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| Yes | 75% | 491 votes | Total: 658 votes | |
| No | 25% | 167 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesI lost my job. I'm looking for another job. Today I interviewed for a great job that I would love. I started signing papers and before I knew it, I heard, "By the way, what are your salary expectations?"
Still no problem. I gave my salary expectations, which was the salary I had when I left my last job. I said that more than salary, I am interested in holiday / vacation time. I asked for three weeks.
He looked as if my face had turned green as a monster and with horns.
"We all have two weeks, here. I have been working here for four years and I still have eleven days with no prospect for more."
At first, his response was one of "why do you think you deserve more"? In my efforts to negotiate and to prove I was in earnest, I shared my willingness to accept a decrease in salary to have more time off. He began to soften.
"Yes, I understand what you are saying. My home is so far away, (on another continent) and I only have two weeks. I would love to have more. I will mention it to the boss." I haven't heard back.
Hello. What is it with companies in Canada and the U.S.? Two out of fifty-two weeks a year, employees can take off. Wow. Blow me away.
We are known as such a multicultural societies. For most immigrants, two weeks would mean a quick visit home, and that's it for the year. Beat your brains out for the rest.
I'm appalled. It infuriates me to think that in spite of being generous and caring cultures we still demand the heart and soul out of each other for work.
Two weeks for vacation is inhuman. It is unjust. It is not healthy. It is wrong. People cannot work well without more down-time, breaks and whatever-they-want-t o-do time.
We all know about Europe. Jobs start there with four week holiday benefits. What is wrong with us North Americans? We, as nations, are doing so much better because we work our people to death, right? I don't think there is evidence that European economies are lagging due to too much "holiday". But, if this could be proved, then let's see Europeans revert to 2 weeks. I wonder how that would go over?
I've heard the feedback, "There are so many people who don't use their vacation time." They take the money instead. So? Why can't I have the choice? I need three weeks bottom line - I'll agree to less money. I'm smart, don't want to be a manager; I just want to do good work.
Next step? I would like to hear the honest opinions of health care professionals as to whether only 2 out of 52 weeks away from work is really doing us no harm. I just don't believe for a minute that it is right to demand this of people - recession or not.
Learn more about this author, D. Brawn-Mitchell.
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No
Most coporations in the United States offer very attractive benefit packages, which include paid vacations. Most, if not all have a graduated scale in which an employee earns additional vacation time the longer he or she remains with the company. Seems fair to me, although I might make one change. In most organizations, the scale is in five-year increments. For example, 2 weeks for 1-4 years service, 3 weeks for 5-10 years service and so on.
With the mobility of the American worker in the 21st Century, statistics show that most workers do not stay with a company for more than 6 years, on average. I might like to see companies restructure their scales to 1-3 years, 3-6 years, etc. This might give workers more incentive to remain in place with their employers.
However, the amount of time employers offer as "vacation time" is irrelevant. If an applicant does not like the vacation package offered, there is no one forcing them to accept the position. As a person who used to do the hiring for several companies as part of my position, one of the items that always irritated me during an interview was when an applicant asked, "How much vacation time do I get?" This made me think that the applicant was not interested as much in how much they would have to work, but in how much "off-time" the company would have to pay for.
I have had prospective employees turn down employment offers because the vacation provided was not to their liking. Again, this led me to believe that the candidate was less interested in what was expected of them, and more interested in their "paid time off".
Companies should offer a fair amount of vacation, but a company also has the right to expect the employees on their payroll to actually EARN their wages. European companies often offer what to Americans seem huge amounts of vacation time, in some instances in excess of two months per year. One look at the number of strikes by the European workforce as opposed to their American counterparts clearly indicates that the amount of vacation time the employees receive cannot and will not solve any employee-retention difficulties.
No, US companies offer a fair amount of vacation time. They could restructure it a bit differently, but when all is said and done, it is more than fair. Most workers work 2080 hours per year, and most get 80 hours vacation during their first 1-5 years. That equates to one entire pay period out of the 26 pay periods during the year. For one entire pay period, employers are paying their employees for ZERO production.
More than fair.
Learn more about this author, Robert Mikolajczak.
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