I work for a company like this (a direct rival to Amazon, aping many of its policies) in a country infamous for its workaholism, and given the intense pressure

I work for a company like this (a direct rival to Amazon, aping many of its policies) in a country infamous for its workaholism, and given the intense pressure to never get sick (not becoming sick is considered part of one's personal responsibility), what typically ends up happening is one week of genuine vacation, a day or two of scheduled PTO for whatever personal reasons, and then perhaps one or two sudden sick days, in a year. But there is also half-hearted pressure from HR to consume more than about 30% of our total PTO, combined with unstated pressure from management in general to consume less than 50% of it. Everyone ends up worrying about the exact number of socially-acceptable days to take off per year rather than just living their lives. I've gotten used to it but when I hear about European standards, I'm just green with envy.