman]

Sad - given the stress most workers are under nowadays, this is one area that still seems very archaic.

[Dick Vomer]

well here I am at 0440..in the ER. taking a break .... why doesn't the guy in the article get a job that allows him a month or two off at a time..... teacher... congressman..... actor...... writer..... or borrow money and start your own business.... or move to Sweeden. whiney little beeaaattchhes.

[Always Right]

It's no wonder so many nations on that list with a high number of days off have greater than 10% unemployment. Having employees gone more than 30 days must be a nightmare for employers. This is one of the reasons why the US is more successful than all the other nations on this list.

[this_ol_patriot]

"Is that all my life is about — working? What's the point of working all the time when all you do is work? I want to be able to appreciate it, too."

Welcome to the real world Jack, try 7 day weeks, no weekends and no holidays. Ok I get compensated for them and have 5 weeks vacation but that's after 25 years of work.

[pt17]

Sad - given the stress most workers are under nowadays, this is one area that still seems very archaic

This is really tough on people who are under a lot of stress on the job, especially those who are forced or feel compelled to put in long hours at work. More fortunate are the people who love their work and can still find time to keep their lives in balance. It isn't easy but it is doable.

[ThreePuttinDude]

Vacation shrinkage has prompted one author, Joe Robinson, to start a grassroots campaign to combat a society moving more and more toward overwork. The aim: To establish a law providing three weeks of vacation for any U.S. worker who has worked at a job for one year, and four weeks after three years.

"The idea is to make a slight shift in how vacations are perceived; that is by making them legal," says Robinson, who started his "Work to Live" campaign two years ago, lobbying for the law with Sen. Ted Kennedy and Rep. Henry Waxman in Washington D.C.

---

Now there are a couple of people who will make you want
to jump right into their cause.

Just knowing that, I'll do everything I can to fight against this whole idea.....

[Prodigal Son]

Mortellaro's company, which he declined to name, grants five vacation days to its employees after they've been working at the job more than six months. A year later, they get a total of 10 vacation days.

Sounds like a good deal to me. The last job I held in the US when I worked there, one had to amass 5 years before one had 2 weeks off. If this fellow wants a better deal- join the military. One month paid the first year. Interesting on the job travel as well.

[prairiebreeze]

5 vacation days may not be all the time off he gets. No mention of personal days, paid holidays or even sick days in the article. It may be that 5 days are allotted for vacation and the expectation is that personal days and holidays will probably be used to supplement that time.

2 weeks time off (however the days are allocated), in one year is fairly standard.

Prairie

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

It's no wonder so many nations on that list with a high number of days off have greater than 10% unemployment. Having employees gone more than 30 days must be a nightmare for employers. This is one of the reasons why the US is more successful than all the other nations on this list.

They get by since everyone else is doing the same, except for us. Of course, that makes it a sore spot for them but oh well. OTOH, the article makes valid points and I doubt our competitive advantage lies here, but rather in our tax structure instead.

Looking at the Netherlands, last I checked, they had a lower unemployment rate than we do, and they get 30 days per year from what I can see. Not to mention, Phillips can make Sonicare toothbrushes in the US and expensive electric shavers in Holland, and give those guys 30 days off but our companies have to run to China and India or else they can't compete. Hell, we don't even have a direct competitor to Phillips.

I don't see how they can do it but its kind of embarrassing.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Where do you work now? Two weeks after 5 years on the job sounds too much in the Crack the Whip category, but yeah, it is kind of a standard. We could use more vacation, it would be better for the economy. We get less than China or Japan? Sickening.

[rmmcdaniell]

This article demonstrates the utter stupidity of Bush's plan to take issue away from the RATS. Now that the prescription drug bill is all but signed, the liberals are just moving on to their next entitlement demand. Perhaps Bush can make mandatory paid vacations the centerpiece of his 2004 re-election campaign.

