Annual leave
 

Hi guys,

I'm a bit mixed up on this subject so I'm putting out the question to the pats.....


My US family members have always had similar 'time off' allowances as those of us in the UK.. for example 4 weeks paid holiday. My US sister and her husband also used to have these other days off. I forget what they were called but they were 'extra' days / family days or something like that.. they were days that you could use if you needed to visit the school or go to the dentist and even be ill!!!

Anyway this is very different to some of the things I have read elsewhere - where you're lucky if you even get 10 days paid holiday!
Anyway.... I'm interested to know what YOU or your family get from your employer(s)... :)

Where do your US reles work??!! - I've never heard of 4 weeks annual leave in the US.

I get 28 days, however I have to sue 6 of them for natuional holidays such as Xmas Day, New Years Day, Thanksgiving, July 4th etc, then 10 of them are "sick days" so after taking 6 national holidays that I have to take off and then if I am sick for a total of 10 days I am left with 12 days for actual annual leave. Trying to fit in a trip to England in a year is very difficult when you really only have 12 days to play with.

Also if I am sick more than 10 days then I am eating into my 12 annual leave days. Plus I have to earn it before I can use it.

Can you beleive I work for one the of the best 100 companies in the US according to Fortune 500 magazine!! Annual leave is one reason why I plan to move back to England - sooon~:)

I get ten and I'm lucky to have that many. Most that start with the company I work for get five!

Hard to swallow when you're used to 25......... :(

Re: Annual leave
 

I'm a bit unusual (hey, be quiet back there in the cheap seats!) because I'm not in a normal job (i.e., I work at a university). Now, whereas everyone is probably thinking "Lucky dog, probably has 3 months off every year", in reality most professors worth their salt work like dogs and almost never take vacations (this Monday and Tuesday, for example, I walked through the ice storm to go to school, even though it was closed).

BUT, contractually, in the US professors are on 9-month or 10-month contracts, i.e., not under contract in the summer for 2 or 3 months, plus we (supposedly) take the school holidays off. So in theory we get about 3-4 months, BUT we are also not paid for the 2 or 3 months of the summer.

In the UK, I found that vacation time as a prof was more like regular jobs, e.g., I had 4 weeks and was supposed to "put in" for the dates I wanted (of course, you can only take days off when the uni is also off, so not much choice).

Re: Annual leave
 

I get 15 days plus 11 holidays.

I get 15 days vacation, unlimited sick days, unlimited personal time (at managers discretion), Xmas to New Year off in addition to my vacation, and 5 National Holidays too.

You all remind me what a great deal my company gave me! They knew that Europeans are used to more holiday, so they gave me 15 days per year when normally a new hire gets 5. They also front-loaded my vacation balance by 10 days to allow me time to settle in :)

Still, I knew when they hired me and fast-tracked my H1B that they were really treating me amazingly well!

I work for a Fortune 500 company as well. Hell,we were just in the news showing how good our Quarter 4 Earnings were. I'm middle to upper management, and I started off with nowhere near as many days as Europeans get. I only get 6 personal days (for sick leave or anything else), and only 10 vacation days - both of which I have to accrue with each pay period. It takes 5 months to accrue the full 10 days. I also get 6 paid holidays. If I need more than 6 personal days, I eat into vacation. Nowhere near enough for a decent trip to Britain. On the upside, after a year, I think I get 12-15 vacation days per year.

Vacation days are one damn good reason to move to the UK!

Jamie

dbj- you've got the best package I've heard of here!

I get 10 vacation days and 7 national days. I can take a leave of absence (unpaid) and I've never had sick days off but I think we get one or two for every years service or something like that.
I'm going to UK for three weeks in May- and haven't told my boss yet ha! But I need that time- have to help my old Mum clear her house out.

The lack of vacation time here is beginning to really worry me now- as my mother is getting on and not in good health- I'm going to need to go home more than once a year. I'm seriously thinking of taking a drop in salary and doing agency work (for a pittance) just so that I can take time off whenever I need to.

