Had a small talk with two of my colleagues yesterday about working in the USA and they told me you guys only get about 10 days for vacation/holiday a year. Seriously I couldnīt believe that. The next thing they said is saturdays and sundays are not included. So for two weeks off youīd need 14 days. Come on, this canīt be true.

We typically get about 25-30 days over here for vacation/holiday....paid. 30 days of vacation turn out to be 6 full weeks (including Saturday and Sunday).

Just tell me this isnīt true...

Thx,
Kris

 

Some may only get only 5 days but some may get over 30 days it is whatever the employer that you are working for will allow. Also there are a lot of companies that provide a progressive vacation. You could start out with only one week (a work week over here is generally thought of as to be 40 hours or five 8 hour days) and as you work more years for the company you get more vacation. I have not ever heard of weekends being included as vacation unless those are the days that you would normally work.
I get 4 full weeks of Vacation; I have been with my employer for nearly 20 years.

 

That's only if you have a decent job, many of us get no vacation pay at all.

 

This is true especially if you are self employed

 

Well, I think self employment is the same everywhere...
But I got quite a shocking moment when I heard Saturdays and Sundays are somehow included in this 10 days a year vacation. Thankfully this isnīt true. So you better negotiate with your boss about vacation? 25-30 days is not uncommon over here, but 10 days would really stretch it.

But please give me more comments on this topic, because at the moment Iīm totally motivated to move to the US (or Canada) in the next 5-10 years.

Maybe some canucks might join this thread either

Kris

 

I have 29 years with the company and I get 5 weeks vacation, 4 Excused With Pay days, and one 'Personal Holiday' per year.
We don't get 'sick days' but we can get paid for occasional days off sick.
Depends on the circumstances........ most folks just use Excused days as sick days to keep from screwing up our evaluations.

Knock Wood..... haven't missed a work day 'sick' since 1982.

 

After 20 years at my company I get 6 weeks or 30 work days off plus 2 flex days and 11 company holidays like Christmas and 4th of July. The biggest problem I have is using them all, we are limited to 10 days carry over from one year to the next.

 

My future plans are to get a master dregree in marine geoscience and maybe move to the US. Would it be OK for me to have "only" 10-20 days off? Difficult question as I like my 28 days for vacation right now. But for the next five years I wonīt have any real vacation due to my studies anyway.

Life isnīt easy

 

OK, but CamperAndy and Shovelhead, you might not be the "normal" person who is just beginning a new job.

 

Most companies will give the 'important' holidays off per year, I think it's around 8 days.(New Years' Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and day after, Christmas Day)
But as said above, vacation time will increase with years of service. Where I have worked the general rule of thumb is one year=one week, two years=two weeks and then it may take 5-8 years to get the third week. Where I currently work, after two years we accrue one day of vacation per year after the first two years. It is now maxed out at three weeks vacation per year though.

 

Few call me normal around here. The company I work at you earn vacation on a prgressive scale

0-5 years = 2weeks (10 days)
5-10 years = 3 weeks
10-15 years = 4 weeks
15-20 years = 5 weeks
over 20 years = 6 weeks

 

The small company that I work for gives us 10 days at our one year employment anniversary and then one day per year of service. I've been there now for 13 years so I got 23 days of vacation plus 13 paid holidays and yes, we get weekends off too. I can't fault the generosity of my boss.

 

I work for myself. What the heck is a vacation. I've known some folks who have a lot of seniority with AT&T who get 5 weeks.

 

Well if you've got that kind of education then typically you will be working for a (better) company that gives you at least 21 days off a year, plus federal holidays and probably some of the local ones too, plus some flex time, sick days, etc..

While you might not be able to take all ten days at once, the federal holidays almost always fall on the day before or the day after a weekend so having a 3 or 4 day weekend would be normal, like President's Day, Memorial Day, and New Years (3 days) and 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (4 days).



Kris

 

Thank you all for your replies
That was really helpful!

Oh, and another Kris (HMX-1), rare name

Kris