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"What’s really rare, he adds, is his annual week of paid holiday" I may be getting it wrong as I don't live in US, but does it mean he only gets one week of ho

"What’s really rare, he adds, is his annual week of paid holiday" I may be getting it wrong as I don't live in US, but does it mean he only gets one week of holidays per year? Is there any other form of paid off time?

ragona 7y ago
Correct. US companies don’t have to give any paid time off. It’s as bad as it sounds.
umanwizard 7y ago
Usually, low-skill hourly wage service jobs in the US have no paid leave, at all. If you work N hours, you get paid for N hours. That’s why getting one week of paid leave annually was described as rare.
- Barrin92 7y ago
  Jesus I didn't know that. I knew that the US had a debate about maternity leave, but I thought the US had paid annual leave. Here in Germany everyone gets 24 working days off, I don't think I'd survive a year without it.
  - henrikschroder 7y ago
    Even for high-paid white-collar jobs, you normally don't get a lot of paid time off in the US. Two weeks, typically. Three weeks is seen as generous. These days off are then typically used piecemeal, a day here, a long weekend there, some days around christmas, a family trip here. A whole week off is seen as weird. I worked at a company where that was the standard, but every five years (!) you could apply for a whole month (!!) of unpaid (!!!) time off. I witnessed discussions on the employee blabbing mailing list where people who had worked there for five years or ten were talking about what they would do, and how a whole month of not working would affect them and some were not sure if they could stay away that long... Meanwhile, in Sweden, I had six weeks of paid time off every year, and everyone has a legal right to four consecutive weeks in the summer, so most people take a month off every year. Not every five years. Everyone. The cultural difference is absolutely crazy. A second-order effect of this is that if people are gone a lot every year, it forces companies to have better redundancies, it forces companies to spread knowledge around, it forces them to make sure that everyone's job can be covered by someone else. This lessens the impact of someone quitting, because there should be people around who can at least somewhat do that person's job, so you are less likely to end up in a situation where someone quitting is a disaster for the company, because that person had made themselves essential as a crazy sort of job security.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      A whole week off is not seen as weird in most of the US. I’ve had 3-4 weeks of vacation for decades and I’ve always taken pretty much every day. Among many of the people I’ve known that was by no means unusual.
      - henrikschroder 7y ago
        Sorry for generalizing. In my experience, it was very rare for people to use up all their vacation, and people were routinely used to being denied vacation time for whatever business reason, both at my company, and previous companies. Don't know how common it is across Silicon Valley, but it exists at least. We had to push people into taking vacations in my team, and we never, ever denied vacation requests, as long as people had earned the time off. I really wish people were more pushy about their vacation time, because they've earned it, just like they've earned their salary. Not taking vacation time is essentially giving money to your company, which is dumb, because you get nothing in return.
        ghaff 7y ago
        I totally agree. Based on numbers I've seen people in the US do better than their stereotype. But a lot of people still leave vacation on the table in a way that is foreign to me. Sure, some companies are dysfunctional in this respect. But, it's also true that at a company I worked at for a long time where I pretty much saved up my vacation for month trips on a number of occasions, a fair number of people couldn't really understand how I could do this. (My managers had no problems and I did quite well there for over a decade.) In all fairness, I've also worked with people who didn't like to travel and got bored with staycations so they didn't take much of their time. Alien to me but I sorta get it to some degree.
      - scarface74 7y ago
