rpjs

It does vary by field and by how hard it is to find the right staff. If the stars align right, such as being in an in-demand role for a tech company say, you may find yourself with as much or even more vacation than you had in the UK. My company gives us 23 days vacation plus all federal holidays and "bridge" days such as the day after Thanksgiving, and we're now allowed to work public holidays we don't personally observe and take them on non-public holidays we do want take (so I worked MLK day and will take off Boxing Day instead).

Twinkle0927

I started on 17 days plus the main holidays (new year, Christmas Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, July 4). It goes up to 27 with length of service.

Sick time is taken from that. Except WA now has a law that employers must give 1 hour sick time for every 40 hours worked.

The Husband gets no PTO. The company closed for a week at Christmas and they didn't get paid.

Ecto17

Goodness, l am grateful that my husband is in an expat deal still with all the U.K. entitlements, including annual leave. Such a different culture in so many ways. Very interesting thread.

scrubbedexpat091

I have had everything from 0 days to 15 days, although it took 5 years with the same company to achieve 15 days.

I've always worked in 24/7 industries, so we never got holidays off like Christmas, or 4th of July unless they happened to fall on normal day off.

jammiie

This is quite eye-opening for me. I get 24 days PTO + national holidays (10). The whole culture around it seems very relaxed and its entirely left upon yourself to even log the days off that you've had -- I think many go over and no questions are asked.

Seems I'm very lucky.

kins

I started on 23 days PTO plus public holidays and gradually went up to 33 days. I also got 70% sick pay if I was off sick for a week or more.

In my previous job I got 20 or 25. So long ago I can't remember.

Husband started on 20 and went up to 25 but they are happy to give him more time off if he wants it as he works long hours generally.

I've turned down jobs because they only offered 15. One of them did offer a paid 3 month sabbatical every 10 years but at the time I had little kids and really needed the PTO.

kins

Should also add that negotiating PTO is worth a try if you have skills that a company wants. Certainly it's something my husband's company is flexible on, and they are desperate to fill certain roles.

S Folinsky

2 weeks is 10 working days.

AdobePinon

21 vacation days, 12 sick days, 12 federal holidays (yeah, I know that there aren’t twelve), compressed schedule.

JeremyK

My wife was offered 10 days recently from a company she interviewed with. Being that we have both lived in the UK this didn't fly. She questioned it and the company immediately offered 15 days.

I really can't imagine why a company would want employees all with different numbers of vacation days with the inter-employee tension which comes with it, but there you go.

Buyer beware. Ask about it if it sounds outrageously short.

Hiro11

I get 30 days PTO + all Federal holidays + 8 days carry over. All salaried employees at my company start at 25 days PTO + Federal holidays.

2 weeks "vacation time" is standard for hourly or entry level jobs, usually with added "sick time". 2 weeks "vacation" for more senior / salaried positions can happen but it's rare in my experience. Also, most major companies around here have moved to PTO schemes rather than vacation / sick time for salaried employees.

This year, I maxed out carry over. As a result, I have a maximum of 45 days (9 weeks) of PTO. There's no way in hell I can use that much. My company actively encourages people to work from home and take PTO. Having PTO left at the end of the year is more seen as "why didn't you take time off?" than "good job working hard". I think the whole "be in the office if you care about your career" culture is shifting a bit in the US.

PetrifiedExPat

Agreed, I was offered something similar and negotiated 17 days plus commuting expenses ($350/month), there was little/no resistance.

Caroline in Arizona

After 33 years in the USA I have seen a shift towards giving people more vacation hours.

robtuck

20 PTO plus 8 Holidays, which was as a result of carrying over length of service. Got an extra 5 this year for hitting 5 years (one time deal). It's use or it lose it.

DXBtoDOH

I work for a US company (based overseas). I know in the US offices new employees get 15 days plus the holidays and sick leave. You accrue additional days with longer service. I think it's after five years you get 17/18 days plus holidays, after 10 years you get 20 days plus the holidays. They're also generous about working from home and taking unpaid leave.