Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

This hasn't been our experience, well, not after my husband had "proven" himself in his job anyway. At first the salary, leave and benefits were OK, nothing spectacular, pretty standard, but he was offered a lot more than the advertised starting salary.

After two weeks he got a considerable pay rise, then another after a month, then a big one after another month and they doubled his annual leave at that time too. Then when they learnt we wanted to move province he was offered a transfer and promotion to the sister company of his employer, and offered three different locations.

Finally, when he explained he'd be taking up a job in a different province with a different employer they firstly asked if there was anything they could do to help him stay with them.
When he said there wasn't they gave him another big pay rise, apparently as a thank you for his hard work, said he was welcome to stay as long as he wanted, gave him glowing references, a leaving bonus and leaving presents.

His new employer have so far been brilliant too, matched his leave, upped his salary, are paying our relocation costs and their HR department are helping us massively with the organisation of our move, even with stuff that isn't really in their remit to help with.

The HR manager and husbands new line manager went around all of the grocery stores in the area to make a list of what gluten free food is available in each one, and then sent us the list (our toddler has coeliac disease, as do I). My husband had only mentioned in passing that toddler and I had it, we never expected them to do that.

So, to cut a long story short, I don't think my husband has ever felt so valued, he's still pretty bemused :lol:

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

I would not have taken him back. Generally, at the firms where I've worked, people do not take much vacation, there's typically a policy of discouraging vacation by firing people by email while they're away (within the agreed period, obviously if people don't come back on time they needn't come back at all). That's part of the "if you're not at the table, you're on the menu" approach to staffing so popular here. Commonly people try and keep their two weeks for domestic emergencies and then use it up over Christmas so as not to lose it.

If vacation is important then ideally one should take a position with the federal government "I can actually take the mat leave!" or with a bank. Otherwise the trade off with Canada has always been that you don't get much vacation but houses are cheap so you can buy more things; not necessarily monster trucks and motorbikes but private education or horses or the very best medical care. Unfortunately houses aren't that cheap at the moment but there's still the scenery on the way to and from work. Less so in Mississauga or Burlington than in Cape Breton, obviously.

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

Is the bolded part correct? In the link that Siouxie provided it says "An employer can choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker’s statutory annual leave" rather than the 28 days includes all paid time off.

When I was still in the UK there was annual leave plus Easter/xmas/bank holidays. I never heard of anyone getting those as part of their annual leave allowance.

Has a higher overall 'allowance' been legislated in the UK since I left that now includes extras or is it as it always was with most people getting those days on top of whatever the minimum is, just like Canada (but with a higher minimum)?

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

The bolded part is correct, so is Siouxie's link. It's 28 days minimum, but an employer can include bank holidays in that if they wish. Most people I know get 5 weeks minimum, plus bank holidays, so works out as 6.5 weeks a year minimum, my husband gets 28 days plus BH's, so 35 days/7 weeks in total. I however am in the aforementioned self-employed category, so can take time off whenever I want, but the reality is that even on holiday I'm having to work a bit most days, even if it's just sending a couple of emails and keeping social media updated.

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

All I want to know is:
1. Are they in Alberta?
2. Can he get me a job?


In all seriousness he sounds very fortunate to get such an awesome employer! He must also be good at his job for them to go so far for him.

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

The Holiday thing is strange one here. Is it a case of Canadians just accepting crap as the norm? I think it depends on what you do, how high up you are and how long you are there.

I dont think that I have had less than 5 weeks off since I have lived here. Some of it unpaid. My current employer is quite happy for me to take time off as and when I want it and they were very supportive over me going back to the UK for as long as I wanted as that's the only time I see my family. The only thing that they ask is to give them as much notice as possible so they can cover.

A lot of people (this might be an Atl Can thing) seem afraid of their employer. This could be because of crap wages and limited opportunities in these parts. They seem reluctant to stand up for themselves in the workplace. Hence just accepting 2 weeks.

Interestingly when you push back at them they dont seem to have a good answer for you. I have seen at my last employer that they expect the office staff to be available to answer calls and emails 24/7 despite having a dedicated out of hours on call person. My mate and fellow BE was told off like a naughty school boy for forwarding his phone out of hours to said out of hours number. :blink::blink:
Am I on call? No. Am I on Company time? No Am I being paid? No. Is there a person on call who is being paid to look after this? Well yeah but um er... you need to be a team player and we need you to pitch in etc. Then why are you paying someone to be on call? Well they need to have a life too :blink::blink:
Are they working 24/7? No. But you expect me to? Well no....but...:banghead::banghead::banghead:

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

Lol, no sorry, we're in the Maritimes. He is extremely good at his job, a lot of years of experience in a very, very niche field and some experience which very few other people have, and which is almost impossible to get these days but which all employers in his field desperately want.
I may be biased but he's an absolutely lovely guy too and has glowing references.

Plus his salary here in the Maritimes is around half what he was offered when we were going to move to Alberta or Yukon, so I think both his current and new employers are aware they aren't getting a bad deal, neither could afford to match the AB or YT salaries, so they are more willing to make the job attractive in other ways if you see what I mean.

One of the advantages of working in an unpopular field in a location no-one else in your field wants to work in!

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

The holiday thing can take some getting used to. I get 15 days plus stats so around 25 days in total compared to my 33 in the UK. In all honesty I have not found it to be a problem. I have found that I do more book ending of stat holidays (long weekends) than big breaks and I actually find I use my weekends more than I did in the UK. The overtime law here in BC (x1.5 for anything over 8 hours a week and x2 for anything over 12 hours a day) is also better than the UK so you can accrue lieu time quicker than the think.

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

Not only that, but some of us have had enough foresight to stash enough euros in an appropriate EU bank account to last for many years of part-time living there/ vacations.

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

Just out of curiosity what does your husband do?

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

Yes, I believe that.

The part I was doubting was that comparing UK annual leave with Canadian annual leave was apples and oranges, the inference being that while low, public holidays in Canada were on top of the low figure while the higher allowance in the UK included public holidays.

While the legislation allows these days to be included in the allowance - I did quote that bit :nod: - I don't believe that an annual leave entitlement in the UK does, in practice, include xmas, easter and bank holidays.

You seem to agree with "Most people I know get 5 weeks minimum, plus bank holidays"

I found a table that shows the UK's 28 and Canada with the public days added (10 + 9) =19.

So even if every UK employer included xmas, easter and bank holidays, the UK total is half more.

:thumbup: For the UK. Regardless of apples and oranges, the allowance is better.

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

:nod: x50 :lol:

I typically had two weeks in Greece: flight, accom, transfers, often breakfast and sometimes dinner for £120-£170 while B&B in England alone was £20+ a night without the cost of getting there.

Flying Bristol to Paris or Nice was cheaper than a train to the coast.

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

OMG, it's Red Adair :rofl:

Or a relative? :unsure:

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

Que? :confused:

Re: Canada's vacation politics
 

He's a scientist, he was my mentee but now the apprentice has become the master :lol: