Here's the real reason Americans don't get more vacation: although large companies allowed to be notoriously uneven in terms of compensation, they still attempt

Here's the real reason Americans don't get more vacation: although large companies allowed to be notoriously uneven in terms of compensation, they still attempt to maintain a veneer of bureaucratic fairness. For example, each employee gets the same health package (although the CEO is paid well enough to self-insure, but never mind that) and all are treated as "equal" (sort of) in internal mediation/discipline matters. This also applies to vacation allotments, which are generally a single-variable function of seniority, with a few special cases that can be negotiated. The problem is that every corporation has some component that is perennially understaffed, wearing its people down to the felt, and the VP representing it realizes that his division cannot tolerate the prospect of employees having a week or two more off. So any time an officer suggests increasing vacation instead of salaries, the VP vetoes it. At and above this VP's level, vacation allotments are irrelevant (they're either high enough that they can take time off whenever they want... or in pressure-cooker companies, high enough that they never get time off), so there's no personal push from above on this issue. Occasionally the VP of R&D will point out that the company's meager vacation allowance is preventing him from getting top talent, especially from overseas; the CEO will quietly pull him aside and tell him that he can make some exceptions to "the policy" and no one will know.