Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

Hi,

We are considering to apply for PR in Canada. We are currently living in Belgium, and lacking such an interesting forum like this "locally", I'm trying it this way.

Some of the other threads were dealing with pros and cons on moving to Canada. I often see people mentioning something like "laid back lifestyle", but on the other hand complaining about lack of annual leave (with mostly 10 days holiday per year). Living in a country where 30 days is about the average, I wonder how this fits with less stress in daily life?

Is this 10 days per year really average in Canada? Is this number of days linked to professional level? Apparently it is to number of years working.

How do you compare pressure in professional life in Canada to U.K./Europe?

Any regional differences?

Regards,
Jan

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

Ten days is about average. I cannot often take it when I need to either, as senior/favoured workers get the summer spots. I have to use vacation time for sick kids, and am often left with five or six days a year. :(

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

With most companies in Canada it is 10 days as you have correctly read.
Normally companies give employees an extra 5 days for every 5 years worked.

I'm sure there are exceptions but 10 is the norm.

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

10 days is normal to start with for the compnay I work for - I got 15 as a sweetener :)

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

Hey Glaswegian, so did I. I let it slip one day to a fellow collegue and he was somewhat surprised.
After 5 years I asked if I was going to get my extra 5 days (making it 20) and they said no. Of course by then the company had a different GM who thought very differently.

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

I find stress is not really about the 20 days holiday (including statutary hols) but the 250 days a year I am at work. I dont have to worry about my car / house being broken into, or living in a terraced house with antisocial neighbours. My quality of life is definetly better 365 days a year. Others will disagree, but I find canadians quick to laugh, and they (we?) work hard and play hard. Not having to cope with insane traffic on the way to / from work also helps keep stress levels in check.

Iain

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

I've covered comparative stress in another thread - I can cope with 15 days vacation, 11 days Alberta stats and a whole lot less crap to deal with on a daily basis.

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

To me, living and working in Canada is like a year long holiday compared to living in England. I'd also say that it's much easier to do active stuff at weekends here compared to London, the countryside is great and just a short drive away.

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

Amen to that ......

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

Thats exactly what i said to friends in the UK...

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

JanBe,

I have just started working for the same company I worked for in the UK. I bargained with them to get 15 days holiday, instead of the default 10, reason being I want to see some of Canada as well as return to the UK for holidays.

Others I have spoken to have said holiday can be brought into the negotiations once offered a job. Also the larger the company then the easier it is to get more days ... or so I have been told.

Good luck & happy holidays :)

Iain

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

Slightly OT but does flexi time exist in Canada? Or the bees knees Is "no core time" which Is what the Inland Revenue in the UK have. You can in theory turn up at any time in the day and leave whenever you want as long as you don't go below the -25 hours in a month.

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

Welcome Jan,

You said you lack a forum like this one in Belgium. Looking at your name I presume you speak dutch. Have you tried the Canadian Bulletin Board (http://www.mowi.nl/cgi-bin/yabb1/YaBB.pl)? It is a dutch forum about emigration to Canada and also quite a few people from Belgium can be found there.
I visit both forums (BritishExpats and CBB) but I think BritishExpats is more informative and I feel more "at home" here.

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

Hi,

I spent my first quarter century in Canada (I'm currently in the UK) and the only thing that ever stressed me was continuity of employment. We may only get 10 days leave per annum, but a surprising number of people have a "camp" (read, cottage or mobile home/trailer) in the woods somewhere, where they spend nearly evey weekend.

As a student, I worked summers in a factory. Most of my colleagues were semi-skilled assemblers, but it seemed they ALL had a second hidey-hole somewhere on the water. Failing ownership, the access to wide open spaces is much greater, and it's amazing how a few hours away from the hurly burly can rejunvenate you.

(There's an old 80s tune called, "Working for the Weekend" by a band called Loverboy. I think this explains the Canadian philosophy!)

Living in the UK, I find having toddlers living (and screaming!) on either side of me utterly maddening. Where I come from originally, if you can spit and hit the next guy's house, you've bent over backward to live in a city. (Some people do just that: and it costs accordingly.)

I find Christmas shopping (or indeed, grocery shopping) so stressful in the UK that I order everything online and have it delivered. I long for the days of Canadian malls that looked like they were peopled by extras from a Dawn of the Dead film: very few and very slow-moving! :) And don't get me started on the roads: I just flatly refuse to drive in the UK. (Didn't mind doing it in NS, though.)

I'm looking at coming back, and still the only thing that worries me is the employment situation. There is just no rationalising that one away, as I remind the very zealous (and English) KeithS repeatedly!

Re: Annual leave vs. lifestyle
 

15 days is the norm in Saskatchewan. Some places make you work a year before you get any holidays, but some will give you the day and a quarter a month - so that after 6 months work they will often give you a week off the first year.