        11 days for salaried employees is the average. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-much-vacation-time-and-pay-do-employees-get-2064018 https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-much-vacation-time-and... Anecdotally, I’ve had one job in the past 20 years that didn’t have at least 15 days PTO. Because of corporate policy, they wouldn’t budge. I asked for extra pay to compensate.
  - MisterBastahrd 7y ago
    Even for a lot of white collar jobs, you will get 8 days total paid time off the first year, usually either pro-rated or earned on a percentage basis as you work. Large companies of European origin with a unionized staff tend to be vastly more generous with retirement. My new employer offers 3 weeks of vacation plus 3 days of PTO. That's it. Everyone at the senior level and above gets that. If I had worked for my dad's employer with a similar amount of seniority, I'd be looking at 4-5 bankable weeks of vacation each year. His employer routinely offered negotiated severance for people with X years of employment. He took one of their packages. They paid him 2 years salary complete with healthcare coverage and 401k for those years, and then he was able to use his accumulated vacation. He went into the office twice in 4 months and then cleared out his desk before retiring to a nice pension.
aphextron 7y ago
>I may be getting it wrong as I don't live in US, but does it mean he only gets one week of holidays per year? Yes, and even that is a rarity for wage workers. >Is there any other form of paid off time? Nope. Most hourly workers are lucky to get a few unpaid sick days. Have an accident, or get sick and need to spend a couple weeks in the hospital? Now you're unemployed and bankrupt.
- themagician 7y ago
  This is both true and mind boggling to me. I employ 5-10 unskilled people at any given time. Mostly for assembly and packing. They get two weeks PTO, and at least a week of paid vacation throughout the year when we close for holidays, mostly more. At the end of the day the total annual cost to provide this is well worth the drama it keeps out of the workplace. Sick days? Take as many as you need. I don’t want sick people at the office.
  - eikenberry 7y ago
    And you'll attract and keep a better level of employee because you do this. IMO this is particularly important with unskilled labor as your pool of employees is so large with very little to differentiate quality people.
    - sharkweek 7y ago
      Costco does this and it has worked, at least it seems, really well for them. Always maintained an above average hourly salary and benefits offering for retail staff. Their turnover is considerably lower than other big box retail (Walmart around 40%, Costco around 17%). Not to mention the cost reduction of not having to retrain someone who is only going to quit/get fired in six months. Source: https://hbr.org/2006/12/the-high-cost-of-low-wages https://hbr.org/2006/12/the-high-cost-of-low-wages
  - sockpuppet999 7y ago
    What happens to the PTO at the rollover date? Or if an employee accrues more PTO time than the employer will pay. I'm not being caustic here im just wondering what happens to those funds?
maxxxxx 7y ago
I believe in theory they don't have to give any paid time off, no vacation, no sick days. I once was offered a job in NYC with 5 days vacation, increasing to 10 after a few years. I said "No, thank you". I can't even imagine how it is to work like that.
- MisterBastahrd 7y ago
  I interviewed for a ton of positions recently because I was about to be laid off. I got to see the entire gamut of offers from "no PTO, no benefits, and a pittance" to "fully paid benefits, 18 days PTO, and top 10% salary for location". I can't imagine the difference in quality between the guys who are getting nothing and made to fend for themselves and the ones who are getting taken care of. I'm going to go out on a limb to say it might not necessarily be a giant difference depending on how well the developer in question Luckily for me, the job at the most financially rewarding location seemed just as interesting as the ones who appeared to be bootstrapping themselves.
luckydata 7y ago
I know it sounds crazy, it's because it is. Working in the US SUCKS for everyone.
- umanwizard 7y ago
  That’s really not true. Plenty of people in the US do get paid time off. It’s just not required by law.
- scarface74 7y ago
  Not everyone. Most salaried jobs have at least two weeks paid vacation and 10 paid holidays. This is also true for decently paid full time hourly workers.
- sosborn 7y ago
  > Working in the US SUCKS for everyone. Simply not true. Every 12 months I get three weeks PTO and three weeks sick leave (which is also paid and not connected to my vacation time). PTO will soon jump to 4 weeks after another year of working at my job. I know it isn't this good for everyone, but to say that working in the US sucks for everyone is a ridiculous statement.
  - leokennis 7y ago
    Of course “everyone” is never true. But for example in The Netherlands, 4.5 weeks of paid leave is the bare minimum (like even if you flip burgers you get at least that). If you’re e sick, you get paid leave for multiple months and after that, still 70% is paid. Your health endurance is not held hostage by your employer; for a small monthly fee (< $50 if you have a low income job) you’re pretty much ensured health issues won’t ruin you financially. Every country has their own Stockholm Syndromes where they think they’ve got it made, while actually other places are doing a lot better. I think employment and benefits are one of these for the US.
    - phd514 7y ago
      Eh, not necessarily. In my field (tech-related), I make substantially more than I would in the Netherlands and my tax burden is also substantially lower. I get 4 weeks of PTO plus 10 holidays every year and I never use it all. That is certainly not what everyone would prefer, but it suits me just fine.
Avshalom 7y ago
https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2017/ownership/private/table32a.htm https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2017/ownership/private/... As of March 2017 ~23% of private industry workers have no paid time off
rconti 7y ago
There are no requirements for vacation days. However, by using the term 'holiday' it may be mixing things up slightly. In the US, you may get a holiday off (eg, bank holiday such as Christmas or New Year's Day), in addition to "paid time off" or "vacation" days that you use at your discretion.
- FabHK 7y ago
  I'd call that a "public holiday".
esotericn 7y ago
I have never worked an hourly paid job in the UK that has paid holiday. I'm not sure they exist, it's sort of what hourly pay is - you get it when you work and not when you don't. Personally I'm not sure it's something that makes sense, it should just be factored in to the wage. Most hourly paid jobs I know of don't have regular hours, even - how much do you pay for a week's holiday when some weeks the employee works 8 hours and some 24 hours? An average? Of what, if they've only been there a few months, say? Now, time off, e.g. whether someone practically actually can take time off during the year without being sacked, is a different matter entirely. Historically (before my career as a software developer) whenever I've felt like I need a bit of time out I've either had to negotiate it or just leave. It's usually far easier to quit a job than to convince your manager to let you go away for a few weeks. Sometimes the bureaucracy doesn't even, well, understand it. I am personally completely convinced that the only answer to these sorts of issues is just to pay people properly. If they choose to chuck the money away regardless, it's on them. Building some savings early in my adult life and maintaining them has been the best thing I've ever done. It turns the matter of "does this job offer holiday" "can I get the weekend off" stuff into an academic concern because you are in control.
- DanBC 7y ago
  Hang on - paid holiday is a legal requirement. https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights This applies to people on zero-hour contracts as well.
  - esotericn 7y ago
    News to me! Perhaps I was ripped off. I've either done short-term stints or been salaried for over a decade now. Cheers for the link!
    - OldFatCactus 7y ago
      Please edit your earlier post, it is misleading
  - theoh 7y ago
boulos 7y ago
As mentioned downthread, this is the unfortunate combination of the British English term (“holiday”) which American English replaces with “vacation”. There are a set of Federal Holidays, but the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require that all workers get them off nor that they are paid [1]. There are some holidays that are Federal Holidays but are generally not observed nationwide (e.g., Colombus Day), however, banks and financial institutions including the stock market may be closed for them. Most workers get about 10 weekdays off per year from these federal holidays (Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, etc.) but at the low end (think fast food worker) that’s often not the case. Particularly part-time workers often get nothing. A comment downthread suggests that 23% of workers get no vacation time, but that might or might not also mean “and no Federal Holidays”. [1] https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/holidays https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/holidays
