No Vacation Nation

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The US is the only developed nation that treats paid time off as a perk.

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In the US you also have the choice to work as much or as little as you want to.

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In the US you also have the choice to work as much or as little as you want to.

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Are you assuming eating and housing is simply an option?

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A culture of fear

Even for those Americans who do receive paid time off, actually taking it can prove to be a Herculean task. The overall culture of the American workplace is one where people often feel that if they dare to request vacation days, they will be stigmatised as lazy or disloyal. Many leave their earned time off on the table each year. Experts say this serves to create an imbalance in the work-life equation, rarely seen in other advanced economies.

An eye-opening survey released by careers website Glassdoor.com in April found that the average American employee who received paid time off last year had used only half of it.

Some 28% of workers told Glassdoor they feared falling behind in their work, while 17% feared losing their job. Another 19% said they didn’t take long vacations because they wanted to have an edge over the competition for a promotion.

“It’s clear the word ‘vacation’ among employers and employees doesn’t mean what it did in the past,” noted Rusty Rueff, a career and workplace expert at Glassdoor.

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Yep, a culture of fear. This so lame.

there are a few things that challenge my free-market low-regulation outlook and this is one of them.


mandated paid time-off seems like one of those things that's a net positive, but you have to figure there's some drawbacks and also a bit of a slippery slope.

businesses will have to hire more people to compensate = good

businesses will either increase price, decrease pay, or both, to compensate. in any scenario, cost of living or relative cost of living goes up = bad. have to keep in mind these countries have much more social support than we do to absorb these maladies.

the initially intangible variable at play is the overall improvement in QoL for the citizenry and they may be more productive/less sickly and businesses may experience less employee turnover, thusly saving money.

I think doing away with welfare programs entirely and just cutting everyone in the country a check might make this option a little more viable.

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Are you assuming eating and housing is simply an option?

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It's called a free market. If you want me to work a 6 day week with no vacation time at all for a year I will do it if the price is right.

Companies pay according to availability of employees.

That's why night shift workers at the hospital make more money than day shift.

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Are you assuming eating and housing is simply an option?

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The government will provide you with those if you choose not to work. Even if they don't you can provide yourself with housing and food by working just a few hours a week. You can get a room in a house for $300 a month on craigslist and can eat on $5 a day.

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In the US you also have the choice to work as much or as little as you want to.

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Are you assuming eating and housing is simply an option?

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I thought what he said was easily understandable, I don't get your response.

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how do you encourage this without legislation though?

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Doesn't really matter. I want people to lead a cultural change, not government force, every single time. Many companies in America are already doing this. People over here just aren't aware that it is popular overseas and haven't started demanding it here yet. It will eventually come.

Go ask for 4 weeks of paid vacation for being a garbage man from a non-government entity and let me know how that goes