In many parts of Europe, it’s common for workers to take off weeks at a time, especially during the summer. Envious Americans say it’s time for the U.S. to follow suit.
Some 66% of U.S. workers say companies should adopt extended vacation policies, like a month off in August, in their workplaces, according to a Morning Consult survey of 1,047 U.S. adults.
I think they mean 5-7 weeks paid time off in total. Mainly because a 3 week long vacation for someone in the US isn’t just problematic, for most it’s a literal impossibility. Not now, not ever. So suggesting 5+ weeks straight isn’t even on someone’s radar if they are in the US.
From what I’ve seen 5-7 is still a bit high for European countries as an average (someone correct me if my experience is too limited to be correct). But the difference is that sick leave policies seem to be much more employee friendly. In the US it is most common that PTO and sick leave are combined into a single bucket. If you have 4 weeks of PTO and are sick for 3 weeks, sorry you only have 1 week to take vacation.
So even given equal PTO buckets, usually the effective number is less for someone in the US. Our work culture sucks here.
Having a ‘sick leave’ limit is just incredibly weird. As if you could just stop being sick when the time runs out!
I mean, we do get a company/regulatory doctor assigned if we’re sick for a longer period of time, and after, like, a year you will go to a reduced insured income. But counting it as if it were discretionary does not make sense.
Yuuup. The delightful logic of US working culture.
You are absolutely right, but alas… This is how it is. You can’t get fired for being sick, but you can definitely get fired for not showing up to work for too many days in a row which can definitely happen if you’re sick. It’s very stupid and very fucked up.
I’ve been sick for like half a year or something. Full salary.