7 ms·

Here in the Netherlands, we actually get extra 'holiday pay' by law too. It makes salary calculations more complicated but it also makes me get a big grin on my

by davedx 14y ago

Here in the Netherlands, we actually get extra 'holiday pay' by law too. It makes salary calculations more complicated but it also makes me get a big grin on my face in May :)

masklinn 14y ago
Belgium has something like that, I'm not sure it's by law (it might just be working agreements), basically you get a "holiday bonus" once or twice a year, which amounts to about 70% of your (net) salary each time. France has a slightly different concept (which is not universal by a long shot, but it's almost universal in some work domains) of 13th and (rarely) 14th months. Which are exactly what it says on the tin: you get 1 or 2 extra months of salary per year.
- ricardobeat 14y ago
  In Brazil you get a 13th month salary and 1/3 extra for vacation (they don't necessarily overlap in time).
- molmalo 14y ago
  In several countries in Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Colombia, Costa Rica, idk about others) you receive an extra monthly salary (a 13th month) by law. In some countries, you receive it all in one payment, in others (Argentina and Colombia I think ) you receive one half in July and the other in December. You can learn more of this here: http://translate.google.com/translate?source=mog?sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A//es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguinaldo http://translate.google.com/translate?source=mog?sl=es&t... Also, in Argentina, the norm is that you have 15 days of vacation when you start working for a company. After 5 years, you have 21 days, then after 10 years, 28. Finally, after 20 years in the same company, you get 35 days. Most probably, the ones getting 35 days work in banks, state owned companies or public service.
vidarh 14y ago
Is it "extra", as in on top of the agreed yearly salary? Norway has a similar thing, in that 10%+ of your salary gets paid out in a lump sum before the summer holidays, and the tax deducted in December is half what it is in the other months. But it's all just an adjustment in how salaries are paid out and when the tax is paid, so you end up with exactly the same total amount. Of course either way, employers factor it in.
- tallanvor 14y ago
  I guess it sort of depends on your employer here in Norway? I get paid 1/12 of my base salary every month except for when vacation pay is paid out, and then we get an extra amount. So in reality I end up getting paid 2.6% above my base pay every year. --That doesn't include additional pay for on-call hours, bonuses, and such.
- mjwalshe 14y ago
  Its quite common in europe (but not the UK or IE) to get an extra months pay or two as a bonus. 13th Salary and 14th Salary.
mitsche 14y ago
In Austria we get 14 Salaries per year. We pay less tax on the 13th and 14th one. I got my 13th just now for July and will get my 14th in December. We have 25 days of paid vacation. You can work while at home or on vacation, but your co-workers might not appreciate it. Taking leave for doctor visits, weddings, relocations, funerals, etc. does not count towards that. Also, our stores are closed on Sundays, which encourages spending time with friends and family. I don't love Austria, but a few things here I find allright.
- seclorum 14y ago
  I'm in Austria too, and as someone who suffered through 15 years of professional working life in California with no more than 4 consecutive days off the whole time (seriously), I can seriously say: thanks, Austria, for the time off. ;) Lots of other things not to love about Austria (mobthink, Austro-fascism, the horrid city of Vienna, &etc), but the vacation policies are a dream.
  - mitsche 14y ago
    Agree with mobthink and Austro-fascism. I would add lack of enthusiasm and closed-mindedness. Don't know what your problem with the city is, though. Even after having lived in Vienna for more than a year I'm still stunned how beautiful it is and how easy it is to meet interesting people. If you're in a circle of cool people, Vienna is probably one of the nicer capitols to live in. And as a country-bumpkin I find it a lot less mentally taxing than let's say London or Berlin.
    - seclorum 14y ago
      Beauty is obviously in the eye of the beholder - I grew up in the wide-open desert of Western Australia, and spent my young adult life in Southern California, so I'm used to having more sky above me than the pitiful strip that most Viennese residents have to put up with in their daily lives. I'm a huge non-fan of all these buildings glommed together, 5 or 6 stories high, and I find it oppressive, personally. By my reckoning, Vienna is an Imperial Fortress with working-class box-traps being used as buttresses around the center. I wouldn't call it beautiful by any stretch of the word - oppressively architected inventory of the masses does not a beautiful city make. But hey, to each their own. If you find it beautiful, more power to you. I can't stand Vienna, personally, and am glad I live outside the city border near Bisamberg ..
raldi 14y ago
Kinda sounds like the Spinal Tap amps that go up to 11. Why not just get paid a little bit more every month?
- henrikschroder 14y ago
  I guess it's a result of a hundred years of slowly gained privileges getting added on top of each other, and bureaucratic rules muddling everything up every decade or so. In Sweden, you accrue vacation pay as you work, and when you take your vacation, it's paid out and because of some law or other, it's larger than your regular monthly paycheck. So in essence you get a little bonus for having your paid vacation, same as a bunch of other countries that people have brought up in this thread. However, if you're paid by the hour, it works exactly like you suggest. You don't accrue vacation pay or vacation days, and x% of your hourly pay is the included extra vacation pay which you just get straight up. When you negotiate a monthly salary, the number is without the extra vacation pay, but when you negotiate an hourly salary it's with the extra vacation pay. Because, it's just the way it is. :-)
- rickmb 14y ago
  Well, that's more or less how it works. The vacation bonus of 8% percent of your salary is reserved each month, it's just common to pay out at the start of the summer. But paying out once a year is the legal minimum, you can agree otherwise. At my previous job, we switched to twice a year at the request of the snowboarders that needed the money for the winter vacation...
rhplus 14y ago
I'm sure it's fantastic to get a 'bonus' every 6 months, but these government mandated '13th/14th paycheck' schemes are really just employer-managed savings plans. Personally, I'd prefer to get my salary as I earn it and decide for myself how and when I spend or save it.

