Why can't Americans have a vacation?

[Jarlaxle]

Every country is at a LEGISLATED vacation mandate of ~ 5 weeks per year, +/- 1 or 2, except the USA, where there is no vacation legislation for workers, and the ridiculously low 2 weeks is a "gift". Why are Americans so freakishly different again? And why do Americans love undercutting themselves this much?

I get 3 weeks vacation (four weeks starting next year or 2014), 5 personal days, and 5 sick days. Honestly...I never use the sick time or most of the personal time.

 

[anotherlife]

Every American you have asked? And how many is that?

Here's a wee lesson in GAAP accounting: accrued vacation expenses already "cost the company". The accrual is recognized on the income statement and booked to accrued expenses on the balance sheet. When somebody takes vacation, the cash is the same as what would have been paid for regular salary, but the expense comes out of the accrual. When an employee doesn't take a vacation, it's actually MORE EXPENSIVE for the employer. The employer isn't able to use the accrual to offset expenses.

Very interesting. So, would a European style arrangement be like pre-booking a set 5 weeks of accrual for every year, and then applying everything you said? So the cost of the employee taking January off will be the same as taking December off? And it IS a very good news that taking the vacation is cheaper than not taking it.

I don't know what you mean by pre-booking in this context. If you mean does it matter when the accrued vacation is used, the answer is no, as long as it is used within the fiscal year.

What does cause problems is the nonsense we see among public union employees who apparently never take one day of vacation over 25 years and then cash out obscene acccruals. In the private sector, the convention is a capped acrrual, and then one stops accruing. This encourages people to take an annual vacation.

I absolutely agree with this. This is an absolutely excellent point. I think some leftists ruin it for other leftists. If the public sector idiots could just be decent and/or accept sensible balancing that private sector already uses, then everyone would win.

 

[anotherlife]

The Cognitive Dissonance of the lefties in this thread is more astounding than usual. They whine that their aren't jobs while advocating for unearned benefits which will cause employers to hire even less people.

Go figure.

Truth out.

Now with Obamacare, yikes, I feel so sorry for the small business owner in America. Jobs will be slashed.

This will be a blood fest.

Well in healthcare, employer sponsorship should be ended, like McCain proposed it in 2008, or should be converted into a European style tax based benefit. Any middle ground compromise is an oxymoron, because of the basic probabilistic nature of all insurance models.

 

[Jarlaxle]

And yet, Germany does almost as good as the USA in every aspect. Shows how meaningles is the American anti-vacation mentality.

Uh, you haven't proven that Americans have an anti-vacation mentality, bub.

But every American I had asked says that they don't like vacations because they don't want their employers to incure the extra expense of it. (A self defeating shoot-your-own-foot attitude?)

Are you lying or are you just hallucinating?

 

[anotherlife]

The last company I worked for, by the time I left I was earning 3 weeks vacation and 10 sick days a year. The sick days banked, and I used them to go on maternity leave.

Vacation isn't a gimme in every job, it's part of employee compensation. Some people would rather work a job that pays more upfront, some would rather have the benefits.

Yes, but such a balance is not reflected in nationwide employer statistics.

And if you were happy to "work yourself up to 3 weeks", then get informed, that most other countries START with 5 weeks. (Including 3rd world!) And how happy were you with your maternity leave limited to 10 days, when my sister had a hard time even after 20 days?

 

[anotherlife]

Very interesting. So, would a European style arrangement be like pre-booking a set 5 weeks of accrual for every year, and then applying everything you said? So the cost of the employee taking January off will be the same as taking December off? And it IS a very good news that taking the vacation is cheaper than not taking it.

I don't know what you mean by pre-booking in this context. If you mean does it matter when the accrued vacation is used, the answer is no, as long as it is used within the fiscal year.

What does cause problems is the nonsense we see among public union employees who apparently never take one day of vacation over a 25 years and then cash out obscene acccruals. In the private sector, the convention is a capped acrrual, and then one stops accruing. This encourages people to take an annual vacation.

Exactly. The cash out at the end of the year. It's annual and I split it between furniture and I think I'll roll with another sapphire.

Every year they have to buy you out, so I enjoy this. They can't let my husband go on a huge vacation.

C'est la vie. So you make it up in other ways....

