How much vacation do you take?

[REWahoo]

Regular French employees get a minimum of 25 days vacation per year, plus 10 public holidays.

Indeed, the French are much more civilized than we Western barbarians...

 

[wanaberetiree]

You aren't going to like this, so I'm pulling on the flameproof suit.

There.

Regular French employees get a minimum of 25 days vacation per year, plus 10 public holidays.

I get:
- 30 days vacation, basic
- 4 extra days for my ex-pat status (because when my employer was founded in 1949, it took 1 days each way to get to your vacation destination, twice a year)
- 8 extra days every 2 years for "home leave" - but that got simplified, so now it's another 4 days a year
- 10 public holidays. But wait, there's more! We're an international organisation, with people in several countries. Some of those have more than 10 public holidays. It would be wrong for them to have more than us, right? So we all get 16 public holidays a year. If there aren't enough local holidays, or if one falls on a weekend, we get the rest off between Christmas and New Year.

Still counting? That's 54 days, where the average American probably gets 10-12 discretionary vacation days plus 10 (?) holidays.

And the worse part? Per Katsmeow, for every day I take off other than general holidays, when I get back, there are 60 e-mails waiting for an answer. It takes me a day to recover from 3 days vacation, plus half a day to recover from that day.

I try to take all of them, but DW can't always come along, and she is consuming days on regular visits to her aging parents. So I'm accumulating days. I have a 3 month final notice period, so my aim is to FIRE with 38 days in the bank from last year, 20 or so from this year (you can't carry days past August), thus saying "I'm leaving in 3 months, but don't expect to see me as from tomorrow".

Wow, I lived for 30 years in the Soviet Union and 20+ years in the US and I never had anything even close to these figures.

 

[Sarah in SC]

BigNick, I'm going to try not to hate you now. Dang!

 

[Milton]

He is already semi-retired!

 

[Prime]

I take it all. Right now I get 2 weeks a year but we can accrue up to double our yearly rate. Another year and I'll be getting 3 weeks a year. I have some banked from my early years and I use those for mental health days.

 

[BigNick]

Actually, all those days pose a real problem when trying to get a project organised.

Not only does the probability that some member of a 6-person project team will be on vacation in any give week rapidly approach one, but we also have an opposite effect, where if people also have "regular duties", they may not be able to go on vacation at the same time as their buddy. So some people have trouble taking all of their entitlement.

A few years ago it was suggested that we just close the place down for the first three weeks of August. It goes as quiet as the grave then anyway, and we've save big on A/C etc. But it got vetoed by a few senior people whose kids have left home and so want to take vacation outside the main season, when the weather in the nicer resorts is a little less hot and the prices are lower.

 

[flyfishnevada]

Well, after a few days of voting, it looks like this community uses more of their vacation then the US average of 57%. 87% members take their vacation and 13% do not.

I guess it's not too surprising, considering overall goal for most of us.

Not only do we want to FIRE, but we want to take as much time off - that is given to us - while working towards that goal. That seems like a healthly balance.

My thoughts exactly. I wonder if folks that aren't as oriented as most of us towards an early retirement take as much vacation as the poll indicates? 55-8 in favor of taking it all when I voted.

I used to take all mine. I got 21 days plus 10 holidays and 15 days of sick leave. I saved up vacation time and took it. Never had more than about three weeks saved up. I figured life was short, why not enjoy it.

As for the public vs private, I worked with a lot of private sector folks int he engineering community. I realize every industry is different, but they got pretty much what we got. They also got paid much better than we did with similar benefits. The big difference was the pension. They were on their own and many commented they would never get to retire.

On the lighter side, for a while I worked a 4-10 schedule. It was great. I traveled a lot and I worked a lot of 10 plus hour days anyway, most of it sitting on a Southwest flight. Having the extra day off was fantastic. One less day of commuting, a day to golf or fish in relative peace and quiet and another day to decompress from work. A friend in the private sector got out his calculator and began asking about my vacation and sick leave benefits, holidays, etc. He calculated I worked less than 180 DAYS a year and proclaimed me a part time employee. It was a running joke for years.

 

[FIREd]

In the past few days, DW received a letter from HR saying she absolutely needed to use up her vacation days before the end of the year. HR reminded her (quite sternly I might add) that the company was proud to offer paid vacations days to their employees and that a rested employee was healthier and more productive. So she went ahead and scheduled a 2-week break. They came back and said it wasn't a good time for it... Typical.

 

[Milton]

Typical, indeed.

Tell her to ensure that everything is well-documented, so that she has some hope of being able to carry over her entitlement to 2011 if necessary.

 

[glippy]

I use about 200% of my annual vacation. I had 4 weeks vacation, plus 2 weeks sick pay at my old job. I used it all up and took another 6 weeks off unpaid. Still not enough.

 

[rescueme]

I worked for a U.S. subsidiary of a French firm (so I'm aware of the "situation").

I had a French boss (and a small French staff), of whom I spent a week with, every four-six weeks.

So I'm aware of the perceived "inequities" in vacation time.

Just to say (to add consideration) concerning the discussion, French folks do not get a holiday (or get paid) if certain holidays fall on a weekend, unlike we in the U.S. (I say "we", but since I'm retired, every day is a holiday/vacation day).

If Christmas falls on a Saturday/Sunday? You don't get off Friday/Monday, unless you take a vacation day.

Additionally, most French folks take off the month of August. That's 4-5 weeks that you are expected to be off. I don't think most folks in the U.S. would like to be told that this is when you must take your time off.