by davedx 14y ago

Here in the Netherlands, we actually get extra 'holiday pay' by law too. It makes salary calculations more complicated but it also makes me get a big grin on my face in May :)

masklinn 14y ago

Belgium has something like that, I'm not sure it's by law (it might just be working agreements), basically you get a "holiday bonus" once or twice a year, which amounts to about 70% of your (net) salary each time. France has a slightly different concept (which is not universal by a long shot, but it's almost universal in some work domains) of 13th and (rarely) 14th months. Which are exactly what it says on the tin: you get 1 or 2 extra months of salary per year.

ricardobeat 14y ago
In Brazil you get a 13th month salary and 1/3 extra for vacation (they don't necessarily overlap in time).
molmalo 14y ago
In several countries in Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Colombia, Costa Rica, idk about others) you receive an extra monthly salary (a 13th month) by law. In some countries, you receive it all in one payment, in others (Argentina and Colombia I think ) you receive one half in July and the other in December. You can learn more of this here: http://translate.google.com/translate?source=mog?sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A//es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguinaldo http://translate.google.com/translate?source=mog?sl=es&t... Also, in Argentina, the norm is that you have 15 days of vacation when you start working for a company. After 5 years, you have 21 days, then after 10 years, 28. Finally, after 20 years in the same company, you get 35 days. Most probably, the ones getting 35 days work in banks, state owned companies or public service.

vidarh 14y ago

Is it "extra", as in on top of the agreed yearly salary? Norway has a similar thing, in that 10%+ of your salary gets paid out in a lump sum before the summer holidays, and the tax deducted in December is half what it is in the other months. But it's all just an adjustment in how salaries are paid out and when the tax is paid, so you end up with exactly the same total amount. Of course either way, employers factor it in.

tallanvor 14y ago
I guess it sort of depends on your employer here in Norway? I get paid 1/12 of my base salary every month except for when vacation pay is paid out, and then we get an extra amount. So in reality I end up getting paid 2.6% above my base pay every year. --That doesn't include additional pay for on-call hours, bonuses, and such.
mjwalshe 14y ago
Its quite common in europe (but not the UK or IE) to get an extra months pay or two as a bonus. 13th Salary and 14th Salary.

mitsche 14y ago

In Austria we get 14 Salaries per year. We pay less tax on the 13th and 14th one. I got my 13th just now for July and will get my 14th in December. We have 25 days of paid vacation. You can work while at home or on vacation, but your co-workers might not appreciate it. Taking leave for doctor visits, weddings, relocations, funerals, etc. does not count towards that. Also, our stores are closed on Sundays, which encourages spending time with friends and family. I don't love Austria, but a few things here I find allright.

seclorum 14y ago
I'm in Austria too, and as someone who suffered through 15 years of professional working life in California with no more than 4 consecutive days off the whole time (seriously), I can seriously say: thanks, Austria, for the time off. ;) Lots of other things not to love about Austria (mobthink, Austro-fascism, the horrid city of Vienna, &etc), but the vacation policies are a dream.
- mitsche 14y ago
  Agree with mobthink and Austro-fascism. I would add lack of enthusiasm and closed-mindedness. Don't know what your problem with the city is, though. Even after having lived in Vienna for more than a year I'm still stunned how beautiful it is and how easy it is to meet interesting people. If you're in a circle of cool people, Vienna is probably one of the nicer capitols to live in. And as a country-bumpkin I find it a lot less mentally taxing than let's say London or Berlin.
  - seclorum 14y ago
    Beauty is obviously in the eye of the beholder - I grew up in the wide-open desert of Western Australia, and spent my young adult life in Southern California, so I'm used to having more sky above me than the pitiful strip that most Viennese residents have to put up with in their daily lives. I'm a huge non-fan of all these buildings glommed together, 5 or 6 stories high, and I find it oppressive, personally. By my reckoning, Vienna is an Imperial Fortress with working-class box-traps being used as buttresses around the center. I wouldn't call it beautiful by any stretch of the word - oppressively architected inventory of the masses does not a beautiful city make. But hey, to each their own. If you find it beautiful, more power to you. I can't stand Vienna, personally, and am glad I live outside the city border near Bisamberg ..

raldi 14y ago

Kinda sounds like the Spinal Tap amps that go up to 11. Why not just get paid a little bit more every month?

henrikschroder 14y ago
I guess it's a result of a hundred years of slowly gained privileges getting added on top of each other, and bureaucratic rules muddling everything up every decade or so. In Sweden, you accrue vacation pay as you work, and when you take your vacation, it's paid out and because of some law or other, it's larger than your regular monthly paycheck. So in essence you get a little bonus for having your paid vacation, same as a bunch of other countries that people have brought up in this thread. However, if you're paid by the hour, it works exactly like you suggest. You don't accrue vacation pay or vacation days, and x% of your hourly pay is the included extra vacation pay which you just get straight up. When you negotiate a monthly salary, the number is without the extra vacation pay, but when you negotiate an hourly salary it's with the extra vacation pay. Because, it's just the way it is. :-)
rickmb 14y ago
Well, that's more or less how it works. The vacation bonus of 8% percent of your salary is reserved each month, it's just common to pay out at the start of the summer. But paying out once a year is the legal minimum, you can agree otherwise. At my previous job, we switched to twice a year at the request of the snowboarders that needed the money for the winter vacation...

rhplus 14y ago

I'm sure it's fantastic to get a 'bonus' every 6 months, but these government mandated '13th/14th paycheck' schemes are really just employer-managed savings plans. Personally, I'd prefer to get my salary as I earn it and decide for myself how and when I spend or save it.