Why U.S. Vacation Policies Are So Much Worse Than Europe’s

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The United States is the only advanced economy that doesn’t guarantee workers paid time off. And nearly half of those who are offered paid vacations don’t take the days, even though roughly 80% of U.S. workers receive some sort of paid time off. In France, in contrast, the cultural norm is to take off the entire month of August. But not taking vacation could be harmful to both workers’ health and the economy. Watch the video above to learn more about the vacation story of these two cultures.

Clarification on April 24, 2023: At timecodes 01:50, 4:03 and 06:12, the title of the third chapter should be “Vacation and the economy.”

Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
01:50 — European vacation
04:03 — U.S. vacation
06:12 — Vacation and the economy

Produced and Edited by: Charlotte Morabito
Animation: Christina Locopo
Supervising Producer: Lindsey Jacobson
Additional Footage: Getty Images, Fatima Cadet-Diaby

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Why U.S. Vacation Policies Are So Much Worse Than Europe’s
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I think one important thing that CNBC missed on this video is that the US does NOT guarantee PAID SICK LEAVE like many other countries do. Therefore, people save their PTO (paid time off) for situations where they are sick and cannot come in for work instead of actual vacations.

dennismach
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I got laid off while on a honeymoon I had made managers aware of 4 months in advance. I even worked the day I got married (small ceremony in our yard). You think they'd recognize how much you prioritize them, but the one time you choose not to, they show you how nothing is ever enough. US corporations can get bent.

peanutButterJey
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My relatives back in Europe are shocked at why I only take 2 weeks at a time per year. My coworkers in the US are shocked that I take so much time off. 1 week is the norm here.

utoobia
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Managers at my company guilt trip you when you want to take time off. It’s so creepy. They even joke about you not having your job when you get back like that’s supposed to be funny. They have no social skills or empathy.

Nickgyw
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American companies lose their minds when someone requests PTO. I'm born and raised Italian, actually going home tomorrow for a week to visit family and my work was freaking out when I told them I was leaving for a lousy 9 days. Even with ample heads up (told them in February) they still can't grasp the concept of "vacation", it was the same in the Military, and every job I've had since then.

giovanni
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As a young professional, I prioritize vacationing. I’m often judged by my peers and coworkers for traveling so much. Often times I will even take unpaid leave, but at the end of the day you only have one life to live. Budget for fun and live a good life.

Panamacityboatandfish
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To me as a Swiss person this sounds so ridiculous. Just the concept that you have limited "sick days", like you are planning to get sick. In most companies in Switzerland you get 5 weeks vacation time per year + 10-12 paid holidays as far as I remember. Sick days are unlimited (as they should be) and you take your time off until you recovered. If you get a heavy disease (i.e. cancer and the likes) you are protected for up to 2 years to get your salary.

Molkepulver
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I work in the US for a German based company. I get 28 days of PTO plus weekends and holidays. They never make you feel bad for taking time off.

Marwarluigi
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Why would anyone choose to live and work in the US? Awful work conditions, practically no annual leave, no maternity or paternity leave, crumbling infrastructure and a deeply divided country. No, thanks.

knightsnight
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The pandemic brought in a lot of changes. For me the biggest impact it has on my life was realizing how toxic work culture can be here in the US. I was always working and I was absent from what should have been the most important times in my life. Never again!

Colonist
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I was a workaholic. Arrive in the dark, leave in the dark. I worked every Saturday for 7 years. Never took all of my paid vacation. Then once during a downtime between projects I took 3 weeks off to raft down the Grand Canyon, which had always been a dream of mine. That trip it changed me. After that trip I avoided long hours, took my weekends off and used every minute of my vacation time until I retired early at age 61 15 years later. No regrets.

mattcolver
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I used to work in medical sales. I took 2 weeks off in August and when I got back from vacation my boss called me into his office and fired me because I didn’t meet my monthly sales quota for the month of August. Funny thing is that if you had looked at total sales for the year and not the month, I was ahead of every other employee on the amount of product sold. Such a dumb system and till this day I feel so angry that my government allows businesses to do this to their employees with no repercussions.

whizkid
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Not just Europe’s, but much of the worlds! Here in Australia it’s typical to get 4-6 weeks of holiday a year, if not more. People often take more than one holiday a year. Not to mention we also have maternity leave and far better sick leave. It is genuinely appalling the way the US treats its workers and even more concerning that so many Americans don’t realise this

jacksonong
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Just booked a 3 week trip to Spain 🇪🇸
Not only do I use my PTO, I go all in and enjoy it the best I can. Not using your PTO is like giving back your salary 💸

euroschmau
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What CNBC gets wrong is that the feeling that you'll be fired for taking any vacation time is NOT paranoia. People are fired all the time for actually taking their vacation time. My experience working in Canada all my life is that they never want to allow more than 1 week every 6 months. If you try to take 2 weeks at once they will try their hardest to not allow it. Even when requesting only 2-3 days if it's not convient for the company they'll decline your request. Yes it depends on how the company treats their employees but you'd be shocked to find out how poorly employees are treated when trying to take a few days off.

majestic-skies
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Since a lot of low wage workers get no PTO in the US I think a lot of them just temporarily drop out of the work force when they need rest or a break or whatever. And the culture makes them feel guilty for it. It’s so depressing

trevorsebastian
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Why do you think there is so many people unhappy with their careers in America? Why do think so many turn to drugs/opioids? So many work related shootings? So many unhappy people. Bc mental health doesn’t come first in this country. It’s an after thought

yosteven
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I'm a teacher in Ireland. We are paid for all of our time off which is as follows:
All of June/July/August
2 Weeks at Christmas
2 Weeks at Easter
1 Week at Halloween
1 Week in March
That's around 19 Weeks off out of 52 Weeks in the year. Our working week is 22 hours, with my timetable this year, I finish at 2:40pm on Tuesday and Thursday and 2:10pm on Friday. We also get paid Public Holidays (Around 10 Bank Holidays)

I came from the private sector, but teaching feels like a secret that more people should know about, you start on around €40K and only takes about 5-6 years to get to €50K, you would finish at the moment (retirement age 65 Years but you can finish earlier) on around oh and Healthcare is FREE!

WORK TO LIVE PEOPLE!!!!

fixityurself
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I took 2 weeks off to go see my family, and everyone at my job lost their minds. I put my pto request almost 6 months ahead because I knew I was gonna have 3 weeks of pto, and my parents live in another country. My boss made me feel so bad for taking my vacation. Talked to everyone about how privileged I was for using my pto. I was shamed by all my coworkers, like it was a bad thing that now I feel bad taking any time off. In my line of work (retail), people never take more than a Friday - Monday (4 day weekend) off.

philipp
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I live in Germany. My company grants every employee 30 paid days off each year. Added to that are 14 paid public holidays. Some of those dates vary from year to year, some falling on a work day, some on a weekend day. In this years case there are 10 paid holidays during the week where I don't have to work. I also don't have to work on my birthday. That makes it 41 paid days off in 2023. Add to that the 104 work free weekend days and you don't have to work nearly 40% of the year - without any pay cuts.

In addition to the regular salary many Germans receive a holiday bonus in June (90% of a months salary) plus a Christmas bonus in November (a full months salary). And if you're sick, you get paid too, of course (as long as it takes to get healthy) without losing any of the paid holidays. That's why you find so many Germans in holiday regions around the globe all the time. We simply have a lot of time to travel. And most of us have enough money to travel.

Work to live, not live to work!

greenhawx