- Avshalom 7y ago
  The bls page says 77% have 'paid holidays', 68% have 'paid sick days' and 76% have 'paid vacation'
chungleong 7y ago
Paid leaves aren't mandated by law. The norm is two weeks for salaried workers. Most people don't used them up anyway. There's no tradition of everyone going on vacation in the same month in the US. That makes people feel somewhat guilty leaving their jobs behind. Even while on vacation many end up working. Americans do switch jobs more frequently. People have more occasions to unwind between jobs (perhaps cashing out their unused leaves to pay for a big trip).
- jeromegv 7y ago
  While people might switch jobs more often, is that supported by data that they use this time to unwind? You end up without health insurance coverage during that gap so I can’t imagine tons of people going in that direction.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    >You end up without health insurance coverage There's COBRA although, of course, you don't have the employer portion paid for any longer. I'm a bit skeptical that the typical person takes a lot of time off between jobs. If you've already got a position lined up, your new employer probably wants you to start as soon as possible. You can probably negotiate 2 or 3 weeks but, in most cases, I expect a real sabbatical would be tough. And, if you don't have a job lined up, I probably wouldn't be confident enough to just take it easy for a couple months.
    - chungleong 7y ago
      There certainly are a lot of Americans who mismanage their finances. Standard advice is to have at least six months of saving at your disposal. If you can't take a afford a break at a time of your own choosing then how are you going to cope when you get laid off during a recession?
      - ghaff 7y ago
        It's one thing to have a reserve for emergencies and another to tap into that reserve because you want to take a few months off before looking for a new job. Though absolutely nothing wrong with that if you're in the position to do so and it's a priority. But I've always taken a lot of vacation, including a number of trips up to a month while working. The one time recently when I had a job lined up I did push things out a few weeks which was just fine. The time before that was in the middle of the dot-com bubble bursting and I considered myself lucky to get something fairly quickly; it could easily have been many months+.
scarface74 7y ago
I only have a few anecdotal data points of what well paid hourly work is like in the US. But, most well paid hourly jobs with benefits etc. have some combination of: Holidays: Federal holidays where people are off and they still get paid as if they were working. Vacation: Time off work that is paid that is accrued during the time you are working. When you submit your time, you can use your vacation hours. Sick: Days that you are suppose to either be unable to work or have a dependent (or spouse) that you need to take care of. Depending on the company, they can require doctor’s notes. Many companies lump sick and vacation as “paid time off”. Companies usually have paid bereavement leave. I’ve worked as a contractor occasionally with none of these types of time off, but fortunately, I am in a position to adjust my rate accordingly. Even when I was in college and working retail we had some type of minimum holiday pay.
ok_coo 7y ago
This typically means 5 paid days off per year. The rest is maybe paid holiday that other people get like Christmas. All other days taken off are unpaid and subject to approval. This was what I got at my first office job in the US.
moonlet 7y ago
Oftentimes the lowest paid workers end up working the days everyone else has off. Heaven forbid the Walmart or the Kohl’s be closed on any holiday but basically Christmas Day.
Izkata 7y ago
Everyone else is throwing out their experiences, so since none mentioned something like mine I may as well too: Back in highschool, I worked hourly at a library for a year, and don't recall getting any paid vacation time. What I do remember is trading days with co-workers so I could get a full week off on occasion, or once just giving them my days so they got paid more that week with no pay loss another week.

