America: The No-Vaction Nation

I guess it's only socialist parasites who really want vacation time anyway. :roll:

Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

By A. Pawlowski, CNN

(CNN) -- Let's be blunt: If you like to take lots of vacation, the United States is not the place to work.

Besides a handful of national holidays, the typical American worker bee gets two or three precious weeks off out of a whole year to relax and see the world -- much less than what people in many other countries receive.

And even that amount of vacation often comes with strings attached.

Some U.S. companies don't like employees taking off more than one week at a time. Others expect them to be on call or check their e-mail even when they're lounging on the beach or taking a hike in the mountains.

[...]

It's a totally different story in other parts of the world.

Nancy Schimkat, an American who lives in Weinheim, Germany, said her German husband, an engineer, gets six weeks of paid vacation a year, plus national holidays -- the norm. His company makes sure he takes all of it.

[...]

But employers in the United States are not obligated under federal law to offer any paid vacation, so about a quarter of all American workers don't have access to it, government figures show.

That makes the U.S. the only advanced nation in the world that doesn't guarantee its workers annual leave, ...

FULL STORY on CNN

Commies, and there vacations. USA! Freedom! Patriotism! No-Vacations for me pal, I work hard and keep on working.

"I really would like to take a real, decent vacation and travel somewhere, but it's almost impossible to take a long vacation and to be out of contact," said Don Brock, a software engineer who lives in suburban Washington.

The article

I have to say that that sounds awfully familiar, right down to the state and everything. :P

I get 4 weeks a year and only take one of them. I just save the other 3 till the end of the year and then request to be paid vacation time without actually going on vacation. So like the 2nd or 3rd week in December i get 4 checks in the same week.

I just buy myself something nice. Last year it was a TV. This year i'll probably put down on a new bike.

I get 4 weeks a year and only take one of them. I just save the other 3 till the end of the year and then request to be paid vacation time without actually going on vacation. So like the 2nd or 3rd week in December i get 4 checks in the same week.

I just buy myself something nice. Last year it was a TV. This year i'll probably put down on a new bike.

Alter_Echo

Not that it's really my business, but I feel I should note that studies have shown that experiences make people much happier than owning things.

Took all my trips when I was younger. Prefer my home comforts and one week staycations nowadays.

Sleep and vacations are for the weak.

[QUOTE="Alter_Echo"]

I get 4 weeks a year and only take one of them. I just save the other 3 till the end of the year and then request to be paid vacation time without actually going on vacation. So like the 2nd or 3rd week in December i get 4 checks in the same week.

I just buy myself something nice. Last year it was a TV. This year i'll probably put down on a new bike.

GabuEx

Not that it's really my business, but I feel I should note that studies have shown that experiences make people much happier than owning things.

The only way i could afford to actually go on a vacation would be to use 1 week ( the most i can use at one time ) for the time off and then use 1 or 2 additional weeks to fund the actually "going" part.

I have thought about this a few times but there really isn't anywhere i want to go that would be plausible with my budget. And i can forget "saving" through the year to do something nice when i do take time off. Something always happens.

Guaranteed if i have money in the bank that is not currently scheduled to be spent on a bill, a new bill will spring up for that money to be spent on. Without fail.

I like how we in the U.S. wants to have the best workers and the top businesses, yet we have one of the bottom public school systems. Then if you want to go to college, unless you're broke enough to get a grants or are at the top, top of your class to get a scholarship, get ready to pay tens of thousands when you come out thanks to deregulation of the public university systems. That's like owning a nice Mercedes (or sub another expensive car) and paying the payments but not being able to drive it ever. Then the degree might help you get a career or job if there is one. And finally, once you get a job, morale is so high because of the crappy benefits such as top notch, crappy insurance and a week or maybe if you're lucky two weeks of vacation when other nations give three or more weeks per year with a lot of European nations giving a month or more. I have even heard, they don't let you accrue it but make you take it every year so that mentally, you're still fresh and not getting burned out. That's why I do my own company.

I do miss my 30 days of leave a year from the military, but I get a lot of time off as is.

I see no reason why people deserve vacation time. They should work to get those kinds of benefits.

I do miss my 30 days of leave a year from the military, but I get a lot of time off as is.

I see no reason why people deserve vacation time. They should work to get those kinds of benefits.

airshocker

But why should Americans have to work harder for vacation benefits than Europeans do?

6 weeks. Good god I need to move.

starting at my new job in july. i get 3 weeks a year.

my dad after 30 years with his job. gets 13 weeks a year

I do miss my 30 days of leave a year from the military, but I get a lot of time off as is.

I see no reason why people deserve vacation time. They should work to get those kinds of benefits.

airshocker

It's not a matter of "deserving" vacation time:

The vanishing vacation has many perils. Refusing to take time off burns people out and wreaks havoc on productivity. Vacation deprivation is one reason workers are reporting more mistakes, anger, and resentment at co-workers, according to the Families & Work Institute. Former NASA scientists, working on behalf of Air New Zealand and using testing tools normally reserved for astronauts, recently found that vacationers experienced an 82% increase in job performance post-trip. The now-popular micro-vacations—taking two or three days off—do not deliver the same stress-reduction benefits as vacations that last one and two weeks, research shows. Moreover, experts agree that a key ingredient in peak performance is a drastic change of venue coupled with shutting down for extended periods of time.

Businessweek

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_21/b4035088.htm

But why should Americans have to work harder for vacation benefits than Europeans do?

Stesilaus

They don't have to. They can always quit, or move to Europe.

