How much vacation do you get a year?

[Herman Munster]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/us/20vacation.html?ei=5094&en=265e9edef63fb163&hp=&ex=1156046400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

The Rise of Shrinking-Vacation Syndrome

SEATTLE, Aug. 19 — In August, when much of the world is hard at work trying to do nothing, Jeff Hopkins and his wife, Denise, usually take a week to chase fish in Olympic National Park — a ferry ride and two tanks of gas from here with a boat in tow. But this year, their summer vacation is dead, a victim of $3-a-gallon gas and job uncertainty.

“This is our vacation,” said Mr. Hopkins, loading up his drift boat for an evening of fishing in the city just after getting off work at the Boeing plant, where he has been employed for 15 years.

Even before toothpaste could clog an airport security line and a full tank of gas was considered an indulgence, Americans had begun to sour on the traditional summer vacation. But this summer, a number of surveys show that American workers, who already take fewer vacations than people in nearly all industrial nations, have pruned back their leisure days even more.

The Conference Board, a private research group, found that at the start of the summer, 40 percent of consumers had no plans to take a vacation over the next six months — the lowest percentage recorded by the group in 28 years. A survey by the Gallup Organization in May based on telephone interviews with a national sample of 1,003 adults found that 43 percent of respondents had no summer vacation plans.

[Greyhound]

1. Hahaha what's that?

1999 was the last time I took a real, get away from it all, turn off the cell phone, no work, vacation.

That was two weeks.

[Warpy]

2. Underpaid people who get a measly 2-3 weeks a year

are not going to bother with spending money to get somewhere they don't live just to look at a different set of walls and shops and McDonald's.

Add to that the fact that most can't manage without the overtime they get every week, and you'll find that people aren't using the vacation days they do have.

Contrast that with Europeans who get a month off and have national health so that their paychecks aren't eaten up with copays and quicker access to real vacation areas across the southern edge of the continent and you can see just another way the American worker is being shafted.

Now even the jobs that kept us alive are disappearing to the far east, replaced with retail jobs that pay even less.

Health care is a right. In countries all over the world, vacations are a right and minimum times are ENFORCED.

Only in this country are we supposed to work for the pleasure of working, live on less than it takes to live on, and die quietly if we get sick.

[rzemanfl]

3. I get a ridiculous amount. More than I can afford to take. A

hundred and seventy-six hours a year plus a personal holiday. I have like fourteen weeks banked right now and am in "use it or lose it" mode.

[hedgehog]

34. I suspect you could very easily afford to take it.

It's just that there aren't enough bodies at work to cover for you while you're gone.

[rzemanfl]

46. Well, there is that. What I meant was "go somewhere else." I can

ride my bike to a beach from my house and it is warm enough to do that most of the year. There are lots of places in Florida I have never been because the traffic is more than I care to deal with. I tend to take my vacation a day here a day there. I could not afford to take a month off and stay at a resort or hotel.

[TahitiNut]

4. Americans don't know how (or why) to vacation.

The mental/emotional health in this country is abominable. We talk a "good story" about our "wonderful national resources" but it's all about commerce and sucking up tourist dollars to offset our trade deficits - business as usual.

[wryter2000]

5. With some extra paid time off and personal holidays

I get about six weeks a year. Lately, I've been taking four of those weeks in money rather than time off. Luckily, I have lots of time saved from before when money wasn't so tight.

However, my job has gotten to the point that if I'm gone a week, my life at work is a living hell for four weeks after I get back, with everyone screaming at me about catastrophes. So, these days I only take a day here or there.

In my entire 14+ years on this job, I've only taken two weeks off once.

[mcscajun]

14. And when the time comes that they decide to outsource or offshore

your functions, all your sacrifice won't count for squat.

Vacations are essential to recharge your mental, emotional and physical states.

[wryter2000]

49. Very true of most jobs

I'm a medical legal secretary, and that requires someone on-site. Plus, I work for a company that values its employees. Very rare, and I don't take it for granted.