ragona 7y ago

Correct. US companies don’t have to give any paid time off. It’s as bad as it sounds.

umanwizard 7y ago

Usually, low-skill hourly wage service jobs in the US have no paid leave, at all. If you work N hours, you get paid for N hours. That’s why getting one week of paid leave annually was described as rare.

Barrin92 7y ago
Jesus I didn't know that. I knew that the US had a debate about maternity leave, but I thought the US had paid annual leave. Here in Germany everyone gets 24 working days off, I don't think I'd survive a year without it.
- henrikschroder 7y ago
  Even for high-paid white-collar jobs, you normally don't get a lot of paid time off in the US. Two weeks, typically. Three weeks is seen as generous. These days off are then typically used piecemeal, a day here, a long weekend there, some days around christmas, a family trip here. A whole week off is seen as weird. I worked at a company where that was the standard, but every five years (!) you could apply for a whole month (!!) of unpaid (!!!) time off. I witnessed discussions on the employee blabbing mailing list where people who had worked there for five years or ten were talking about what they would do, and how a whole month of not working would affect them and some were not sure if they could stay away that long... Meanwhile, in Sweden, I had six weeks of paid time off every year, and everyone has a legal right to four consecutive weeks in the summer, so most people take a month off every year. Not every five years. Everyone. The cultural difference is absolutely crazy. A second-order effect of this is that if people are gone a lot every year, it forces companies to have better redundancies, it forces companies to spread knowledge around, it forces them to make sure that everyone's job can be covered by someone else. This lessens the impact of someone quitting, because there should be people around who can at least somewhat do that person's job, so you are less likely to end up in a situation where someone quitting is a disaster for the company, because that person had made themselves essential as a crazy sort of job security.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    A whole week off is not seen as weird in most of the US. I’ve had 3-4 weeks of vacation for decades and I’ve always taken pretty much every day. Among many of the people I’ve known that was by no means unusual.
    - henrikschroder 7y ago
      Sorry for generalizing. In my experience, it was very rare for people to use up all their vacation, and people were routinely used to being denied vacation time for whatever business reason, both at my company, and previous companies. Don't know how common it is across Silicon Valley, but it exists at least. We had to push people into taking vacations in my team, and we never, ever denied vacation requests, as long as people had earned the time off. I really wish people were more pushy about their vacation time, because they've earned it, just like they've earned their salary. Not taking vacation time is essentially giving money to your company, which is dumb, because you get nothing in return.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        I totally agree. Based on numbers I've seen people in the US do better than their stereotype. But a lot of people still leave vacation on the table in a way that is foreign to me. Sure, some companies are dysfunctional in this respect. But, it's also true that at a company I worked at for a long time where I pretty much saved up my vacation for month trips on a number of occasions, a fair number of people couldn't really understand how I could do this. (My managers had no problems and I did quite well there for over a decade.) In all fairness, I've also worked with people who didn't like to travel and got bored with staycations so they didn't take much of their time. Alien to me but I sorta get it to some degree.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      11 days for salaried employees is the average. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-much-vacation-time-and-pay-do-employees-get-2064018 https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-much-vacation-time-and... Anecdotally, I’ve had one job in the past 20 years that didn’t have at least 15 days PTO. Because of corporate policy, they wouldn’t budge. I asked for extra pay to compensate.
- MisterBastahrd 7y ago
  Even for a lot of white collar jobs, you will get 8 days total paid time off the first year, usually either pro-rated or earned on a percentage basis as you work. Large companies of European origin with a unionized staff tend to be vastly more generous with retirement. My new employer offers 3 weeks of vacation plus 3 days of PTO. That's it. Everyone at the senior level and above gets that. If I had worked for my dad's employer with a similar amount of seniority, I'd be looking at 4-5 bankable weeks of vacation each year. His employer routinely offered negotiated severance for people with X years of employment. He took one of their packages. They paid him 2 years salary complete with healthcare coverage and 401k for those years, and then he was able to use his accumulated vacation. He went into the office twice in 4 months and then cleared out his desk before retiring to a nice pension.

aphextron 7y ago

>I may be getting it wrong as I don't live in US, but does it mean he only gets one week of holidays per year? Yes, and even that is a rarity for wage workers. >Is there any other form of paid off time? Nope. Most hourly workers are lucky to get a few unpaid sick days. Have an accident, or get sick and need to spend a couple weeks in the hospital? Now you're unemployed and bankrupt.

themagician 7y ago
This is both true and mind boggling to me. I employ 5-10 unskilled people at any given time. Mostly for assembly and packing. They get two weeks PTO, and at least a week of paid vacation throughout the year when we close for holidays, mostly more. At the end of the day the total annual cost to provide this is well worth the drama it keeps out of the workplace. Sick days? Take as many as you need. I don’t want sick people at the office.
- eikenberry 7y ago
  And you'll attract and keep a better level of employee because you do this. IMO this is particularly important with unskilled labor as your pool of employees is so large with very little to differentiate quality people.
  - sharkweek 7y ago
    Costco does this and it has worked, at least it seems, really well for them. Always maintained an above average hourly salary and benefits offering for retail staff. Their turnover is considerably lower than other big box retail (Walmart around 40%, Costco around 17%). Not to mention the cost reduction of not having to retrain someone who is only going to quit/get fired in six months. Source: https://hbr.org/2006/12/the-high-cost-of-low-wages https://hbr.org/2006/12/the-high-cost-of-low-wages
- sockpuppet999 7y ago
  What happens to the PTO at the rollover date? Or if an employee accrues more PTO time than the employer will pay. I'm not being caustic here im just wondering what happens to those funds?

maxxxxx 7y ago

I believe in theory they don't have to give any paid time off, no vacation, no sick days. I once was offered a job in NYC with 5 days vacation, increasing to 10 after a few years. I said "No, thank you". I can't even imagine how it is to work like that.

