Quark

I'm very fortunate to work for a generous company. Staff starts at 15 days vacation, 4 personal days, 10 sick days, 12 paid holidays and every other Friday off in July and August by working 45 minutes extra a day during the interim 2 week period but don't have to make up the minutes if we take a day off within that period. We accumulate another vacation day for every year after 5 years. I'm currently at 21 vacation days. More US companies should treat their employees this well. Is this my dream job? No. Will I do the absolute best job and go above and beyond for it? Absolutely. We have a very low turnover rate as most of us realize how good we have it. I'll stay as long as they will have me. I usually take a 1 week vacation and a 2 week vacation and then spread the rest out over the year.

northie

"Most Mums with young children take the maximum 12 weeks annual leave, which often puts them into a lower tax bracket so the loss of income isn't that noticeable. AND they are not paying for child care when school is out, which probably offsets the loss of income completely. "
as a former employer in Australia I'm not sure where this happens.
Certainly our vacation times are much more generous than US but very much in line with Europe.of course now maternity leave is paid by the government leaving US the only Western country to have no such thing.
One of my daughter shad maternity leave until child was 10 months and then her husband took 4 months paternity leave combined with long service leave.
We are indeed the lucky country!!!

kenav

My husband got 3 weeks when he started and 4 weeks after 5 years. That's the most he can get. However, he works for a Jewish charity and gets every Jewish holiday known to mankind plus all the "regular" holidays. (US)

He could never split his time with someone because he's one of only two people who does what he does. He's not part of some big group in his company.

DJCat

I'm from Alberta (working for the government) - I get 5 weeks + 5 personal days + 1 floating stat day + 11 regular stat (bank holiday) days - in 2 more years I will get an additional week.

We get 4 weeks right from the start, 5 weeks after 5 years of service, and 6 weeks after 16 years of service

frogoutofwater

I'm a professional (lawyer) working for a large company in the US. I get 21 days plus 5 personal/floating holidays per year. I used to take one 2-3 week holiday per year and then use the rest up on shorter holidays but now, as a manager, I find it difficult to get away for as long as two weeks. Also, my husband is doing a master's degree part-time (he gets 18 days plus 5 personal/floating holidays as an IT professional) so he's really busy. I think in the next year or so we're going to take shorter holidays (e.g., 10 days away max) and some "staycations".

Melnq8

Interesting thread.

"Thanks Americans (and others) I suspected this; as we told Oprah, we work to live, NOT live to work".

Wonderful in theory, but this approach also has its drawbacks...especially if you're the one needing to get something accomplished.

There's no doubt that Australia has a very different work culture than that of the the US. It's been our experience as American expats living in Australia that it takes twice as long for things to get done. The "laid back", "she'll be right, mate" attitude will only go so far.

"It also hugely amuses me that YOUR multinationals have to adhere to a lot of these systems in Australia, because it's the law."

Not so. Expats working for international companies do not automatically get Australian benefits. We sure don't.

In my spouse's line of work, expats are expected to work 5-10 more hours than the Australians in the same office. Yes, there are perks to being an expat, but by US standards the Aussies are incredibly fortunate within the workplace...time off is just the tip of the iceberg.

As far as vacation is concerned, my spouse has worked for 30 years for the same company (US and overseas) and he has just now earned six weeks of paid vacation per year. As expats, we also get six travel days, one medical day and all local (OZ) holidays.

MissGreen

I am Australian and love my 4 weeks holidays that is paid for by my employer. As an extra, my employer pays 9% of my salary towards my superannuation. This is an extra on top of my wages that they pay for.

I used to work for the Government and we worked a 35 hour week. Any extra hours worked would be credited to you so you could take days off. We were entitled to take another 6 days off over a period of 13 weeks.

MissGreen

I have seen folks say they buy holiday time. How does this work.

BTW, I get 15 days off paid sick leave, 2 days for family leave, 12 days paid public holidays. Lots of extra time there.

travelgourmet

<i>I have seen folks say they buy holiday time. How does this work.</i>

At my company, you basically return 1/52 of your salary, evenly over the year, as a payroll deduction. This is banked in an account. If you take the time off during the year, the company takes it. If you don't, they cut you a check for the amount 'saved'.

clevelandbrown

365 days a year; 366 in leap years. But we still limit our trips to two or three weeks.

dutyfree

38 years at my company!Had 6 weeks vacation but when my company went into bankruptcy we all had to give up a week so now I only have 5 weeks.

Rosie7235

Very interesting post. I live in the U.S. and at this point in time I get 8 paid holidays, plus 23 PTO days a year to be used at vacation days or sick days. I'm allowed to rollover my unused PTO days from year to year, but can only carry a maximum balance of 230 hours (about 29 days). People at my company who have been there less than 5 years get 18 PTO days with a maximum balance of 180 hours. I never come close to depleting my PTO days, partially because I don't want to take random days off, I'd rather do one nicer vacation during the summer (typically a week long), then the week between Christmas and New Year's and a few days in March or April.

mowmow

We get 2 weeks vacation 8 holidays 6 sick days a year. At 10 yrs goes up to 3 weeks vaca, 20 yrs 4 weeks.
And they wonder why nurses get burnt out.

jacketwatch

About 5.5 weeks and 4 floating holidays, the latter of which I usually take as paid out at the end of the fiscal yr. We also get about 12 sick days annually as well. BTW I'm a nurse too BUT we are unionized. It does make a difference.

Fabio

My german company here in Italy gives 5 to 6 full paid weeks holiday per year depending on seniority.

Maternity leave by italian law, regardless of the nationality of the company:

5 months MANDATORY (working is forbidden !) with 80% of the salary paid by the social welfare (some companies cover up to 100%)and with 2 options:
1) from 2 months before planned birth date until 3 months after
2) from 1 month before planned birth date until 4 months after.

After these 5 mandatory months there are additional 6 months paid with 30% of the salary and can be taken either by the mother or the father. These 6 months can be taken immediately after the 5 mandatory months so that it makes 11 months all together without interruption or they can be splitted in various periods until the child is 3 years old

VolCrew

To answer the OP's question:

I get 5 weeks of vacation and 2 weeks of holidays. I typically take a max of two weeks at a time because 1) I spend too much money if I'm out longer and 2) I am still responsible for results. Work doesn't go away while I play; it just piles up.

ncounty

that is so bizarre that you are expected to work 5-10 hours more than the natives, melnq8! How is this presented and rationalized?

Melnq8

ncounty -

They remind expats that they're salaried, and as such are expected to work 'incidential overtime', to do whatever it takes to get the job done. The locals are salaried too, but they're protected by local labor laws that don't apply to expats. It's also a cultural difference - many Americans are accustomed to working above and beyond, whereas some cultures are not.

It's been the same way in every country we've lived/worked. Different standards apply to different nationalties. It's just the way it is.

ncounty

wow, just when you think you've heard it all. Doesn't seem fair, melnq8.

agwt

I get the entire year off

sort of,

I work out of my house, so as long as I take my laptop(s) with me and be on line for few hours a day, I could be sitting on a beach in Hawaii, visit beautiful beaches in Thailand, watch football matches in England, do a safari, a glacier walk in NZ or a transatlantic cruise any time I feel like.

Life is good.

(I do understand that this is not the norm, but if you can arrange a deal like this, vacation time is irrelevant).