[txzman]

Sad - given the stress most workers are under nowadays, this is one area that still seems very archaic.

[Dick Vomer]

well here I am at 0440..in the ER. taking a break .... why doesn't the guy in the article get a job that allows him a month or two off at a time..... teacher... congressman..... actor...... writer..... or borrow money and start your own business.... or move to Sweeden. whiney little beeaaattchhes.

[Always Right]

It's no wonder so many nations on that list with a high number of days off have greater than 10% unemployment. Having employees gone more than 30 days must be a nightmare for employers. This is one of the reasons why the US is more successful than all the other nations on this list.

[this_ol_patriot]

"Is that all my life is about — working? What's the point of working all the time when all you do is work? I want to be able to appreciate it, too."

Welcome to the real world Jack, try 7 day weeks, no weekends and no holidays. Ok I get compensated for them and have 5 weeks vacation but that's after 25 years of work.

[pt17]

Sad - given the stress most workers are under nowadays, this is one area that still seems very archaic

This is really tough on people who are under a lot of stress on the job, especially those who are forced or feel compelled to put in long hours at work. More fortunate are the people who love their work and can still find time to keep their lives in balance. It isn't easy but it is doable.

[ThreePuttinDude]

Vacation shrinkage has prompted one author, Joe Robinson, to start a grassroots campaign to combat a society moving more and more toward overwork. The aim: To establish a law providing three weeks of vacation for any U.S. worker who has worked at a job for one year, and four weeks after three years.

"The idea is to make a slight shift in how vacations are perceived; that is by making them legal," says Robinson, who started his "Work to Live" campaign two years ago, lobbying for the law with Sen. Ted Kennedy and Rep. Henry Waxman in Washington D.C.

---

Now there are a couple of people who will make you want
to jump right into their cause.

Just knowing that, I'll do everything I can to fight against this whole idea.....

[Prodigal Son]

Mortellaro's company, which he declined to name, grants five vacation days to its employees after they've been working at the job more than six months. A year later, they get a total of 10 vacation days.

Sounds like a good deal to me. The last job I held in the US when I worked there, one had to amass 5 years before one had 2 weeks off. If this fellow wants a better deal- join the military. One month paid the first year. Interesting on the job travel as well.

[prairiebreeze]

5 vacation days may not be all the time off he gets. No mention of personal days, paid holidays or even sick days in the article. It may be that 5 days are allotted for vacation and the expectation is that personal days and holidays will probably be used to supplement that time.

2 weeks time off (however the days are allocated), in one year is fairly standard.

Prairie

[rmmcdaniell]

This article demonstrates the utter stupidity of Bush's plan to take issue away from the RATS. Now that the prescription drug bill is all but signed, the liberals are just moving on to their next entitlement demand. Perhaps Bush can make mandatory paid vacations the centerpiece of his 2004 re-election campaign.

[Gorzaloon]

Workplace experts say they are also noticing another trend — people going on vacation but not really leaving the office, using some of their time off to check in with the office and clients.

On vacation at a nice place, we returned to our room, only to see my bed was covered with Faxes. A manager had hunted me down and sent work to me.

When I got back I went ballistic. I invoiced the company for two days of the room, for turning it into an office. They paid and credited me two days vacation time.

The manager was transferred.

Several years later, I got a call while on vacation. "Since you are in Florida, and it is almost there, could you get a plane for Houston tomorrow?"

Response: "I DON'T NEED THIS JOB!!!!!"

Some of this stuff is merely posturing or testing an employee's limits, like a five-year-old does. There was really no pressing need for the Houston trip at all, and a phone call resolved the entire issue. They knew it, I knew it.

Now, I lie about where I am going on vacation.

For the stingy amount of time I have for vacation, to have it trashed and tampered with by a mid-level Nobody with no real authority or need to do so, is beyond an insult.

[TN4Liberty]

Many employers, including mine, give a week after six months and two weeks after a year. Many of them (not all of course) also have 7-11 paid holidays. Others have flexible work shifts, like working 4 ten hour days.

After 25 years, I have 5 weeks of vacation, but I would like to have more. If I had to find a new job, I would have a difficult time adjusting. I would, of course.

But a government regulation on minimum vacation is difficult for me to accept philosophically. Still, if every compnay was required to give (say) a minimum of 20 days off each year, companies who didn't give vacation would have have a labor cost advantage over those who did.

I'm not advocating that, only noting that it would likely take government intervention to make it work, mainly because no clever employers have realized that many new hires would prefer an additional week of vacation over a 2% salary bump.

[Jhoffa_]

Well, hell... Why don't we just give people a month off, paid vacation.

We can use tax dollars to pay the employee for the time they are off work, and we can compensate them employer a little too so they get a little something in the bargain also..

What? You say it's socialism?

BAH! After the prescription drug benefit, I thought we weren't concerned with little things like socialism, morality and Conservatism.

Heck, make it two months paid.. Think of all the votes that would buy!

[William Terrell]

Vacation? What's that, something to eat?

[mewzilla]

Ever spent any time on the job in Europe? Try getting something done on time with all the vacation and holidays you have to get around. Unbelievable. Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

You should add to this the number of paid holidays. We are at the absolute bottom of the list in that category too.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

6 years ago, when I started with my current employer, I asked for 3 weeks vacations and got it. Now, 6 years later, I still get 3 weeks vacations, like everyone else. I believe I must be with the co. for 8 years to get 4 weeks and 15+ for 5 weeks. Being a 'multinational' company, we notice that everyone else in the world has twice as many days off than we do, or more and, at least in Europe, they make just about as much as we do, or more. It's not good for the morale.

And... yes. When Europeans are on vacation, they're on vacation. They're gone.

[brewcrew]

The crux of the problem is that kids today expect to start off where their parents ended up. No sense of working one's way up through the ranks or paying one's dues.

[tdadams]

there aren't even legal guarantees of vacation time.

Oh, cry me an f***ing river. No, we do NOT need yet another law dictating the minutae of workplace rules. We do NOT need a law wresting vacation decisions away from employees and employers and into the hands of legislators and bureacrats in Washington.

"It kind of annoys me and makes me feel unfulfilled," says Mortellaro. "Is that all my life is about — working?

Wow, what a sage! Boo hoo, kid. You're 23. You've only started. At least wait until you've been working the rat race for about another 15 or 20 years before you start whining.

If you're valuable to your employer, you don't need a law to guarantee you a vacation. I took 4 consecutive weeks of vacation last year and will probably take 5 or 6 this year.

This is such a glaring example of advocacy journalism. Just the other day I was reading an article in Forbes interviewing employers and CEOs about their view of vacation. Without exception, they each said they firmly encourage employees to take time off to refresh and reenergize.

Seems like Ted Kennedy's PR hacks are working overtime to place articles like this to denigrating American companies as the big, bad, corporate slavemaster.

[RightOnline]

""It kind of annoys me and makes me feel unfulfilled," says Mortellaro. "Is that all my life is about — working? What's the point of working all the time when all you do is work? I want to be able to appreciate it, too.""

Cry me a river, kid. Haven't had a vacation in so many years I've lost track. Literally.

[TracyPA]

My niece moved to Ireland about 6 years ago. She had a hard time adjusting to their work ethic. Lunch time was two hours at the Pub.

[rabidralph]

Hmmm, an E-1 fresh out of bootcamp gets 30 days after a year. Maybe that whiney publicist should change careers.