MisterBastahrd 7y ago
I interviewed for a ton of positions recently because I was about to be laid off. I got to see the entire gamut of offers from "no PTO, no benefits, and a pittance" to "fully paid benefits, 18 days PTO, and top 10% salary for location". I can't imagine the difference in quality between the guys who are getting nothing and made to fend for themselves and the ones who are getting taken care of. I'm going to go out on a limb to say it might not necessarily be a giant difference depending on how well the developer in question Luckily for me, the job at the most financially rewarding location seemed just as interesting as the ones who appeared to be bootstrapping themselves.

luckydata 7y ago

I know it sounds crazy, it's because it is. Working in the US SUCKS for everyone.

umanwizard 7y ago
That’s really not true. Plenty of people in the US do get paid time off. It’s just not required by law.
scarface74 7y ago
Not everyone. Most salaried jobs have at least two weeks paid vacation and 10 paid holidays. This is also true for decently paid full time hourly workers.
sosborn 7y ago
> Working in the US SUCKS for everyone. Simply not true. Every 12 months I get three weeks PTO and three weeks sick leave (which is also paid and not connected to my vacation time). PTO will soon jump to 4 weeks after another year of working at my job. I know it isn't this good for everyone, but to say that working in the US sucks for everyone is a ridiculous statement.
- leokennis 7y ago
  Of course “everyone” is never true. But for example in The Netherlands, 4.5 weeks of paid leave is the bare minimum (like even if you flip burgers you get at least that). If you’re e sick, you get paid leave for multiple months and after that, still 70% is paid. Your health endurance is not held hostage by your employer; for a small monthly fee (< $50 if you have a low income job) you’re pretty much ensured health issues won’t ruin you financially. Every country has their own Stockholm Syndromes where they think they’ve got it made, while actually other places are doing a lot better. I think employment and benefits are one of these for the US.
  - phd514 7y ago
    Eh, not necessarily. In my field (tech-related), I make substantially more than I would in the Netherlands and my tax burden is also substantially lower. I get 4 weeks of PTO plus 10 holidays every year and I never use it all. That is certainly not what everyone would prefer, but it suits me just fine.

Avshalom 7y ago

https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2017/ownership/private/table32a.htm https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2017/ownership/private/... As of March 2017 ~23% of private industry workers have no paid time off

rconti 7y ago

There are no requirements for vacation days. However, by using the term 'holiday' it may be mixing things up slightly. In the US, you may get a holiday off (eg, bank holiday such as Christmas or New Year's Day), in addition to "paid time off" or "vacation" days that you use at your discretion.

FabHK 7y ago
I'd call that a "public holiday".

esotericn 7y ago

I have never worked an hourly paid job in the UK that has paid holiday. I'm not sure they exist, it's sort of what hourly pay is - you get it when you work and not when you don't. Personally I'm not sure it's something that makes sense, it should just be factored in to the wage. Most hourly paid jobs I know of don't have regular hours, even - how much do you pay for a week's holiday when some weeks the employee works 8 hours and some 24 hours? An average? Of what, if they've only been there a few months, say? Now, time off, e.g. whether someone practically actually can take time off during the year without being sacked, is a different matter entirely. Historically (before my career as a software developer) whenever I've felt like I need a bit of time out I've either had to negotiate it or just leave. It's usually far easier to quit a job than to convince your manager to let you go away for a few weeks. Sometimes the bureaucracy doesn't even, well, understand it. I am personally completely convinced that the only answer to these sorts of issues is just to pay people properly. If they choose to chuck the money away regardless, it's on them. Building some savings early in my adult life and maintaining them has been the best thing I've ever done. It turns the matter of "does this job offer holiday" "can I get the weekend off" stuff into an academic concern because you are in control.