I'm currently looking to transfer within the organization. I wouldn't dare try going to the outside. :scared:

[mcscajun]

51. Very fortunate, indeed. And yes, stay put so long as things are good

'cause outside is a nightmare.

[ThomWV]

6. 1 Day Vacation For Every 2 Weeks Worked At The Time I Retired

A year and a half ago. So I guess that was 26 days per year, which with a 5-day work week it came out to just over 5 weeks per year. Sick leave was on top of that. There was other leave available too but most of them were unpaid.

[alfredo]

7. 365 days a year, 366 every fourth year.

Retired.

[skids]

8. Same here... unemployed. :-( n/t

[alfredo]

33. That really sucks.

[ComerPerro]

56. yeah, i also was "liberated" from my job

[JCMach1]

9. 3 Months + Muslim Religious Holidays

:)

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention they hate you for your way of life over here (oh yeah and your freedoms too)... EXTREME :sarcasm:

[shanti]

10. about 3 weeks a year

n/t

[conflictgirl]

11. Zero. I'm self-employed

I don't make a lot of money, and can't afford to take days off. In the past 12 years (when I got married in my early 20s) I have had exactly ONE vacation for fun. I wish I could afford to do it more. Most places my husband has worked have given him one or two weeks off a year, but didn't usually allow him to take all of those days in one chunk of time off.

[magellan]

45. Ditto, we run our own business

Our last vacation was a week in Sorrento, Italy. That was 8 years ago when we still lived in the UK.

One of the upsides to being self-employed is that you can take a day off when you want (or can work it in). That will never take the place of a proper get-away-and-relax vacation, especially when you're basically working every day of the week as we are, but we still consider it a perk of being our own bosses.

[conflictgirl]

53. That's exactly right

I can afford to take off a day or two here and there, but it's not the same as being able to take a week or more for a real vacation. I know quite a few other people who have started their own businesses, and after several successful years, they decide to take real relax-and-get-away types of vacations. But they also notice that doing so does impact their business. Most clients out there aren't all that understanding when you say "okay, I can work for you, but I'm taking two weeks off during these times" - many will just take their business elsewhere. A lot of it depends on the size of the business. When you're a small business, you don't always have other people who can fill in and do the work in your absence.

I LOVE working for myself, and having worked in the corporate world before, I wouldn't trade what I'm doing for almost anything else. But there are definite trade-offs - you don't get clearly defined vacation times or things like health insurance.

[ThomWV]

47. Every Self Employed Person I Know Takes Vacations Now and Then

But then most of them have failed at their first business or two. Sooner or later each of them got it right or either went to work for someone else who had figured out how to get it right.

I figure if you can't make enough to take off a couple of days now and then you'd be better off working at McDonalds or handing out the carts at Wal Mart. I have no sympathy for self-employed people who piss and moan about how hard they have it.

[conflictgirl]

52. I'm just getting started and I'm trying to make sure I DON'T fail

I'm also a full-time student and my husband's been unemployed for more than 6 months. I don't feel sorry for myself at all about it. But my business is not at a point yet where I would be very successful if I took a lot of time off. Do most of the self-employed people you know still take vacations during the early years of their business? If so, I'd love to know how they manage to swing it. I know exactly how many businesses fail, and by working hard, I'm trying to ensure that I am not one of them.

McDonalds or Walmart wouldn't pay nearly as well as what I am doing now, and in case you didn't know, those types of jobs aren't exactly known for their generous time off, either.

[magellan]

55. It's very difficult in the beginning

...in almost every way! You're basically tied to your business hand and foot until it becomes self-sustaining (whatever that means for the particular business one runs). And bearing in mind it takes 5-7 years for most start-ups to begin turning a steady profit -- that's if you do the first years right -- you aren't left with a lot of time, or cash, for holidays. Never mind the rest of your life as wife, mother, etc!

We don't feel sorry for ourselves either. We're into the 6th year of our business and have finally tweaked things so that we're starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. It was only 2 years ago that my husband had to work p/t outside the home to make ends meet. No more. In fact last month we decided we're now solvent enough to afford health insurance. But no matter how hard it's been or might get, not a month goes by that one of us doesn't say "Thank god we don't work in an office anymore!"