It's not a matter of "deserving" vacation time:

[QUOTE="Businessweek"]

The vanishing vacation has many perils. Refusing to take time off burns people out and wreaks havoc on productivity. Vacation deprivation is one reason workers are reporting more mistakes, anger, and resentment at co-workers, according to the Families & Work Institute. Former NASA scientists, working on behalf of Air New Zealand and using testing tools normally reserved for astronauts, recently found that vacationers experienced an 82% increase in job performance post-trip. The now-popular micro-vacations—taking two or three days off—do not deliver the same stress-reduction benefits as vacations that last one and two weeks, research shows. Moreover, experts agree that a key ingredient in peak performance is a drastic change of venue coupled with shutting down for extended periods of time.

GabuEx

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_21/b4035088.htm

I know the benefits of vacation, probably more so than a lot of people. I just really don't have a whole lot of sympathy on the matter.

Having a lot of vacation time is something that, I feel, should be earned, rather than be entitled to.

I know the benefits of vacation, probably more so than a lot of people. I just really don't have a whole lot of sympathy on the matter.

Having a lot of vacation time is something that, I feel, should be earned, rather than be entitled to.

airshocker

Yeah companies should realize happy workers are productive workers weezyfb

And after how many years /hours of work has one earned the right to vacation?horgen123

Everyone should get a basic amount: Federal holidays, weekends(for those who work that type of schedule), and two weeks. As you progress in your company you should be rewarded with even more. R.H.I.P = rank has its privleges.

this is a bit ironic for me since I'm on vacation right now.

I know the benefits of vacation, probably more so than a lot of people. I just really don't have a whole lot of sympathy on the matter.

Having a lot of vacation time is something that, I feel, should be earned, rather than be entitled to.

airshocker

Employees should earn the right to be productive at work?

You live there and you live like that, because you want, yes ? Stress... pollution... the best 40 years of your life working 5 days a week and 8 hours a day to make your boss rich and let him step on you as "thanks"... violence and crime... racism... crowd and noise... biggotry and witch hunts... MTV and intellectual death... juvenile delinquency... and a whole society based on the notion of "the winner" and "the loser"... there is no real people, only "winners" and "losers". ... NO, thank you!uberspotter

I can see that you really like America! You should move here!

[QUOTE="uberspotter"]You live there and you live like that, because you want, yes ? Stress... pollution... the best 40 years of your life working 5 days a week and 8 hours a day to make your boss rich and let him step on you as "thanks"... violence and crime... racism... crowd and noise... biggotry and witch hunts... MTV and intellectual death... juvenile delinquency... and a whole society based on the notion of "the winner" and "the loser"... there is no real people, only "winners" and "losers". ... NO, thank you!ROFLCOPTER603

I can see that you really like America! You should move here!

Employees should earn the right to be productive at work?

GabuEx

Who said that? Not me.

You live there and you live like that, because you want, yes ? Stress... pollution... the best 40 years of your life working 5 days a week and 8 hours a day to make your boss rich and let him step on you as "thanks"... violence and crime... racism... crowd and noise... biggotry and witch hunts... MTV and intellectual death... juvenile delinquency... and a whole society based on the notion of "the winner" and "the loser"... there is no real people, only "winners" and "losers". ... NO, thank you!uberspotter

I'd take this system over a system of social mediocrity any day of the week.

[QUOTE="SolidSnake35"]I'm taking a vacation there this summer. Irony?thegerg

[QUOTE="GabuEx"]

Employees should earn the right to be productive at work?

airshocker

Who said that? Not me.

Employees who get vacation are hugely more productive than employees who don't, and you said that employees should have to earn the right to get vacation.

It's not what you said, but it's a necessary logical implication of what you said. :P

The more I hear about Europe the more I realize that this myth of America being the greatest country on earth is just that, a myth. Europe has much higher standards of living than us and before someone says it, I am considering moving there someday. So much better of a system than the unregulated predatory capitalism we have here.

Employees who get vacation are hugely more productive than employees who don't, and you said that employees should have to earn the right to get vacation.

It's not what you said, but it's a necessary logical implication of what you said. :P

GabuEx

And I never said no one should get no vacation. I said more vacation time should be earned.

I don't see the problem with recharging your batteries and do other things then your usual job for a couple of weeks. It helps production effectiveness in the overall year. A happy and recharged worker is a productive worker. Making a human work all year long without some vacation THAT is communism, if one absolutely have to use that term here.

[QUOTE="GabuEx"]

Employees who get vacation are hugely more productive than employees who don't, and you said that employees should have to earn the right to get vacation.

It's not what you said, but it's a necessary logical implication of what you said. :P

airshocker

And I never said no one should get no vacation. I said more vacation time should be earned.

I just read your initial message. I think my brain somehow glossed over the phrase "a lot". I thought you were saying that employees ought to have to earn vacation time, period.

My apologies; that was my bad.

I just read your initial message. I think my brain somehow glossed over the phrase "a lot". I thought you were saying that employees ought to have to earn vacation time, period.

My apologies; that was my bad.

GabuEx

It's all good. :)

Well I work 12 hour days, makes for lots more days off....drokmore

Yeah, it's ridiculous. My history teacher last semester was using the vacation standards of other nations as a cautionary tale, as if having three weeks instead of two (the example she used) would completely wreck the competitivness of a nation; I had to facepalm. Also, one of my uncles always does work and answers calls while on vacation. He complains about it constantly, but he's also indoctrinated into this idea of masochism being indicative of a good work ethic, so he always ends up defending his employers after he spends half an hour complaining about them.

I've been on vacation ever since I could get a job and will continue to be on vacation till I get hired, hopefully in a few weeks and then I wont get any vacation time till I have worked with them for about a year.