Public sectors kill me. I was reading the stats out of Chicago and Buffalo. Breast implants for the teachers union out of Buffalo.

Your tax dollars at work.

I wouldn't want to be your husband. Wouldn't you want to fly with me to 2 weeks in Hawaii PLUS another 2 to a luxury resort at whatever?

 

[uscitizen]

Very interesting. So, would a European style arrangement be like pre-booking a set 5 weeks of accrual for every year, and then applying everything you said? So the cost of the employee taking January off will be the same as taking December off? And it IS a very good news that taking the vacation is cheaper than not taking it.

I don't know what you mean by pre-booking in this context. If you mean does it matter when the accrued vacation is used, the answer is no, as long as it is used within the fiscal year.

What does cause problems is the nonsense we see among public union employees who apparently never take one day of vacation over a 25 years and then cash out obscene acccruals. In the private sector, the convention is a capped acrrual, and then one stops accruing. This encourages people to take an annual vacation.

Exactly. The cash out at the end of the year. It's annual and I split it between furniture and I think I'll roll with another sapphire.

Every year they have to buy you out, so I enjoy this. They can't let my husband go on a huge vacation.

C'est la vie. So you make it up in other ways....

Public sectors kill me. I was reading the stats out of Chicago and Buffalo. Breast implants for the teachers union out of Buffalo.

Your tax dollars at work.

Vacation at many places is use it or lose it no carryover and no banking.

 

[anotherlife]

Why Americans are afraid to take a vacation | MNN - Mother Nature Network

Americans aren't taking vacations. And, it's not because they can't afford them. Instead, a steady stream of research over the past year revealed that Americans are afraid to take time off from work for fear of appearing less than dedicated to their employer.

Whether it's not using provided vacation time or coming to the office when sick, research over the past year has shown that U.S. employees are afraid to be out of the office.

In a recent survey from workforce consulting firm Right Management, 70 percent of employees said they weren't using all their earned vacation days in 2011. In addition, research from Jet Blue Airways discovered most employees leave an average of 11 vacation days on the table, or 70 percent of their total allotted time off.

Right Management senior vice president Michael Haid said the perceived environment that now prevails at many organizations seems to recognize devotion to the job to the exclusion of nearly everything else.

BECAUSE THEY ARE AFRAID !

Another core element of American culture. In addition to the earlier mentioned attitude deffect. Is the WORLD stupid, to look up to us?

 

[Jarlaxle]

That's why getting a good education is important. Did you tell him that?

My friend has a PHD in a highly technical field. I think he knows the value of a good education. He was also an early computer genius who wrote a number of the program applications for weather forecasting and hurricane tracking.

His story actually has quite a happy ending. A couple of years after the greedy assholes he worked for pulled this number on him, he forced him into early retirement. They fired him. On his last day there, they told him they wanted to consult with him from time to time and he quoted them a consulting fee of $1000 a day. They said they thought he would consult with them for free. Yeah right.

During the weeks between the date they announced he was "retiring" and his final day, a number of the firm's customers contacted my friend and asked if he could continue his work for them. Since he has all of his home computers, and copies of all of his programming and modelling software, the answer is "yes", so now my friend is working from home, at his own pace, for a number of select clients.

And his former employers got screwed in the bargain. I call that a win/win.

I have a hard time disagreeing! What caliber gun did his employer use while shooting himself in the foot?

 

[anotherlife]

Vacations are for pussies and communists

Are you saying this because you have just got transferred from kitchen duty to library duty?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Do you work in the US?

REALLY?????

So which industry sector and which state/region? Or are you at some government job in the same office for the past 20+ years? Does not apply to most American workers.

I work for a bank in Charlotte. I'm going on my 11th year with them.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Get another job.

people aren't hiring

One has to be willing to move. If I was younger I would be smack dab in an oil field in Alberta or in North Dakota.

Thousands of jobs. Fabulous money. I'd be racking up the bucks.

And when I was young, I started my own company. I was at home all day with my babies and hit the bar circuit promoting bands. I made a fortune and retired oh so young. Life is a blast.

There is always a way to make money. Legally. I should put that in there.

You have to have some balls, take some chances and take the best of what you are and find out how you can make it.

But you have to be willing to bend your own life to make a greater one for yourself.