Not to be nosy, but does your husband lend a hand in the business? I ask because our business was originally going to be just my husband's, but with my computer and database experience we realized I could take the billing off his hands plus maintain the technology to manage our office over the internet. (Our office and the work are in the UK, but even when we still lived there that's how we ran it -- from home. Home can be anywhere now.) Plus, I'll work for free. Well, for food and the occasional cuddle. lol

Stick with it, conflictgirl. Be flexible, think outside the box, scrimp and save on every little thing to do with your business without impacting your service/product, and above all pay attention to the administration -- invoicing, payments, bookkeeping. If your accounts are a mess and you aren't staying on top of monies owed, the rest is pointless. Take it from me, the administration really is #1.

And when it gets really rough and you feel like throwing in the towel -- and you will -- re-focus on your objective. For my husband it's the money, that next payment, that keeps him going. For me it's simply the freedom of it. The idea of going back to the 9 to 5 drill and being someone else's slave lights a fire under me every time! :) And of course, the idea of a wonderful vacation one day. We'd like to do a cruise...to the Med. We're still quite a long ways from that, but it becomes more real every day.

You CAN do it!

[yorkiemommie1]

12. i work for a school district

and also have sick days. no benefits, though.

[mcscajun]

13. When employed long-term in corporate, maxed at 5 weeks; Now, NONE.

That's right, None. It took me 25 years to get those five weeks; I started out with no vacation way back when, as I was per diem worker. After 32 years, I was semi-forced out by offshoring, and now I'm an hourly worker again.

I get paid for the hours I'm at work, period. If I'm sick, No pay; If I take a day off, no pay; if there's a holiday and the office is closed on a day I'm supposed to work, no pay.

That's the world of the UNDERemployed. Part-time gigs with no benefits mean no pay unless you are THERE.
Not that this should come as any surprise, but it sure does take getting used to.

[Drum]

15. A lot, but not really "vacation"

I work in the dance field, which is seriously non-profit-world. When there is no work for us, we go on lay-off. Though it varies, the lay-off norm (for us) totals from 6-10 weeks on the average year. Unpaid. I do not customarily travel on those times, for two reasons: a)we tour plenty, so travelling is usually not what I want to do on my "off" times, and of course b)the expense generally prohibits more than a short trip per year (usually it's a family visit or a regional camping trip.)

[mnhtnbb]

16. Not enough! I can't wait for the empty nest . My job--even

though I don't "work outside the home"-- is 24/7. I pay the bills, manage the house (cleaning, upkeep, repairs), supervise a 16 year old boy with a vision impairment (will never drive), manage our investments, do the shopping/cooking/laundry, plan trips for/with my husband, take care of one 13 year old dog and 2 10 year old cats, and for the last year have been working on furnishing the house we're building in Panama (the country)which we decided to do because I did the research on what countries we should look at and found the development where the house is located and flew to Panama by myself to make the deal.

Even when my husband "retires", most of what I do I will still be doing.

[Rosemary2205]

17. Jaysus - what is Hopkins complaining for?

A Boeing salary - and probably 4 weeks paid vacation and bennies up the wazoo. Hell of a lot more than most Americans.

[MrSlayer]

18. Paid vacation? None.

But I can have as much as I like. In construction you get no paid holidays, vacation or sick days unless you are a foreman and negotiate it.

With that said I'm heading off with my family to Florida tomorrow for two weeks.

[DiverDave]

19. Nope, not since 96

eom

[LWolf]

20. I have a summer "vacation" with no vacation plans.

There's too much work to be done here, and no money for going on a "vacation."

