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After the rogue trader incident at SocGen, the investment bank I was working for required people to take a week of vacation at a time (HR would actually verify

After the rogue trader incident at SocGen, the investment bank I was working for required people to take a week of vacation at a time (HR would actually verify compliance). Employees would have to declare in advance that they were planning a mandatory vacation so IT could suspend their remote logins and disable their card access to the building.

tsycho 15y ago
AFAIK, all the investment banks (in the US atleast) have a mandatory annual two-week vacation policy for all front-office (traders/sales etc.) employees. Furthermore, you are supposed to be totally switched off during those two weeks (no working via email etc.), the idea being that your colleagues get to see all your work to reduce the chances of you hiding something like the rogue trader at SocGen or Barings.
- cynicalkane 15y ago
  This is true at all major commercial banks as well, for important enough employees. The vacation is required to pass over the end of the fiscal month, just to be sure.
rimantas 15y ago
In my country you normally get 28 days of vacations of which at least two weeks must be consecutive — that's by law.
- PonyGumbo 15y ago
  Where are you? I want to go to there.
  - AndrewDucker 15y ago
    28 days is the minimum in the UK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_employment_leave_by_country http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_emplo...
    - eftpotrm 15y ago
      Including public holidays, it should be noted.
    - whatusername 15y ago
      In Australia we have 4 weeks plus 10 public holidays (In Melbourne, one of those is for a Horse Race). What I learned from that link though -- is that the concept of "Long Service Leave" is unique to Australia/New Zealand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_service_leave http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_service_leave
  - zach 15y ago
    In his profile, rimantas mentions he's in Vilnius. Lithuania is impressive. Not only are there the 13 public holidays, workers with a child under 14 get an extra week. Now that's how you prevent population decline! So that's five weeks plus two-and-a-half work weeks in holidays. Well played, Lithuania. I wonder what worldwide correlations there are with minimum vacation days. Gapminder unfortunately doesn't include that dataset.
  - arethuza 15y ago
    It's the EU Working Time Directive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Time_Directive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Time_Directive
  - rimantas 15y ago
    Go to Sweden instead ;). IIRC they get 5 weeks.
    - jacobr 15y ago
      Correct, of which you are entitled to 4 consecutive weeks. On a related subject, I am currently on parental leave for 7 months, with about 80% of my regular salary compensated by the government. The first months the employer, thanks to a deal with the union, give some extra compensation, so it's around 90% in total. Of course it meant some hassle and extra planning, and even a new hire, but managers and colleagues mostly just wished me a good time.
- yxhuvud 15y ago
  Heh, here in Sweden the employer must agree to at least 4 weeks of consecutive vacation during summer. Minimum vacation time per year is only 25 days though, so not everyone take all vacation at once.

tsycho 15y ago

AFAIK, all the investment banks (in the US atleast) have a mandatory annual two-week vacation policy for all front-office (traders/sales etc.) employees. Furthermore, you are supposed to be totally switched off during those two weeks (no working via email etc.), the idea being that your colleagues get to see all your work to reduce the chances of you hiding something like the rogue trader at SocGen or Barings.

cynicalkane 15y ago
This is true at all major commercial banks as well, for important enough employees. The vacation is required to pass over the end of the fiscal month, just to be sure.

rimantas 15y ago

In my country you normally get 28 days of vacations of which at least two weeks must be consecutive — that's by law.

PonyGumbo 15y ago
Where are you? I want to go to there.
- AndrewDucker 15y ago
  28 days is the minimum in the UK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_employment_leave_by_country http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_emplo...
  - eftpotrm 15y ago
    Including public holidays, it should be noted.
  - whatusername 15y ago
    In Australia we have 4 weeks plus 10 public holidays (In Melbourne, one of those is for a Horse Race). What I learned from that link though -- is that the concept of "Long Service Leave" is unique to Australia/New Zealand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_service_leave http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_service_leave
- zach 15y ago
  In his profile, rimantas mentions he's in Vilnius. Lithuania is impressive. Not only are there the 13 public holidays, workers with a child under 14 get an extra week. Now that's how you prevent population decline! So that's five weeks plus two-and-a-half work weeks in holidays. Well played, Lithuania. I wonder what worldwide correlations there are with minimum vacation days. Gapminder unfortunately doesn't include that dataset.
- arethuza 15y ago
  It's the EU Working Time Directive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Time_Directive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Time_Directive
- rimantas 15y ago
  Go to Sweden instead ;). IIRC they get 5 weeks.
  - jacobr 15y ago
    Correct, of which you are entitled to 4 consecutive weeks. On a related subject, I am currently on parental leave for 7 months, with about 80% of my regular salary compensated by the government. The first months the employer, thanks to a deal with the union, give some extra compensation, so it's around 90% in total. Of course it meant some hassle and extra planning, and even a new hire, but managers and colleagues mostly just wished me a good time.
yxhuvud 15y ago
Heh, here in Sweden the employer must agree to at least 4 weeks of consecutive vacation during summer. Minimum vacation time per year is only 25 days though, so not everyone take all vacation at once.