Englishmum

After reading this:

(Millions of workers to get an extra 8 days off)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

it made me curious as to why Americans get such poor annual leave entitlement compared to Europeans, Aussies, South Africans etc?

TruBrit

coz they are work workoholics

britvic

Dont they have to be seen as just that to keep there Job's in the first place.

TouristTrap

No, because the vast majority of them are lazy arses who PRETEND to work, do 'busywork' all day and if they take a long time off their bosses will find out that they are doing absolutely eff all - so in order to protect their jobs, they don't take extended periods of leave. Not all, but the majority in my experience.

It's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Sally

Fewer unions?

TruBrit

think you're right otherwise it's the door

Irn-bru

or maybe that's the right time off and it's us Brits that are lazy having 5 weeks off

TruBrit

go wash your mouth out girl

gruffbrown

Tee Hee

snowbunny

The Democrats are to introduce legislation allowing all US full-time workers seven paid sick days a year (pro-rated if not full time).

One comment on the subject was that 85% of food service workers do not have any paid sick leave (and presumably therefore make others ill). I'm sure their hours aren't usually full-time, either, and won't benefit from the full seven days.

texas_ranger

Quite the opposite in my experience.

C

Elvira

Big business rules...

texas_ranger

I agree, holidays in the US are crap.

good article on the subject here:

http://www.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp...38&cat_id=1089

I was lucky to negotiate my length of service continuance when I transferred from UK to US. That meant I get 20 PTO days, going up to 25 this year. I get public holidays as well (13 instead of 8 in the UK).
There is no way on earth I would have moved to the US and started with 5 days off per year (+ recognised public holidays mind you) which is what you get if you come off the street with my company. And they are recognised as one of the top employers in the world!

No wonder staff turnover is high in most companies in the US compared to otehr countries. It seems that a lot of people chose to work for a while, bank some cash then hand in their notice, travel and take time off, then start with a new employer.

It doesn't make sense to me at all.... I know it costs employers more to offer decent vacation, and if it is mandated by law then it is a potentially prohibitive for prospective businesses to start up/continue, but from an HR perspective generally it would make more sense to offer better vacation (reduce staff sick time/work-life balance/productivity benefits etc..)

JM2pW
C

TouristTrap

http://www.union-network.org/UNisite...s_continue.htm

Fits countrywide.

I should add that it is a vicious cycle. If employees were treated decently as they are in Europe, they would probably be way more productive and actually care about the state of the company they work for.

I'm saying the vast majority, not all.

snowbunny

Only a precious few are able to bank enough cash to travel like this. And employers don't like breaks in employment that are of any length, though I agree this is the only real way to get enough time to spend, say, a couple of months overseas.

It's crap, crap, crap.

I worked for an employer (ten years ago) with a sabbatical program that allowed six weeks off, every four years. A couple of years into my employ, the company was bought by another company. Those who had accrued four years were given their full sabbatical, but those of us with two years got not three weeks but ZILCH.

BTW 50% of *ALL* US full-time workers have *zero* paid sick days.