I'm a teacher. During the school year, I do a minimum of 10 hours a day, plus some hours on weekends. That leaves me storing up chores for breaks; my "breaks" are spent doing things like repairing fences and other major clean-up and catch up on 6 acres of grass, weeds, and decaying outbuildings; summer cleaning, all the animal and people medical appointments that didn't get done during business hours; and, of course, staff development. I did 3 weeks of staff development this summer on my unpaid "vacation" time. I will spend about 2 weeks more of unpaid "vacation" doing room prep and year planning before I'm called back for the pre-opening round of meetings and paperwork. I've done eye doctor, dentist, etc.; a couple of appointments a week for general maintenance, plus a bunch of trips to the vet, and trips out from the vet and farrier. Meanwhile, at home, I've torn down fence, loaded, hauled, and unloaded 4 large trailer loads of junk out, attacked plumbing and electrical repairs, despaired over the deck, the kitchen floor, and the bathtub, all of which need replacing, hauled livestock all over the state, refurbished 2 pastures, cleaned and oiled all the tack, hauled, unloaded, and stacked 4 tons of hay with 4 more yet to do, and I'm nowhere near ready for winter. I have about 8 dead trees to take down. Two places on various roofs to patch. Yet I'm back to work Monday.

At this point, I'm usually so exhausted from all of the physical labor that I'm glad to see my classroom, where at least I don't have to pick up anymore bales of hay.

[Straight Shooter]

21. Zero. I have had one vacation in my entire working life.

It was for one week, and it was 20 years ago.

I'm self-employed. I keep saying, "Next year, next year," but it gets harder and harder to keep up.

The upside is I live in a beautiful little area in the mountains. Every morning when I go hiking is sort of like a two-hour vacation. :)

[HockeyMom]

22. Non Profit Mental Health Agency

2 weeks vacation, 3 personal days, and 12 sick days.

We need it. A lot of burnout in this field.

[gula]

23. Having been more or less self-unemployed for the last 3 years

I still manage to go away for a month or so every Dec/Jan. I will give up everything else before I cut into my travel. I guess it is a matter of priorities.

[RebelOne]

24. My employer is very generous with time off.

I get 4 weeks vacation, 10 days sick leave and 3 personal days per year, so I have no complaints. And before any holiday we are given 1/2 day off.

[tammywammy]

25. I've been with this company 2 years and I get 2 weeks

You get one week after 1 year, 2 weeks after 2 years and 3 weeks after 5 years.

I just took a week off and went on a cruise from Galveston to Puerto Progreso to Cozumel and back. :) We drove down, I paid for the 1/2 tank to Galveston and my friend paid for the 1/2 tank to get home.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

26. I am very fortunate. I 've managed a time share resort for the past eleven

years, and I get as much vacation as I want because I am always here before, during and after hurricane season, and lobster season and shrimp season. And as long as I have staff to cover for me, I can pretty much take off any other time of the year. And one of the perks I get is free (almost, just a small exchange fee) swaps with other time shares all around the world. And believe me, I am thankful for my job and appreciate it every day of my life!

[FILAM23]

27. I get

4weeks vacation, 1 week for continuing education
and 3 days bearvement leave a year.

[LWolf]

28. Paid or unpaid?

I work a contract; so many days per year, plus all the professional development required to remain current, plus whatever it takes to be prepared for day one, and to shut down the year. A contractual "day" is however long it takes to get the job done. 9-12 hours, and sometimes weekends. Are the days of the year I'm not contracted considered "vacation?"

[mentalsolstice]

29. My Rant!

I had a job in the early nineties at a university that gave its professional staff 21 days vacation and 12 days sick leave. Additionally(!), we got off between Christmas Eve and Jan. 3rd, as well as a week for spring break...what a sweet deal. Plus I was doing something I felt was important for society (disability rights). Unfortunately, I quit after 4 years as a matter of principle because of an incompetent boss. I've kicked myself in the ass everyday since then, not because of the vacation, but because of the job satisfaction.