Honestly...I am giving some serious thought to getting my haz-mat endorsement and heading for North Dakota. A year of working my ass off there could earn me $100K.

 

[uscitizen]

So you Watchovia other peoples money?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Perhaps others should improve their skills and marketability so they have more negotiating leverage for a compensation package.

No, we can't do that. That would require self accountability and responsibility. That's not fair.

No. That would require money. And money is what we increasingly don't have any more.

You can make all the excuses as to why you can't all day long. At the end of the day you'll still be a loser.

 

[AmyNation]

The last company I worked for, by the time I left I was earning 3 weeks vacation and 10 sick days a year. The sick days banked, and I used them to go on maternity leave.

Vacation isn't a gimme in every job, it's part of employee compensation. Some people would rather work a job that pays more upfront, some would rather have the benefits.

Yes, but such a balance is not reflected in nationwide employer statistics.

And if you were happy to "work yourself up to 3 weeks", then get informed, that most other countries START with 5 weeks. (Including 3rd world!) And how happy were you with your maternity leave limited to 10 days, when my sister had a hard time even after 20 days?

You are only looking at vacation, not all benefits. Vacation is just one part of employee compensation.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

So you Watchovia other peoples money?

I'm in IT, actually.

 

[anotherlife]

There are many jobs out there that provide more vacation.
I've had jobs at 2 banks years ago...what sucked was we only had 2 weeks vacation and we had to take the whole 2 weeks at one time, we couldn't split it up!

The job i've now had for 20 yrs i do have 4 weeks vacation now (after 15 yrs). I can take more, but they're unpaid then. There's other companies that give you more time sooner....i guess i could have tried to find one of them. But i don't see what's wrong with "earning" more time off by working hard and just being a good employee. I know people at work that don't work, don't earn shit because they're lazy....they don't deserve time off, they take it at work!

Isn't the very idea of having to accrue and earn your vacation at work an odd concept? Other countries incorporate in in the job offer instead of playing this hidden catch-and-lose with it. The accrual/earn concept of vacations seems dishonest from the employer.

Why is earning something such an odd concept to you?

Because there is a BIG difference between earning and earning. In every other country, vacations are a part of your basic package, and not like an as-you-go comission type earning. Hence accrual is pre-allocated and you don't need to wait until late in the year before you can take off a day.

 

[tap4154]

Every country is at a LEGISLATED vacation mandate of ~ 5 weeks per year, +/- 1 or 2, except the USA, where there is no vacation legislation for workers, and the ridiculously low 2 weeks is a "gift". Why are Americans so freakishly different again? And why do Americans love undercutting themselves this much?

Because we're not lazy socialist sloths, like you guys, except for Democrats/union dregs.

 

[Jarlaxle]

My friend has a PHD in a highly technical field. I think he knows the value of a good education. He was also an early computer genius who wrote a number of the program applications for weather forecasting and hurricane tracking.

His story actually has quite a happy ending. A couple of years after the greedy assholes he worked for pulled this number on him, he forced him into early retirement. They fired him. On his last day there, they told him they wanted to consult with him from time to time and he quoted them a consulting fee of $1000 a day. They said they thought he would consult with them for free. Yeah right.

During the weeks between the date they announced he was "retiring" and his final day, a number of the firm's customers contacted my friend and asked if he could continue his work for them. Since he has all of his home computers, and copies of all of his programming and modelling software, the answer is "yes", so now my friend is working from home, at his own pace, for a number of select clients.

And his former employers got screwed in the bargain. I call that a win/win.

This story is great, but I think his former employer can sue him for "unfair direct competition" and put him out of business immediately, if they ever decide to. He is using his former employer's clients plus a software that is the property of that company even if he developed it. He is surviving out of the good will and discretion of the people who fired him!

Only if there was a competition clause in any separation agreement.

And if the clause was legal in that state. (Some states do not permit non-compete clauses.)

 

[LoneLaugher]

Another thread where ALL of our resident nutters have somehow been able to take personal responsibility and negotiate fantastic benefits packages with their grateful and benevolent employers!

My, what exceptional nutters populate these boards. They all handle this economy so well.....good pay, better than average benefits, health care covered or paid for easily out of pocket! Amazing! Yet......they cannot stop complaining about our leadership and bitching about how well the poor folk have it.

Odd.