aahtuk

My firm gives 3 weeks after first year of work. But the beauty is on top of that we get about 3 weeks sick leave and most of the time sick leave (up to 5 days) does not have to be documented by a doctor, so it comes down to having about 6 weeks per year paid vacation. This is soooo comparable with European standards - I am thrilled.

GillyC

Ooh you lucky so and so - where do you work? Name names!

Actually I've heard of this before and it's a bit weird (for me anyway) in that to me, sick leave is exactly what it is - sick leave for when you're really not feeling well! I rarely took sickies in Scotland but here it definitely seems to be more common that people take "sick days" to get some time off, even when a company hasn't actually stipulated that they have a sick day quota (like my old one). Here, owing to the paltry number of holidays, I found myself taking more sick days just so I could have a day off and potter around the house or simply have a rest. It felt quite dishonest though. I would much rather have more bona fide holidays rather than rely on sickies to get me through! It's a different culture I guess.

Freya

The idea of two weeks holiday is one of the only negatives I have about moving to Canada.....My husband is a contractor and as such will only be paid for the hours he works and therefore, theoretically will be able to take as much time off as he likes and I'd be stock with only two weeks.

I think that to move halfway across the world, it would be nice to be able to take some time to travel and explore what will be my new homeland.

At the moment I am seriously thinking about not working full time for this reason.

How common is taking unpaid leave and how is taking it seen? I've heard it is a lot more acceptable than here in the UK - where they would look at you strangely if you made such a request

dbd

Well, I've never dealt with air traffic control. I have, however dealt with municipal government, the WCB, tax authorities and a couple of now privatized departments in Ontario (federal and provincial) and Alberta. I've worked in these places as a contractor brought in to do the job of someone who didn't want to do the work and just sat there while I did. I expect there are unionised corporations in private industry that work the same way but I haven't experienced that so, as far as I can see, people in private industry work while government employees are just employed.

Spitting in general is not frowned upon here, btw. My mocking of the spitter puts me on thin ice in terms of the organisational policies on diversity.

Steve_P

Are you saying spitting is not frowned upon in general in Canada or just this particular workplace?

My experience in my 42 years in Canada is that spitting IS frowned upon and especially in the work place.

dbd

I don't know about Canada in general as, apart from a couple of trips to Calgary, I've only ever worked in Ontario (within Canada). I'm currently working downtown and in Markham, spitting in the street is usual in both locations. Spitting in the office is only common downtown.

GillyC

I rarely see anyone spit anywhere in Vancouver other than the Chinese seem to like doing it a lot... something to do with keeping the breathing apparatus healthy or something. I find that offensive too.

The whole diversity angle is interesting...my neighbour is Director of Diversity for a health organisation here in Vancouver, I'll be asking her about that one!


Beeezarre!

GillyC

Unpaid leave is definitely more common and acceptable in companies (my experience has been in the commercial sector). It depends on the company though and also your manager's attitude. My old company didn't have a policy on this per se and it really depended on your manager's attitude towards this and also what role you had. It was all so subjective which made it really difficult to plan anything.

I think it's the whole, company doesn't want to pay people to not be there thing. I have taken unpaid leave of up to a week at a time and it hasn't really been a problem. That said it was to go back to the UK to see family and I really laid it on thick about my elderly parents not being able to fly here due to my mum's arthritis etc. I didn't feel good about doing that, although it was true. There was a little but of humming and hawing about it, "Hmm it's not really a good time blah blah". It never was a good time in that company and sorry but life's too short. I hadn't been home in 2.5 years at that point.

I thin if you work in Govt jobs (well you've been reading all about them) flexi-time is more common and generally they seem to get more hols. I love it how the govt allows business to keep the hols to a minimum but ensures it has the perks for itself - the collective monster that is is!

If exploring the country that you've moved to is high on your list of priorities it may be a good idea for you to find either flexible work or part time at least initially. You're easing yourself in that way. After 6 weeks in Canada I was straight into corporate hell and after 7 months I was completely frazzed!

dbd

Quite.

daisydoo

Hi where are you in muskoka? I live in Huntsville
oh and I am a teacher!

Cowtown

My employer had a policy that allows you to take unpaid leave if you're not doing billable work and its a quiet time of year.

Another company I didn't take a job with had a policy of laying people off who spent too long on the bench - they were very open about it and mentioned it at the interview.