[ALS]

I work for a #1 company and we happen to have an office in Italy where they automatically get 2 months! They make them take one whole month off and the rest they break up as they choose. We get 2 weeks automatically, but have to wait a year, as is normal, to take it off. It's a 5 year stint to get 3 weeks.
Oddly enough, they just issued a memo whining about the high cost of vacation time. This from the 2nd largest privately owned company in the U.S.
I'm not much for gummint mandated vacation time. Once this pandora's box is opened, it will grow to the point that the cost will inhibit new hire and they'll just work the existing employees harder and longer.
However, I think it a bit ridiculous we have to have a guilt trip laid at our feet, when employees in Italy get 2 months a year and they don't have to wait a year to use it!

[Gorzaloon]

Workplace experts say they are also noticing another trend — people going on vacation but not really leaving the office, using some of their time off to check in with the office and clients.

On vacation at a nice place, we returned to our room, only to see my bed was covered with Faxes. A manager had hunted me down and sent work to me.

When I got back I went ballistic. I invoiced the company for two days of the room, for turning it into an office. They paid and credited me two days vacation time.

The manager was transferred.

Several years later, I got a call while on vacation. "Since you are in Florida, and it is almost there, could you get a plane for Houston tomorrow?"

Response: "I DON'T NEED THIS JOB!!!!!"

Some of this stuff is merely posturing or testing an employee's limits, like a five-year-old does. There was really no pressing need for the Houston trip at all, and a phone call resolved the entire issue. They knew it, I knew it.

Now, I lie about where I am going on vacation.

For the stingy amount of time I have for vacation, to have it trashed and tampered with by a mid-level Nobody with no real authority or need to do so, is beyond an insult.

[TN4Liberty]

Many employers, including mine, give a week after six months and two weeks after a year. Many of them (not all of course) also have 7-11 paid holidays. Others have flexible work shifts, like working 4 ten hour days.

After 25 years, I have 5 weeks of vacation, but I would like to have more. If I had to find a new job, I would have a difficult time adjusting. I would, of course.

But a government regulation on minimum vacation is difficult for me to accept philosophically. Still, if every compnay was required to give (say) a minimum of 20 days off each year, companies who didn't give vacation would have have a labor cost advantage over those who did.

I'm not advocating that, only noting that it would likely take government intervention to make it work, mainly because no clever employers have realized that many new hires would prefer an additional week of vacation over a 2% salary bump.

[Jhoffa_]

Well, hell... Why don't we just give people a month off, paid vacation.

We can use tax dollars to pay the employee for the time they are off work, and we can compensate them employer a little too so they get a little something in the bargain also..

What? You say it's socialism?

BAH! After the prescription drug benefit, I thought we weren't concerned with little things like socialism, morality and Conservatism.

Heck, make it two months paid.. Think of all the votes that would buy!

[Prodigal Son]

Where do you work now?

I work for myself now.

Two weeks after 5 years on the job sounds too much in the Crack the Whip category,

Well, the way I looked on it, no man has a right to a job in the first place. If I were living like a caveman- survival would be a 365 day a year occupation. I don't think anybody has a right to a vacation. A job is for survival. If you can find a job where they offer to pay you a week or more every year for doing nothing- this is a plus. But like this communist in the article wants to do with mandatory three weeks- that'll lead you down the road to totalitarianism.

If I own a company, I am the only entity that has the right to set wages and vacation time- the gov't needs to stay out of it.

We get less than China or Japan? Sickening.

Personally, I find the amount of mandated vacation in Europe sickening. They wonder why their economies are floundering. No such thing as a free ride. If you're on a paid vacation, somebody is paying for it.

[Prodigal Son]

Now, I lie about where I am going on vacation.

Out of curiosity, why do you have to tell 'em in the first place where you're going?

I used to tell my boss, "What I do after I punch that clock is none of your affair".

[johniegrad]

There is no role for government-mandated vacation standards in this country.

[Jhoffa_]

Sure there is...

Think of all the votes we could buy with it!

Why, we could "win" for the next 5 elections with a concept like this. Then "Conservatives" would be in charge..

Wouldn't that be great?

[William Terrell]

Vacation? What's that, something to eat?