People who go on PTO and check work messages drive me insane.
I have a coworker who wishes for a 4 day week and brings her laptop with her on vacation “just in case” and responds to tickets.
Right!? Then when I take a vacation and don’t respond to tickets my boss has a ‘talk’ with me about how much Brenda is doing for the company and how she was on her laptop every night clearing tickets. So I’m on the job when I’m being paid, I’m on the job when I’m not being paid because if I let a ticket sit for an hour cause I’m cooking dinner I’m somehow not respecting the companies time and I’m on the job when I’m on vacation. I need to be ready to jump onto my laptop at a moment’s notice for the same reason.
Oh yeah and it’s good to hear from my manager that there are over 1000 resumes sitting on his computer for the ghost job my boss keeps up just so he can say how easy we all are to replace.
And I’m expected to treat that person with the utmost respect. I hate my job, but I’d hate being homeless more so.
I don’t get it. I’m American, but I’ll wake up tomorrow, in 2025, with 6 fresh weeks of vacation/personal time, in addition to the 2+ weeks I roll over.
Nearly 30% of Europeans took more than 25 vacation days, while only 6% of Americans took that much time off according to a survey of 1,228 employees.
While the U.S. federal government doesn’t require companies to provide paid vacation to employees, they typically offer between 5 and 15 days of PTO per year.
In Portugal, workers receive at least 22 days, while those in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden get, at minimum, 25. And those living in Estonia get a whopping 28. “Employees in full-time employment on a 40-hour week are entitled to 192 hours of vacation leave per year,”
What don’t you “get”?
I “don’t get” the USA-bad generalization. There’s still good jobs with good benefits here. It may not be mandatory, but some employers actually treat their employees well.
I have worked my entire life and I have always given it my all. I have never got benefits close to most in modern Europe even though I work longer hours and I am more productive.
So sure, there are some good employers but we can’t all be making 400k a year working at Valve. For every good employer there are thousands of shitty ones.
Without the laws and protection from the government employers will always take advantage of their workers. The system is flawed because of the inherent power imbalance and everyone seems to see it but you. Once again. What don’t you “get”?
To rephrase, I “dislike” these kind of over-dramatic generalizations that are clearly written to entice an inflammatory response. And sure, 400k per year would definitely be nice.
Without the laws and protection from the government employers will always take advantage of their workers.
Always?
I appreciate you don’t like shitting on things pointlessly. I am not sure your unique personal experience (that every US employer you have had has given you six weeks paid) should discount the reality the majority of US workers face
Without laws to protect workers their rights will always be violated. What you are trying to get at is what if some benevolent entity chooses to actually care for their workers like Gabe does.
This does happen but it doesn’t stop the fact that another employer purposely underpays their employee by giving them a salary but expecting them to work additional overtime without compensation.
I bring up this example because recently the US made a rule that employers did have to pay overtime to a salaried employee which was then struck down by a judge.
Ultimately the struggle is real. US workers are some of the most productive in the world but we are not getting compensated fairly for it.
We cannot rely on goodwill at this point. Looking back on history we can see we have struggled to get the rights we already have. We must demand better to lift our fellow citizens up.
So while you don’t like shitting on things for no reason others see the reason. They aren’t getting 6 weeks and 400k. Hell they aren’t even getting 12 days and their pay makes them eligible for public assistance.
Meanwhile their company makes record profits and I pay for their food stamps through taxes. I am subsidizing employers who choose not to pay their workers what they are worth because they don’t have to.
I appreciate the civil discourse, but please don’t put words in my mouth. I never said that every US employer I’ve ever had has given me six weeks paid leave. If I remember correctly, it took me eight years at this specific employer to max out vacation time within their company. I’ve been there 11 years now. The time-off increases are all laid out in the employee handbook and applicable to everyone, from office staff to machine operators. So clearly, everyone with this amount of time isn’t making $400k, or even six-figures. In reality, I acknowledge that I make less in raw salary than peers in comparable jobs at other employers, but the benefits and company culture are nice here. If I started job hopping, I could definitely find better pay, but I’d start over on benefit accumulation and probably won’t be as happy with the job/employer in general.
Yes, I definitely used your words against you unfairly to prove how silly your original premise is. You have struggled like anyone else to get where you are although, let’s be frank, you are clearly privileged.
I don’t mean that in a rude way either, just that you probably have marketable skills with a good job history and perhaps even an education to boot.
Think about it this way. If the government guaranteed us all a good amount of vacation time you would be free to seek other better compensating employers without fear of losing that benefit.
I know healthcare in the US is also a big factor. I personally know many people who chose not to leave their job for fear of losing their coverage. I know people who had cancer but would not stop working because they could not afford to lose their coverage.
There are problems and they are very bad. So I guess I agree with you now. We shouldn’t be shitting on things pointlessly. We should be having real conversations about the issues we face.
I was joking about going to work during the Christmas break, so I could have some silence to prepare, and my new boss just looked at me sternly and said “don’t”. In Europe by the way.
This is why everyone is rooting for principled Italians.
Only fools take the whole summer off, it’s so expensive to go holiday during peak time.
Better is;
2 weeks in the spring
2 weeks in the summer
1 week in the autumn
1 week in the winter
1 week kept spare so you can have odd mid week days off or a Friday and a Monday.
Where do you get 35 vacation days? I only get 30 from my public service contract.
I’m not American.
Me neither.
Lidl UK. It’s 30 days when you join and goes up after 3 years to 35.
“I had to return to work with my bad heart because my insurance provider denied me coverage for this lifesaving procedure so I have to raise more money to pay for the procedure myself … here is my gofundme page … please give anything you can … God Bless America!”
News article: Amazing 10 year old raises money selling his hotwheels car collection to highest bidders to help pay Dad’s open heart surgery.
Breaking News: Mattel Inc has issued a cease and desist order against 10 year old marketing the company’s Hotwheels toys without their permission - family ordered to pay for damages.
