Here in the US, we don't get enough vacation time, especially when compared to our counterparts in Europe.
Right now, I have two weeks of paid time off, plus one "personal" day. This is my vacation time and sick leave all rolled into one. Once I've been in my current job for ten years, I'll get a third week of paid time off.
Now, this is a bit less than most full-time jobs in the US that actually give you vacation time - and I have a longer wait for an increase than most. But that's not to say we're anywhere close to the rest of the world.
The best benefits plan I ever had gave me 1 week sick time, 2 weeks vacation, and 3 personal days. After five years, it was bumped to 3 weeks of vacation. This meant that - at first - I had 18 paid days off. This is still less than the average in Japan.
Yes, really.
It actually limits the conventions and other events I go to. By a lot.
I go to GenCon every year. It's the highlight of my year, and it costs me about a week of vacation time. This leaves me with just over a week (total) to play with. This week has to cover illness as well as vacation/fun activities.
I'm allowed to take unpaid time off if I want to - and I'm doing so this year, in fact - but I can't (financially) afford to take much time unpaid.
It's frustrating.
And I dislike it.
That's bad. I think I would go crazy if I had that little amount of holiday time.
ReplyDeleteMove over to the UK, you get way more here. Currently I get 28 days paid holiday + public holidays and sick time as well.
We have a handful of paid holidays - Labor Day (September), New Year's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, and Memorial day. We get those off for free without it counting against our PTO - but it's so much less than anyone else gets ...
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