DanBC 7y ago
Hang on - paid holiday is a legal requirement. https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights This applies to people on zero-hour contracts as well.
- esotericn 7y ago
  News to me! Perhaps I was ripped off. I've either done short-term stints or been salaried for over a decade now. Cheers for the link!
  - OldFatCactus 7y ago
    Please edit your earlier post, it is misleading
- theoh 7y ago

boulos 7y ago

As mentioned downthread, this is the unfortunate combination of the British English term (“holiday”) which American English replaces with “vacation”. There are a set of Federal Holidays, but the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require that all workers get them off nor that they are paid [1]. There are some holidays that are Federal Holidays but are generally not observed nationwide (e.g., Colombus Day), however, banks and financial institutions including the stock market may be closed for them. Most workers get about 10 weekdays off per year from these federal holidays (Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, etc.) but at the low end (think fast food worker) that’s often not the case. Particularly part-time workers often get nothing. A comment downthread suggests that 23% of workers get no vacation time, but that might or might not also mean “and no Federal Holidays”. [1] https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/holidays https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/holidays

Avshalom 7y ago
The bls page says 77% have 'paid holidays', 68% have 'paid sick days' and 76% have 'paid vacation'

chungleong 7y ago

Paid leaves aren't mandated by law. The norm is two weeks for salaried workers. Most people don't used them up anyway. There's no tradition of everyone going on vacation in the same month in the US. That makes people feel somewhat guilty leaving their jobs behind. Even while on vacation many end up working. Americans do switch jobs more frequently. People have more occasions to unwind between jobs (perhaps cashing out their unused leaves to pay for a big trip).

jeromegv 7y ago
While people might switch jobs more often, is that supported by data that they use this time to unwind? You end up without health insurance coverage during that gap so I can’t imagine tons of people going in that direction.
- ghaff 7y ago
  >You end up without health insurance coverage There's COBRA although, of course, you don't have the employer portion paid for any longer. I'm a bit skeptical that the typical person takes a lot of time off between jobs. If you've already got a position lined up, your new employer probably wants you to start as soon as possible. You can probably negotiate 2 or 3 weeks but, in most cases, I expect a real sabbatical would be tough. And, if you don't have a job lined up, I probably wouldn't be confident enough to just take it easy for a couple months.
  - chungleong 7y ago
    There certainly are a lot of Americans who mismanage their finances. Standard advice is to have at least six months of saving at your disposal. If you can't take a afford a break at a time of your own choosing then how are you going to cope when you get laid off during a recession?
    - ghaff 7y ago
      It's one thing to have a reserve for emergencies and another to tap into that reserve because you want to take a few months off before looking for a new job. Though absolutely nothing wrong with that if you're in the position to do so and it's a priority. But I've always taken a lot of vacation, including a number of trips up to a month while working. The one time recently when I had a job lined up I did push things out a few weeks which was just fine. The time before that was in the middle of the dot-com bubble bursting and I considered myself lucky to get something fairly quickly; it could easily have been many months+.

scarface74 7y ago

I only have a few anecdotal data points of what well paid hourly work is like in the US. But, most well paid hourly jobs with benefits etc. have some combination of: Holidays: Federal holidays where people are off and they still get paid as if they were working. Vacation: Time off work that is paid that is accrued during the time you are working. When you submit your time, you can use your vacation hours. Sick: Days that you are suppose to either be unable to work or have a dependent (or spouse) that you need to take care of. Depending on the company, they can require doctor’s notes. Many companies lump sick and vacation as “paid time off”. Companies usually have paid bereavement leave. I’ve worked as a contractor occasionally with none of these types of time off, but fortunately, I am in a position to adjust my rate accordingly. Even when I was in college and working retail we had some type of minimum holiday pay.

ok_coo 7y ago

This typically means 5 paid days off per year. The rest is maybe paid holiday that other people get like Christmas. All other days taken off are unpaid and subject to approval. This was what I got at my first office job in the US.

moonlet 7y ago

Oftentimes the lowest paid workers end up working the days everyone else has off. Heaven forbid the Walmart or the Kohl’s be closed on any holiday but basically Christmas Day.

Izkata 7y ago

Everyone else is throwing out their experiences, so since none mentioned something like mine I may as well too: Back in highschool, I worked hourly at a library for a year, and don't recall getting any paid vacation time. What I do remember is trading days with co-workers so I could get a full week off on occasion, or once just giving them my days so they got paid more that week with no pay loss another week.