5 ms·
Honestly as a long-tenured employee, I'd be more happy with a modest, capped N weeks / year, with an explicit XX week sabbatical every M years. It's difficult
by saalweachter 5y ago
Honestly as a long-tenured employee, I'd be more happy with a modest, capped N weeks / year, with an explicit XX week sabbatical every M years.
It's difficult to get that "hard reset" you need every once in a while with a 1-2 week vacation [which to be fair, is already fairly privileged], and even if you have 4-5 weeks / year ["generous by US standards"] it can be hard to take more than a couple of weeks at once because you need to save a week or so for Christmas, a few days for your anniversary, a couple of days for you or your spouse's birthday, three days to close out Thanksgiving, etc etc.
- quantified 5y ago> 1-2 week vacation [which to be fair, is already fairly privileged] Sucks not to be German. 6 weeks a year that gets used is pretty humane.
- aecay 5y agoThe UK also gives people 6ish weeks (5 weeks to take when you want, plus 8 fixed bank holidays). I grew up in the US and am American more than I am anything else. I've lived in the UK for a relatively short time (6 years, under 20% of my life) -- but that's been my entire professional career. It's cultural differences like this that lead me to believe that America will never feel like "home" again -- I now can't imagine living somewhere where 6 weeks of vacation time seems like it's far outside the norm.
- tharkun__ 5y agoYou might have misunderstood the 6 weeks. That's 6 weeks actual vacation. Bank holidays (different depending on the federal state you're in but minimum is 9 - in Hesse) are on top of that. To be fair 30 days PTO is simply the standard in tech jobs. Minimum by law is 21, which some other industries do stick to.
- lmm 5y ago5 weeks is 25 days and not at all uncommon in tech jobs, sadly.
- randomswede 5y agoThe UK minimum is "25 days, including Bank Holidays". Most decent places will make that "25 days, plus Bank Holidays". One place I worked did "25 days, plus Bank Holidays, but since we need in-office cover, you can work a Bank Holiday and take that day off somewhen else."
- vidarh 5y agoThe UK minimum is now 28 days. Since bank holidays can be included many places have stuck to 25 + bank holidays, though. Source: https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights
- randomswede 5y agoThank you for the fact-check.
- cinntaile 5y agoWestern Europe in general. Something between 4-6 weeks is pretty common. Not having at least 4 weeks of paid vacation sounds bonkers?
- josephg 5y agoSame in Australia and New Zealand. The US is the odd duck here, both legally and culturally.
- dragonsky67 5y agoI enjoy taking my month (20 days) off each year. I even have the opportunity to double it and take it at half pay if it suits. Work to live, not live to work.
- willhslade 5y agoCanada says... hello.
- henrikschroder 5y agoI think the funniest part of discussions like this on HN is all the Americans who are somehow... proud? for not taking any paid time off, and then the ones that are weirdly grateful for getting a pittance of time off from their employer? Listen, PTO is money is salary. Not taking PTO is leaving money on the table, it's the same as being proud that you're not receiving your full salary for your work, or being grateful that your company actually paid the agreed-upon salary this month. But some people don't make that connection, because they're conditioned by shitty labour rules in the US.
- quantified 5y agoYoke to the plow, baby. Or spend all your time grinding the yoked yokels. Puritan work influence still strong.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- softveda 5y agoAustralia is 20 days as well, some companies voluntarily offer 1-2 weeks more. It accrues if you don't take the leave and must be paid out if you leave, there are no caps. But most companies will force you to take leave if you have accrued 40 days as it affects the balance sheet. Sick/Personal leave is min 10 days/year and also accrues with no cap but is not paid out if you leave. In addition there are myriad of unpaid leaves for causes like bereavement, natural disasters, domestic violence etc.
- dugite-code 5y agoDon't forget long service leave. A uniquely Australian/New Zealand leave offering. After 10 years you deserve a nice long break from the office. Came about due to the excessively long travel times back in the day to Europe.
- jackvalentine 5y agoDepends on your state, in mine it's 7 years - looking forward to my 6 month half pay sabbatical next year! (For those unfamiliar with LSL, I could take 3 months full pay if I wanted but half pay for double the time is my choice.)
- hnick 5y agoMy employer just let me take it piecemeal, like any other leave. Looking back that was probably worse for both of us. LSL is a good excuse to improve your bus factor.
- jackvalentine 5y agoI could take it piecemeal once it's accrued, but I just don't think that's a good idea. It's quite an opportunity to take a long period off work paid and I intend on honouring it.
- saalweachter 5y ago
- dorgo 5y agothe minimum is 4 weeks. But it's true that it is usually closer to 5 or 6 weeks.