I used to have 5 weeks holiday in UK and a week at Christmas plus all the bank holidays and up to 3 months sick leave.

God reading this thread, is a little scary to say the least.

I will be moving to Wisconsin to marry my fiancee and live this coming May.

In the UK I receive 25 days (5 weeks) paid holiday, and on top of that I also get all the public holidays such as easter, xmas, new years etc.

Swallowing the U.S. 5-10 days is going to be hard. No wonder American's don't know how to relax. A well rested employee is going to be a greater asset to their company than an overworked stressed out one.

I just hope when I get a job, I can negotiate for some decent vacation time, but the more I read the more I realise this won't happen as I will really have no clout!

Is it possible to negotiate for more vaction is you sacrific salary or benefits? Or is this not a good idea? Because I don't want to seem that i'm not keen or ready to give 110% to my future employer but at the same time I still want to travel and see my new country :)

I was in retail in England and used to get 28 days and every bank holiday or other national holiday off.

i am still in retail, I've had my job for 5 months and I don't qualify for any holiday, any sick time for another 7 months. I only get Christmas Day, Thanksgiving and Easter off. I did "win" a day off though, but in reality it was worked out so that I got paid for 4.9 hours on a regular day off. How crap, thats why I intend to leave as quickly as possible

My wife on the other hand earns something like 1.2 hours of time off every day she works. One is not amused!

Your wife vacation time sounds like PTO, a lot like what my mother-in-law gets. Does your wife work for an employer related to the Cleveland Clinic by any chance?

Oh, and I didn't mention, that since my company is one of the biggest e-commerce stores on the web, that there is a blackout period - where absolute no vacation days can be used, and if you are sick, you must bring a dr's note proving so - otherwise you can be fired. I cannot take off anytime between November 10th and Dec. 31st, with only Thanksgiving & Christmas Day off.

That sucks, after used to a university schedule that gave me off from 2nd week of November through the 2nd of Jan!! I totally agree that the lack of vaction allowances in this country is deplorable!!!

Jamie

It's a fact that Americans put in the most hours at work than anyone else in the world (more than Germany and Japan).

However, does working so hard and in some cases, earning good earnings, make one happy? I think the anwer is "no" for many people.

I really think that despite having plenty to spend (post tax pay) but spending long hours working, be it in an office, in a factory, or wherever, means one doesn't have much time to do much with the money. If you add into the mix having children or other commitments, this leaves virtually no time for oneself.

So, the question is:
"do you work to live or do you live to work?"

Answers on a $100 bill please!

Ya beat me to it on this one NC.

Because in America you get less "paid" vacation, means the wages are generally higher than the U.K. because your working more.....savvy? Americans work VERY hard, but thats why people drive around in thirsty V8's and live in huge houses, they have that, because they work for it!

If you want 5 weeks off, plus sick, plus bank hoildays, then it maybe be better to live in the U.K in your 2 up, 2 down terrace house on coronation street with your 1989 VW golf with 218,000 miles on the clock!

I just had my first Whole week off here in the states and that was the first time in 4 years, it felt more like 2 weeks and I really appreciated that time to re-charge the old batteries.

It depends which State and area you live in as far as wages go, up here in N Michigan wages are low, even techie jobs dont pay anywhere near the same rate as larger cities. Engineering jobs are typically 12 hour shifts for around $10 / hr which is terrible.

My husband works for the local Odawa Indian Tribe, he gets 2 weeks paid vacation and 'personal time' which encompasses sick days, they do get most US holidays off plus a few of their own too. I on the other hand work in the hospitality industry (the biggest employer around) and have 5 days paid vacation (which has to be taken in off season ) no sick days until I've worked for them for 6 months and no public holidays as obviously they are our busiest times.

Vacation allowances in the US seem to be low no matter where you live, however they do work hard and play even harder.

Jan :)