US Paid Time Off Policies Are Absolutely Miserable

wow on these new changes from previous blog post

I'm moving from the UK to the US this month and the one thing I'm dreading is saying goodbye to my six weeks of paid annual leave and possibly facing starting with only 5 days a year!!! I think it's atrocious that such a powerful and free nation can't afford their employees with a minimum right to paid time off. Like someone else said earlier, I hope something changes soon.

I am somewhat bewildered after reading these posts. What kinds of businesses do most of you work for? I am a (retired) small employer (lawyer) and had at most 1 partner and 4 employees (most long term). Our business was busy and non-seasonal and subject to the demands/whims of clients and courts/judges. We all got 2 weeks vacation. Which had to be planned well in advance to accommodate busy schedules. We didn't have a policy on sick days. If you were sick - you were sick. Don't recall ever having an employee who was out for more than a week or two with an illness. But - if someone was going to be out for months - we would have had to replace that employee. My husband was in a similar work situation - and it was hard for us to find 2 weeks a year when we could both get away. But we managed (with a lot of planning). Note that it was impossible to work remotely back then. But - even if it was possible - it would have been impossible for us (we were in court a lot of the time - and you can't try a case remotely). My husband and I both traveled a fair amount on business. But - even when one of us had an attractive business travel destination (not often) - it was usually impossible for the other of us to tag along due to scheduling conflicts. It wasn't unusual for my husband to do a RT from Florida to California with a 1 night stay. With a court reporter for company (not me). I had similar trips (overnights to New York or Phoenix with a court reporter). If we had had children - we would have been even more limited. Because I wouldn't take a child out of school except for the very occasional day here or there just to take a discretionary trip. We didn't travel a lot together until we retired. Early. Which we were able to do in part because we worked hard - had some luck - and made a decent amount of money. FWIW - frequent flyer programs didn't really hit their stride until after we retired. When we could and did take advantage of them. Overall - as a consumer of goods and services these days - I really don't want to pay for goods and services that are produced by employees who are more interested in getting trips on points and miles and taking time off than doing their jobs. Also - I don't want to pay more for those goods and services - because a company isn't operating "lean and mean". Which is why I'm curious what kinds of companies people here work for. Note that different policies outside the US are often the result of things other than benevolence/concerns about employee welfare/happiness. For example - many countries in Europe have been fighting high unemployment - especially youth unemployment - for years. And some countries think by limiting work hours - mandating long vacation periods - whatever - they will reduce unemployment. These policies have met with limited success IMO. Also - they don't seem to generate a large amount of flexibility in terms of when people take their vacations. If they did - more than half of France wouldn't be on vacation in August. In any event - it is impossible to generalize about many different countries with different economies and cultures. I do know that in planning an upcoming trip to Spain - I was talking about getting together with a friend in the UK. He's an IT consultant and has great flexibility in terms of his travel. His wife is a doctor who works for the NHS - and she wouldn't be able to join him because her vacation schedule is a lot more limited than his. My friend in the UK often winds up traveling alone because of his wife's work schedule (to work on his food blog). My husband and I don't care to travel alone - but I suppose that is an option for people who don't mind traveling alone. Robyn

When you leave a job and go to a new job don't give up on vacation time. If your not good at salary and vacation negotiation hire a headhunter. Never give up vacation time.

I work for a consulting company with "unlimited" vacation time. Culture is reasonably supportive provided you can fit the time into your schedule. For some people that's easy, depending on the time of year. For others, they have to plan far more carefully. You definitely *can* work remotely for some stints, though, and that seems like a fair trade off. I think the big complaint is about the lack of flexibility in many US companies' policies. I wanted to negotiate on paid time when I took the position, but they were fairly clear that's not how things worked. I spoke with the hiring manager and I'll be working remotely on most trips, which I don't mind. I don't particularly care for the "touristy" activities in foreign countries and am happy simply to be able to spend a few weekends eating foreign foods with my spouse.