Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#121

Post by 9_11-inside_job » Mon, May 23, 2011, 4:20 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #74

[deleted]

There have been an enormous increase in people productivity since the days of your grandfather and father, due to computers, cell phones, way better batteries, better machines, better chemicals, etc. What your father could accomplish in a year, you can do in a month. That's the reason competitive economies, like those in Scandinavia, can give employes 25-30 or more days of vacation per year. The payment received during vacation is higher than the regular.

The problem in US is that the majority of profits from the increased productivity went to the CEOs and the major share owners. Taxes paid by rich people have been decreasing constantly in the last 50 years.

Every study I've seen shows that people taking 2 weeks or so vacation are more productive than people who take no vacation.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#122

Post by dmm » Mon, May 23, 2011, 4:22 PM UTC

k3dz wrote: post #105

joss82 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here it is, and it's awesome: http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/2007/02/two-weeks-vaca...

you can do that only if you are a senior dev.. what do junior devs, recent college grads do?

Live on less than half of your net(take-home) pay and save the rest. Now for every month that you work, you are also saving a month's worth of living expenses. After two years of this you have two years of fuck you money. Two years is enough time to learn python or something else significant.

Your savings can last even longer if you get a $10/hr job such as waiting tables part-time.

Work daily on developing marketable skills. Work daily on communicating how your work impacts the business you're in. Imagine your boss asks you tomorrow, "Why shouldn't I fire you right now?". What would you say?

Always have a resume prepared.

Once you have done this you can go up to your boss and tell her you are taking two months off and you won't care what she says in reply.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#123

Post by huherto » Mon, May 23, 2011, 4:22 PM UTC

jasonkester wrote: post #117

leftnode wrote: post #9

There is a good article from another software developer around here who told his boss he was taking a 3 month vacation. He made the point the business needed him more than he needed it; he was a competent developer and could easily get work, didn't have any living/large financial dependencies. At first I thought it was absurd, but the more I thought about it, he was absolutely correct. Take a long vacation some time.…

Wow, somebody remembers something that I wrote four years ago. Cool! And it looks like somebody below has saved me the trouble of pointing you to it.

Now leftnode has somebody to blame if the plan backfires.;-)

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#124

Post by DrCatbox » Mon, May 23, 2011, 4:24 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #74

[deleted]

From Europe here: My close friend is running his construction(!) business successfully and taking 5-6 week vacations every year plus easter and other holidays.

When most of the country sort of closes down there is not much to do for any businesses. Except relax and enjoy life.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#125

Post by marshray » Mon, May 23, 2011, 4:24 PM UTC

troels wrote: post #68

So, in the field of software engineering where competition for employees is tough, is it really still common to give only 2 or 3 weeks vacation? Would it be considered outrageous to ask for 5 or 6 weeks of vacation when interviewing for a position, in Silicon Valley?

I don't know about SV in particular, but I've worked a several tech companies over the years.

Yes, usually HR can make exceptions. But you need a good reason, like "at my current job I have 3 weeks of leave accrued, I want to not lose that if I come work for you".

But having an engineer who accrues vacation at a different rate than other employees hired under the same circumstances would be quite exceptional. It would stand out in their records and they might not have a good way to justify their decision if they were questioned about it "why is troles taking so many vacations?".

During the hiring process, it's probably not a good idea to act exceptional in the amount of vacation you plan on taking! It would be easier to negotiate on salary.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#126

Post by Kratos » Mon, May 23, 2011, 4:25 PM UTC

Why is this on HN? Please, bring back the no politics rule. If you want to talk politics on the internets, there are plenty of other sites out there.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#127

Post by stephen_g » Mon, May 23, 2011, 4:25 PM UTC

Wow, that really is incredible... I really can't imagine not being able to take a week of vacation for fear of losing my job...

Do you guys in the US get time in lieu? My job is 40 hours a week, and if you work longer than that, you can take the time off later. So working fifteen minutes longer every day lets you have another week off (paid) every year, in addition to the four weeks paid holiday you get.

And since holiday time accumulates, you are encouraged to take most of it every year.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#128

Post by ugh » Mon, May 23, 2011, 4:25 PM UTC

rb2k_ wrote: post #103

ugh wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That can’t be true. Bavarian schools, for example, have a five-week summer vacation this year and additionally eight weeks of vacation spread over the whole year (one week in spring and autumn, two weeks for Easter, Pentecost and Christmas). There are also quite a few state and federal holidays but, as you can see, vacations are already clustered around those holidays. I think there are maybe two or three additional…

As far as I remember, American school kids and students have most of the summer off (unless they go to summer school, ...)

Overall, vacation times are similar.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#129

Post by PonyGumbo » Mon, May 23, 2011, 4:26 PM UTC

bretthoerner wrote: post #99

PonyGumbo wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started a new job last year with 10 days of vacation. It wasn't until December that I learned that five of those days were mandatory for the week between Christmas and New Year's. If you had no vacation days left, it was unpaid time off.

Since this is HN, there's a pretty good chance you're an Engineer of some kind. Where are you (or what do you do?) that companies can get away with this?

I'm in the US. I work remotely for a large healthcare company. The benefits are terrible, the pay is mediocre, and there are no opportunities for advancement, but it allows me to work from home with limited oversight.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#130

Post by jdminhbg » Mon, May 23, 2011, 4:26 PM UTC

gst wrote: post #119

[deleted] wrote: post #74

[deleted]

It's not the input (= work) that counts, but the output (results) that you get. A year has 52 weeks. If I take 5 weeks of vacation per year that's 10% of the time that I have. So I will be 10% less productive (if I ignore increased productivity after vacations). For me that's a reasonable trade-off. I don't live to work, but I work to live. In addition, I suggest that you look at the per capita GDP of different count…

"If hard work would increase your output, you would expect the US to be at the top of the list."

Ceteris paribus, but ceteris are not paribus. Additionally, nominal GDP per capita is a pretty horrible way of measuring worker output; are Norwegians nearly twice as productive as Swedes, or do they live next to a gigantic source of oil?