4 ms·

I'm British, FYI :-) My suggestion, while obviously extreme (flexible scheduling as mentioned elsewhere in this thread would be a much more reasonable 'solutio

I'm British, FYI :-) My suggestion, while obviously extreme (flexible scheduling as mentioned elsewhere in this thread would be a much more reasonable 'solution') wouldn't fly in the USA as nobody takes their holiday days anyway!

kogus 9y ago
American here. This approach is not common in the US, but it's not totally unknown either. It also addresses issues where people may prefer to take different holidays off based on religious preferences. One person might take Hannukah and another might take Christmas, etc.
pc86 9y ago
I don't know where this idea that Americans don't take their vacation time came from, but it is 100% wrong in my opinion. I have coworkers that have had negative PTO balances for months. Whether with PTO or holidays, I try to get at least one 3-4 day weekend each month. I take least one 2-week vacation every year. Everyone I've worked with over the past decade, with rare exception, is the same. A friend of mine is a (non-computer) engineering executive and has a particularly generous PTO package of 200 hours a year with a 400 hour rollover cap. He keeps a bank of about 250 hours in case he needs them, but other than that he's using it as fast as he gets it. This in addition to the 12-14 holidays he already gets.
- nickonline 9y ago
  You would be hugely outside the norm in a country where most people get 0-5 days off a year of leave (including sick time)
  - pc86 9y ago
    Most professional employees in the US get a total of 26.5 or more days off a year, including holidays and sick leave.[0] Obviously the number goes up as tenure at the same firm increases. Blue collar workers are also well above 5 days a year total. The rub is probably in what types of businesses are excluded from this table (almost nobody in the restaurant business gets any PTO, for example). But implying that the average yearly leave is 0-5 days including sick time is just flat out wrong. [0] https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs.t05.htm https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs.t05.htm

kogus 9y ago

American here. This approach is not common in the US, but it's not totally unknown either. It also addresses issues where people may prefer to take different holidays off based on religious preferences. One person might take Hannukah and another might take Christmas, etc.

pc86 9y ago

I don't know where this idea that Americans don't take their vacation time came from, but it is 100% wrong in my opinion. I have coworkers that have had negative PTO balances for months. Whether with PTO or holidays, I try to get at least one 3-4 day weekend each month. I take least one 2-week vacation every year. Everyone I've worked with over the past decade, with rare exception, is the same. A friend of mine is a (non-computer) engineering executive and has a particularly generous PTO package of 200 hours a year with a 400 hour rollover cap. He keeps a bank of about 250 hours in case he needs them, but other than that he's using it as fast as he gets it. This in addition to the 12-14 holidays he already gets.

nickonline 9y ago
You would be hugely outside the norm in a country where most people get 0-5 days off a year of leave (including sick time)
- pc86 9y ago
  Most professional employees in the US get a total of 26.5 or more days off a year, including holidays and sick leave.[0] Obviously the number goes up as tenure at the same firm increases. Blue collar workers are also well above 5 days a year total. The rub is probably in what types of businesses are excluded from this table (almost nobody in the restaurant business gets any PTO, for example). But implying that the average yearly leave is 0-5 days including sick time is just flat out wrong. [0] https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs.t05.htm https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs.t05.htm