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Well I bitch about my vacation all the time (I get 2 weeks and 13 holidays, which really sucks for someone that likes to travel). But on the flip side, the Eur
by krschultz 14y ago
Well I bitch about my vacation all the time (I get 2 weeks and 13 holidays, which really sucks for someone that likes to travel).
But on the flip side, the European vacation schedule can be destructive. I've worked with an Italian company that was trying to expand their market into the US., and the 6 week summer vacation literally sank any chance of their entrance. They invested millions of dollars, hired a bunch of people in the US (and didn't give the US employees similar vacation to their Italian ones), and were really rolling. In the spring they signed a couple million dollars in deals with distributors. Then July/August rolled around and the parent company went entirely on vacation. You couldn't even get the CEO. Phone calls went unanswered. Orders went unfilled. That literally sank their entrance to the market. A year later, they are effectively done and have lost all of their investment. No one will buy from them.
Imagine trying to compete with an American startup company but taking 6 weeks off completely. What happens during that time? I'm all for individual employees taking vacation to avoid burn out - honestly right now I could go for a week off - but shutting down the entire company for multiple weeks in a row puts you at a huge disadvantage. China, Japan, the US, and the BRICS aren't taking 6 week vacations. I don't care how efficient you are, if your company shuts down while your competitors keep rolling, it is unlikely that you will succeed in any competitive markets.
- enraged_camel 14y agoThis sounds like an edge-case, and the solution seems rather simple: implement a policy so that only X% of employees in any department can be on vacation at any given time. Just like employees in retail have to coordinate their shifts (and have to find substitutes if they can't cover their shift), you can have this policy to ensure business continuity.
- thetrb 14y agoThat helps, but doesn't completely solve the problem. This is actually done by many companies in Germany that I know of. However, if you set the X% relatively high (e.g. 40%) then you still have the problem that the whole department might not function that well any more during this time. If you set it very low on the other hand (e.g. 10%) then many people won't be able to take their vacation during the summer months and they will be pissed. Sure, there's a way to find a middle ground that works out somehow, but still the original problem isn't completely solved.
- wwweston 14y agoIs it really the European vacation schedule specifically that's destructive, or is it the mismatch between that schedule and the schedule in "competitive markets"? Or that expectations weren't set or US operations weren't made independent enough?
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- rmc 14y agoIt's only France and Italy that take August off. The rest of Europe doesn't have traditional "everyone take this month off" things. Meanwhile, France (along with Germany (with 30 days holidays!)) are bailing out the rest of Europe...