Our BetterMost Community > The Holiday Forum
Celebrating the Winter Solstice
Sason:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on December 24, 2019, 01:29:50 pm ---Well, let me ask you this. How many annual days of vacation are mandated/commonly provided in Sweden? In the United States, it's common to get two weeks off (especially early in your career), plus five or so holidays, plus a few sick/family leave days. Nothing is legally mandated except family leave days. Many, many people get no paid vacation.
From what I've heard, European annual vacations are much more generous.
--- End quote ---
I don't know about the rest of Europe, it varies from country to country, but here in Sweden everone has a right to 25 paid vacation days, by law. If you don't work a full year, you'll get a proportional number of days.
Then, depending on your employer and age, you can get additional days. I work in public health care, and when I turned 40 I got another 6 days. When I turned 50 I got one more day, thus I now have 32 days of vacation. That's maximum in my field. People employed by the state have more, I don't know exactly how many. Private companies often stick with the 25 days, OTOH wages are usually higher in the private sector.
There are around 12 holidays throughout the year where most people don't work. Some of these will always fall on a weekend and hence be lost. So, roughly 8-10 free holidays a year.
Parental leave is now 15 or 18 month I think. When my son was born 32 years ago it was 9 months. It's not paid by the employer but by the social insurance, aka our taxes.
Sick leave is paid by the employer the first 2 weeks, after that by the social insurance. The employer can't restrict your number of sick leave days, but there are many rules in place by the social insurance system to try and get people back to work during a long sick leave period.
Sason:
--- Quote from: southendmd on December 24, 2019, 01:41:27 pm ---Ahem. Some people with 18 days off at xmess shouldn't be whining about the occasional "lost free day". :laugh: :laugh:
--- End quote ---
Blahblahblah ::)
brianr:
My main social networking these days is with Tripadvisor and it is always slightly amazing to us when people from the USA ask about trips to Australia and/or NZ for 2 weeks. Even worse when they want to cover both countries in the 2 weeks. I do feel sorry for them. We have to explain that Australia is much the same size as the Lower 48 states. Even with NZ, with only 2 weeks, you are best to stick to just one of the islands.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Sason on December 25, 2019, 02:33:22 pm ---I don't know about the rest of Europe, it varies from country to country, but here in Sweden everone has a right to 25 paid vacation days, by law. If you don't work a full year, you'll get a proportional number of days.
Then, depending on your employer and age, you can get additional days
--- End quote ---
Well, suffice to say that in this country it’s worse in every imaginable way. None of it is government mandated, a huge portion of the population gets zero paid vacation, holidays, parental or sick leave. Most poor people don’t have those things but neither do middle-class people with contract jobs. Even people with fancy high-paying jobs don’t necessarily have it that much better (in terms of time off) either because their jobs are demanding, they want to look dedicated or both.
Years ago I wrote a feature story about this vacation inequity. The main explanation seemed to be that Europe’s labor unions are stronger.
Penthesilea:
The lawfully minimum in Germany is 4 weeks of paid vacation time, but 6 weeks is the rule. I don't know anyone who has less than 6 weeks.
We have roundabout 14 holidays, depending on your federal country. Of those 14 holidays, 2 are always on a Sunday, thus lost. Makes around 12 holidays per year.
Like Sweden, if a holiday falls on a weekend, it is lost, no making up for it.
Christmas is three days here, too. But Christmas Eve is no official holiday. Some people have to take 1/2 day vacation time, same goes for New Year's Eve.
--- Quote from: southendmd on December 24, 2019, 01:41:27 pm ---Ahem. Some people with 18 days off at xmess shouldn't be whining about the occasional "lost free day". :laugh: :laugh:
--- End quote ---
Totally with Sonja here: blahblahblah...... ;D :laugh:
I can feel you, Sonja, regarding the Christmas holidays for the next years. Hate the calendar.
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