Let’s
Go On Vacation
The United States is the only technologically advanced
country that does not mandate that every employer give their workers paid
vacation time. Other countries that join
the U.S. in this sad company are less developed countries like Nepal, India and
Pakistan. There seems to be no earthly
reason for this to continue and as we can see time off can have tremendous
benefits. Fifteen days off is a luxury
and a nirvana that needs to be attained.
A smaller step should be to have vacation time for employees, full or
part-time, part of American law.
There have been several attempts to change the U.S. law but it
hasn’t gained any traction. In 2007, the
Center for Economic and Policy Research did an in depth study on the policies
of various affluent countries concerning paid vacation time.
Here are some highlights from the report.
France was the most liberal country when it came to paid
vacation for workers with a whopping 30 days off - a month of vacation time!
Austrian workers got a mandatory 22 days off with 10 days of holiday pay. England comes in a close second to France with
a generous 28 days of vacation time. On
the other hand the poor U.S. worker gets a big fat zero for government mandated
paid vacation time.
The commission found that U.S. lagged far below the average
of its European counterparts where the combined total paid vacation and paid
holiday is only 16 to Europe’s 20. It
also pointed out the disparity in providing vacation to low-income and part
time employees to those of higher income workers or workers that are employed
by large companies. Most low income
earners barely got any vacation at all.
The report found that most European countries had a minimum
20 days of vacation time. Incredibly
there were five countries that went above and beyond the mandated vacation time
off by adding a little bonus to employee’s paychecks to pay for vacation
expenses. Moreover, some countries added
vacation time for worker’s important life moments like getting married or
moving or simply engaging in local volunteer activities.
The amount of hours worked by U.S. laborers has sky-rocketed
without much to show for it. Data
provided by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics show that American workers are
400 times more productive than workers in the 1950’s. The standard of living for the workers of
today should have improved 400 times, yet most scrape by, living hand to mouth,
no matter the income level. Laborers worked harder but with no benefits to show for
it. Someone else is receiving those benefits.
Hardest hit are the low-income and low wage earners. Small businesses have no budget allocated for
basic benefits, much less paid vacation time.
Fast food and retail environments have been notoriously lacking in
providing vacation time for their part-time employees. Vacation time is accrued on the hours worked
but most part-timers don’t even meet this criteria.
As far as opposition to the mandated paid vacation time,
there are many groups that oppose the idea, saying that it’s tantamount to
socialism and that it would create a nation of lazy workers. Another opposing view was presented by
corporations that stated that regulating paid vacation time would be
unnecessary and would generate an extra expense in implementing and managing.
According
to the BLS, 80% of all U.S. workers working in the private sector get paid
vacation time, holiday pay and sick leave.
Seventy-two percent of workers get both sick leave and paid vacation
time.
Vacation
time has been used by companies as an incentive to lure prospective employees
to work for them. Talented U.S. workers
can be choosy in selecting employers especially the companies with liberal
vacation policies. Part-time employees
also receive some sort of vacation time remuneration albeit at a smaller scale.
America’s
biggest employer, the U.S. government also provides paid vacation time off, a
little less competitive than other countries, but commendable
none-the-less. Federal workers receive
13 days of paid vacation during their first three years of employment, 20 days
after three years and 26 days after 15 years of service. Unions as part of
their collective bargaining agreement has included paid vacation time in their
benefits packages.
What the U.S. has not figured out, that other countries have
found, was the multiple benefits of time off from work. Studies have found that overwork can lead to
stress, or more stress and if left unchecked can lead to major health problems
including heart attacks and strokes.
Also mandatory paid time off will be a tremendous boost for
families. Parents can now spend time
with their children without fear of losing work days and not getting paid. Workers are rejuvenated and their mental and
physical states are renewed. Even providing some kind of paid time off for part-time
employees would be a huge improvement for the employer’s bottom line where the
brightest part-timer are retained which results in less turnover and therefore
less training.
Unfortunately in this day and age of the bottom line,
workers will be asked to give more and more and more without regard to each
mental and physical state. Employees are
often scared to take time off because of the constant fear of being let go. Workers coming back from rest are more productive
and more energized in tackling work problems. Working days on end, employees
are more susceptible to colds and flu and with their fear of taking time off,
spread their germs throughout the office and before long everyone is on leave,
paid or not. Now companies have resorted
to what is called consolidated time off.
The employee receives a set amount of paid time off and this can be used
for anything like vacation, sick day, personal leave or even jury duty. Vacation time is now lumped with other life
events and it may seem like a lot of days off but not as much as if it were
segregated.
There are bills on
the horizon that would mandate paid time off.
Even the president has weighed in urging congress to pass a Paid Leave
law that would assure at least seven days of time off for all employees,
private or government. This can only help the workforce, already overworked, to
commit to the highest level of competence and productivity.
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