Next job was with a bank. To sign on, they gave me 40 days sick leave, and I earned 12 days per year thereafter. For vacation, I got 10 measly days per year, if we didn't use them, we'd lose them, and our bosses tried their damnedest to get us to lose them. The first 3 years, I used three sick days (one to put a beloved pet to sleep). Nor did I take any time off during Christmas during those years. On the 4th year I was diagnosed with mono, and used a whopping 7 sick days, but not consecutively. Because of weird bank rules I was prohibited from using more than 5 days (un-consecutively) per rolling calendar year. Also in that 4th year I drew the first choice of days off for the holidays for our team. So I elected to take between Christmas Eve and Jan. 2d off. On Dec. 22nd my boss called me into his office and pointed out that I was going to be reprimanded for the sick time I'd taken off (last sick day was taken in Sept.), but I could avoid it by giving them back my remaining vacation for that year...meaning the day before my travel plans, I could cancel everything and come into work during the holidays. Interestingly, I was the only CHILDLESS member of my team, meaning my time could be split up by other members with children, who were not going to be able to take off because I got the lucky draw that year. I told him to stick it up his ass! Fortunately, I was able to quit during the new year, before they formally issued my reprimand. When I left, I had nearly 70 days of sick leave left on the books.

I really think Bush and the repubs (and their corporate supporters) are trying to turn the middle and lower class into the slave class...hey, why would we want time off?...why would we want to travel? How dare we dream of such things! We don't deserve it! Just like we don't deserve decent health care, and we don't deserve to ever think of not working until we drop dead!

[magellan]

58. That's terrible!

And from what I read, your experience seems to be the new norm. Strict sick and vacation day rules aren't the end of it; businesses are also clamping down on overtime and finding creative ways to avoid paying OT even when it's owed. And lots of people take it because they have to. They've got the message that there's little job security out there. They aren't indispensible. The alternative to sucking it up is indefinite unemployment only to score a lower paying job, if they're lucky.

The Repugs are definitely at fault here. They've created a business environment that's hostile to employees through the sucky economy, the outsourcing of jobs, and pitiful wages. It's my belief they also take the "idle hands" axiom seriously, in that if they keep as many people as possible working round the clock just to make ends meet (much less to succeed), the last thing they'll be worrying about is what the government's doing.

And surprise, surprise -- it works. But only for so long....

[B Calm]

30. Back when I had a union job I had 6 weeks, now I have 2..

[femmocrat]

31. Another teacher here....

While we do get summers off (about 8 weeks), I also use that time to take care of doctor, dental, and veterinary appointments, etc. This year I also had some additional medical and dental procedures, beyond the annual check-up schedules. And I use the rest of the time to do the things around the house that I put off for 10 months, like cleaning closets, etc. Last year, I refinished my kitchen cabinets. We have a couple of acres, so there is tons of yardwork in the warm weather. I just really enjoy being home, since it feels like I work 24/7 when school is in session.

During the school year, I do school work every night and weekend. This summer I had to attend computer classes, plan a new curriculum for my subject area, and research new lessons because I was transferred to a different level. (I have all my certification credits, so I didn't have to take any coursework, but many teachers do that in the summer.) Eight weeks sounds like a huge block of time, but it really flies by. We haven't taken a vacation in about 4 or 5 years because we don't want to board our pets.

[a kennedy]

32. I guess everyday is a day of vacation for moi......I'm retired.

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[nedbal]

40. some regret they retired, most welcome it. retirement "Experts" advise...

retire to something ( activity, social group, hobby )not just cuz you hit a certain age or can collect income. 2 of my co-workers could stay home and collect as much as they get putting in 40 hrs, one is 64/65? the other is like 84

[hedgehog]

35. Why is it corporate accounting departments are always able to

penalize someone if sick days are exceeded, but somehow paying the guy who has to give up vacation days because he is over scheduled at work is too hard to do?

[nedbal]

36. 27 days/year 25 weeks banked now, I take 3 / 4 day weekends at home

or do stuff in the local region every other week in the summer. Actually I go back to work to rest from my time off. it took me 15 years to get up to 27/year. I've already seen most of the US & eastern Canada, Spain & Martinique once , The only "vacation" that interests me is to do a cruise, never did that, but I WILL do a 10 - 15 day trans Panama canal cruise within the year I rarely in the past went to the same type of place twice.


technically my job only allows me 11 weeks banked , but they don't enforce it.

hey some co-workers use it almost as soon as they get it.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

37. 4 Weeks Vacation, 1 Floating Holiday,13 Paid Holidays, And Paid Sick.