I have my own opinions of where it is better to live (if you are still working) since I did work for multiple firms (based in the U.S. but HQ/boss/staff in Europe).

That's just my view from "this side of the pond".

OTOH, I gained a great appreciation for French wine (favorite? Cote de Rhone), along with “steak tartar” and other dishes.

My “tourist French” also allowed me/wife to vacation in the country often, in areas outside of Paris where English is not a common spoken language (of those over 30 years of age)…

 

[Milton]

Additionally, most French folks take off the month of August. That's 4-5 weeks that you are expected to be off. I don't think most folks in the U.S. would like to be told that this is when you must take your time off.

There are obvious disadvantages to that arrangement; but it least it ensures that everyone does get time off. I could certainly go for that!

 

[Meadbh]

In the past few days, DW received a letter from HR saying she absolutely needed to use up her vacation days before the end of the year. HR reminded her (quite sternly I might add) that the company was proud to offer paid vacations days to their employees and that a rested employee was healthier and more productive. So she went ahead and scheduled a 2-week break. They came back and said it wasn't a good time for it... Typical.

The reason they wanted the days used up is because they are an accrued liability and must be accounted for as such on the balance sheet. I guess when the chips were down they needed DW more than they needed a balanced budget.

 

[Orchidflower]

Worked for myself, so all I can say is: People take vacations?

 

[NW-Bound]

Being ESR, I often take break from my vacation to do my part-time work.

 

[mickeyd]

I take all 52 weeks that I am allotted. In fact, as luck would have it, I am on vacation now.

 

[beowulf]

When I was a Fed, once I built up my 240 max carry over from year to year, I had to take 26 days a year or lose them. And I wasn't going to lose them. In addition there were 13 days of sick leave a year that I only used when sick as we were able to accumulate these towards extra retirement credit. Came to almost a year. Also 10 days of holidays. Before I retired from the reserves, I was gone another 2 weeks a year. On top of that, there were 2 weeks of mandatory training a year as well as several mandatory conferences I had to attend. As my boss said, it was hard to give me long term projects, I was never there .

As a consultant working for a small company, I get 25 days of PTO (leave and SL) plus 10 holidays. I am always in the hole, which is fine with me .

One thing I never did understand is when my friends who are fully retired say they are "going on vacation." How do you "go on vacation" when your life is a perpetual vacation (one that I look forward to) ?

 

[rescueme]

One thing I never did understand is when my friends who are fully retired say they are "going on vacation." How do you "go on vacation" when your life is a perpetual vacation (one that I look forward to) ?

I agree (I'm retired). My DW still wo*ks so when we take a trip, it's a vacation for her but it's going back to wo*k for me (I hate going, but that's another story).

The term "vacation" is for the pre-retiree.

For the retiree? It's just a trip, IMHO...

 

[scrabbler1]

I agree (I'm retired). My DW still wo*ks so when we take a trip, it's a vacation for her but it's going back to wo*k for me (I hate going, but that's another story).

The term "vacation" is for the pre-retiree.

For the retiree? It's just a trip, IMHO...

Same here. For the last few years, when my dad, my ladyfriend, and I make our annual Thanksgiving week trip to my brother's place (a 200-mile drive), it is just a trip for my dad (retired for 16 years) and me (retired since 2008). We just pack up and go. But for my ladyfriend, she has to arrange months in advance to take some extra days off from F/T work, and for her it is more of a vacation than a trip for my dad and me.

 

[John Galt III]

Where I work, last year they let us take "unpaid time off" in one-week blocks. This was due to low sales volume last year. I applied for and got 2 unpaid weeks off. This is in addition to regular vacation days. I figure those well-enjoyed weeks off, even though unpaid, were a good thing, especially since I was still getting supercheap health insurance all the while.

 

[megacorp-firee]

FIREd so on perpetual vacation. ... btw, everyday's a Sunday for us FIREes

 

[BigNick]

Another interesting article about this. The reactions are good, too. One Megacorp has apparently abolished vacation days for VPs and above.

 

[kaudrey]

I pretty much use what I earn each year now, but as a Fed, I am allowed to carryover 30 days, perpetually. I have that 30 days saved up (from my younger days when I couldn't afford as many vacations), and use the rest.

 

[kcowan]

I was allowed to accumulate 8 weeks so I kept it at that, taking all the other vacation. One year they offered to pay a week if I took a week so I had 4 weeks of extra vacation with 4 weeks of extra pay. A useful combination.

Then the following year, they offered a golden handshake, and the 4 extra weeks of pay counted in their formula for pension calculations. Talk about lucking into a great settlement. They wanted me to stay but I could not afford to.

 

[Emeritus]

Most research university academics are paid on a 9. 9.5 or 10 month academic year with no paid "vacation" time built into it. On most holidays we had classes and then were allocated the holidays on days between xmas and New Year's. Critical academic meetings were normally concentrated when students were off. At our shop the vast majority of faculty worked most of the summer either teaching or on research grants. All "vacations" were unpaid. All that being said most faculty leave a few weeks "unpaid" so they can take traditional vacations. I normally took two or three weeks when we had small kids. If I had any luck we could combine it with research travel.
Since my wife is a fed it is always interesting to compare the overall salary and benefits. Unless you were a "star" If you took the same vacation as the feds you were clearly below them in salary and benefits but not by a huge amount. University stars were better paid than civil service feds but the scientists at NIH had special deals.
University faculty have always had fewer children and more working spouses than many other fields, so that may affect the lifestyle choices. In my entire career I knew only one faculty member with more than two children.