Atlantic Xpat

Your daughters routine is surely reflective of life in a big city with a commute anywhere than Canada specific? My colleagues in London have the same sort of experience. Some nights they just never see their kids awake. If one wants to get away from that then it's about seeking more flexible working arrangements irrespective of where you live. Some unique circumstances have led me to be in that position in Canada & with my current employer. Working from home, flexibly can be the answer. Not everyone will have that opportunity and I guess arguably the new immigrant to Canada might find it harder to achieve as they might be more junior/newer/have to work harder to earn the right/privilege.

The Mrs does yacht race after work on Wednesdays in the summer (crewing for her brother). We don't ski - heli or otherwise though. Our evenings seem to be taken up with routine of dance lessons, brownies and sparks. Friday night (when nothing is happening) comes as somewhat a relief.

Souvy

Quite. We are up at 5am. I start work shortly after that. She's out the door by 6.30 and rarely gets home before 5.30. I cannot remember the last time either of us hit the sack later than 9pm.

It's even harder now because of the insomniac puppy.

Atlantic Xpat

In a role that primarily interfaces with people in the UK, the extra one and a half hours I get from being in Newfoundland (GMT-3.5) as opposed to EST (GMT-5) is quite useful.

dbd33

She doesn't have much of a commute, it used to be half an hour (by bicycle) but a recent change of working location has cut it by about half. Otherwise, yes, it's the same as someone in another city, in Canada, in the US, in the UK. Fewer days off than in the UK coupled with a need to go home for domestic matters and the need to rack up them office hours so as to get established makes immigration a tough go.

Wednesday was my race night too. Broke the week up nicely (in high summer, by October it all seemed a bit mad).


Something to consider is that companies try to shave something off the benefit package every year; no more defined benefit pensions, fewer paid sick days, elimination of vacation carry-over, more stringent conditions for paid overtime and so on. The number of vacation days has to be in the sights of HR departments across the country. In five years time we'll be hearing "you have two weeks? Is it grandfathered or what?". As you know, I'm a contractor, I've never had paid vacation or sick time in Canada. Companies increasingly want that arrangement with their "staff" and increasingly I think it's not a terrible option for the workers either.

Atlantic Xpat

I'm not sure there will be any racing this year. Brother in Law's partner is expecting twins right around the start of the racing seasons. I suspect the boat isn't going in the water at all this year!

dbd33

That's a shame but they'll be free to sail again in 25 years or so.

Novocastrian

So very very true.

Howefamily

I find it depends on the time of year -
Winter on weekdays, leave work at 4.30pm (ish) ,exercise the horse indoors and walk the dogs on a small walk (or none if icy), PJs by 7pm and netflix. So tired seemingly all the time.
Weekends - ride, walk dogs, chores. Netflix while it storms outside or snows or is just plain cold.


Summer - weekdays - leave work at 4.30pm, go for a ride outside, arrive home at 6.30ish, swim in the pool, bbq dinner, go for long dog walk at around 8.30pm, bed at 10ish. Watch minimal TV.
Summer weekends - ride early and walk dogs early, beach. Chores if I have to. Movies in the late evening.

scrubbedexpat091

I usually do something on 1 day off. Try to anyhow.

ExpatSleeFamily

I can tell you that being a Canadian and having lived in Canada for over 30 years you do not notice the short annual leave. You are right that 2 weeks is a typical offer from small private companies but other companies (especially public ones) will give 3 weeks and can always try negotiating an extra week based on your experience and seniority. Also, you should mention to your employer about the need to head back home for family visits and they will usually be able to offer an additional 2 weeks as unpaid.

Where Canadian companies lack in annual leave they can tend to make it up in other ways -- flex work weeks, teleworking, compressed work weeks, or share work accommodations. Don't forget about 1-year maternity leave (9 months can be shared with father). But still, I must say that the 2-week vacation is really short compared with other parts of the world. Europe really has an edge on North America and I hope that one day this improves.

dbd33

Being a Canadian you likely didn't notice that the weather is horrible and non-Canadians would want a break from it. You likely don't have family getting married and being dying in foreign countries. This is like a post from Ethiopia, "being an African and having lived ... you do not notice the hunger".

bats

52 weeks maternity leave isn't special. They get that in the UK, plus shared. They get more pay in the UK too.

scrubbedexpat091

Canada compared to its neighbor looks good.

Compare to other developed countries then Canada doesnt look so good.

ExpatSleeFamily

I'm sorry, my impression was that you have already accounted for the deep freeze. The weather is obviously cold in the winter. Calling the weather horrible is saddly an overstatement. If you don't want to live in Canada then go elsewhere. Fiji is quite attractive.

ExpatSleeFamily

Bats, in Switzerland you get 14 weeks and United States you are entitled to I believe 12 weeks unpaid leave. 52 weeks is a definite benefit. More pay in UK?? I would say that all depends on the position wouldn't you? I turned down an interview in London because it was quite low for the industry.