Pretty good place.

[Catherine Vincent]

38. 25 days plus 5 days paid time off

I am blessed that I lasted 25 years at my current job.

[susanna]

39. I'm a "contract" employee...

...and have mastered the fine art of scheduling vacations around major holidays so I can actually GET ONE.

It's funny: the "full-time" folks with the same number of years at the company I work for (14 years) get four paid weeks a year. Now, keep in mind that the big sell on contracting back in the day was that you could work when YOU wanted. (Yeah - nice sell.)

Do you think, for one instant, that they want to give me four weeks VAC a year? Not on your life. They point out I'm "temporary" and I should "watch it." Yeah. After 14 years.

I take about four weeks a year, regardless. I've been calling their bluff for about 10 years and I'm still there. Not to say that won't change, but I took the VACs anyway. I had to. These people are sucking me dry.

[Godhumor]

41. Very sweet teaching gig this year

It's my 6th year teaching, but I'm starting at a school that does not want to stress new educators.

I teach 5 classes--all the same prep (i.e. I only have to make one lesson plan every 2 days)

My class sizes range from 7 to 24 (well below national average)

I am forbidden from participating in extracurriculars this year, so I do not get "overwhelemed" (This past June I took 41 people to Japan, so this will be a nice break)

I have 90 minutes of planning time every day

I get 10 sick days

I get 5 personal days

The school gets a week off around Chirstams, a week off in February, and a week off in April

Finally, this is my last year teaching, as I'm planning to go back to school full-time for my MBA. I have to say, it sounds like a great way to leave the profession, and I hope my expectations pan out.

[countingbluecars]

57. Wow.

That is definitely not the norm. You must teach in a very wealthy area.

[Godhumor]

59. Not particularly, no

Most of our students come from farming families. I just happened to get a job with the right kind of administrators.

[kineneb]

42. what is a "vacation" ?

For those of us living with low income and caring for a dialysis patient, there is no "vacation". I take breaks and sometimes get to have several hours or a day of fun, but someone needs to be in the house with Hubby at night, so I can't really leave him. There is not enough money to go anywhere, and the logistics of traveling with a dialysis patient are a nightmare. So we stay home.

[leftofthedial]

43. 52 unpaid weeks a year

[ikojo]

44. I ger approx 15 days a year...Each pay day I

get 4.xx hours.

I think Americans' reluctance to take vacation is due to the strong Calvanistic streak that says we must work, work, work. Also some people may be afraid of out of sight out of mind.

I take each and every minute they give. I may not go anywhere but I do take time off.

[Retired AF Dem]

48. Two weeks a year

after five years it goes to three weeks. One good thing my company does is it pays you for a week vacation according to the hours you average a week. So instead of being payed an average 40 hr week I get 55 hours pay for a week of vacation.

[The Anti-Neo Con]

50. 2 weeks a yr., but can't afford to go anywhere.

I'm gonna take my 2 weeks in October when the weather cools down here. I can't afford to go anywhere with energy prices so high, so I'll probably sit around the house & get some much needed R&R. I might take a trip down to the local winery for an afternoon, but that's it.

[mtnester]

54. 4 weeks a year...next August 5 weeks, however, hubby is self employed

so we have not gone anywhere since 2004. My vacations are all project vacations anymore.
Hubby works 7 days a week right now. (we just started the biz last Labor Day week)

[Bombero1956]

60. 8 weeks

32 "tours". I burn 4 tours for every 5 days off plus weekends so 2 weeks off = 14 days off, 8 days burned. Plus I get 180 hours sick-leave off a year. I bank the unused time and currently have 3300 hrs accumulated. When I retire I will sell them back to the city for $30 a day. Right now my time is worth $12,400. I get 11 holidays off too.