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66% of Americans say they want extended European-style vacation policies at work

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Re: 66% of Americans say they want extended European-style vacation policies at work

#121
post #94
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parents have to pay for university in Europe unless they are poor. And while there are no fees, the costs are typically between 30k and 100k per child. edit: In Germany. I‘m German and I have studied there. I should know. edit2: Someone said this comment could be interpreted as the cost per year which is not the case. This is the total cost.

What? My parents send me the child allowance ("Kindergeld") they received for me for the 6 years I was at university, plus 100 EUR/month. I also had a regular job earning 450 EUR per month, so I had around 700-800 EUR of income per month with a 240 EUR rent. Tuition was 500 EUR per semester, so around 80 EUR/month. I was health insured for free via the insurance of my parents. I had around 300-400 EUR per month for f…

Here is a realistic estimate for Munich.

A room costs minimum 350 Euros or may easily cost 1000.

Food and going out costs at least 100 Euros or healthy food 200-300.

The subway ticket at that time cost 70 per month.

There are some additional costs such as health insurance etc.

Tuition at that time was 500 per semester for me.

Spending a semester abroad as is common is usually far more expensive.

And by law your parents have to pay. You are not required to even work.

On average parents are required to finance housing and food with 930 per month.

Source: https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/geld-versicherunge...

Re: 66% of Americans say they want extended European-style vacation policies at work

#122
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reaching 50 years old, never got this American complaint about our salaries. The whole package is what matters. We work to live, not live to work.

I think Americans also are quite delusional about how low the European salaries are. Getting six figures in Europe isn't particularly hard anymore.

Europe is not one country. I live in Denmark and some of the things I have witnessed in (eastern) Germany almost felt 3rd worldish.

Re: 66% of Americans say they want extended European-style vacation policies at work

#123
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reaching 50 years old, never got this American complaint about our salaries. The whole package is what matters. We work to live, not live to work.

I think Americans also are quite delusional about how low the European salaries are. Getting six figures in Europe isn't particularly hard anymore.

I am European: our wages are much, much lower than our American tech counterparts, without taxes double, with taxes we're on average making a third of them. And that's same cost of living.

Re: 66% of Americans say they want extended European-style vacation policies at work

#124
post #87
post #4

> While the average American is lucky to get 11 vacation days WHAT? Does that count sick days as well, or is that a myth? Here in Germany, I get 30 vacation days per calendar year, plus any sick days, and thats fairly normal. Edit: Sure the absolute salaries here are lower, but the cost of living is vastly different and the social support structures and healthcare are different, too. That should definitely be kept in…

> Here in Germany, I get 30 vacation days per calendar year, plus any sick days, and thats fairly normal. Sick days are fairly normal, but "30 vacation days" is not. Only bigCo/large places offer 30(some offered 35 days too). Usual is 25(state normal) with +1-2 days extra at most places. However, sick leave is godsend, no denying.

> Usual is 25(state normal)

plus another ~10-15 days of National holidays

Re: 66% of Americans say they want extended European-style vacation policies at work

#125
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parents have to pay for university in Europe unless they are poor. And while there are no fees, the costs are typically between 30k and 100k per child. edit: In Germany. I‘m German and I have studied there. I should know. edit2: Someone said this comment could be interpreted as the cost per year which is not the case. This is the total cost.

By your logic then this is also "the cost of having a job." Nobody discusses costs like this.

If you are a parent you need to save this money and pay it. Some students sue their parents for that every year in Germany (most know they have an obligation). Google it. For the family this is a real cost.

Re: 66% of Americans say they want extended European-style vacation policies at work

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Unlimited PTO" is a red flag for me. It means that PTO will be governed by pressure, self-pressure and shame.

Also you do not get paid for leave you have accrued when you are terminated or quit.

That’s the entire reason for such policies. If it was coupled with coupled with truly top of market expectations (ie six weeks, including an annual 3 week vacation) I think it would be a fair trade off. But it often is not.

Re: 66% of Americans say they want extended European-style vacation policies at work

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have this backwards, it was explained to me that the employer cannot refuse a consecutive vacation of up to 2 weeks, not that the employee has an obligation to take it as such.

No, the employee is also required to do that by law.

The only case i encountered a rule like this was at a bank that is a customer of my employer. full-time employees must take 2 weeks of consecutive vacation and they are not permitted to access the systems in that time(for this period logins are disabled). But thats an company policy, that was introduced after an scandal.

Re: 66% of Americans say they want extended European-style vacation policies at work

#128
post #105
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no single policy that applies in all European countries. In a lot of countries there's no tuition fee (I live in one of them and went to university here), in some there's a token fee per year (a few hundred euros), and in some others students have to be fairly substantial tuition fees. Nothing close to the numbers you're quoting though. $10-20k per year is the highest I've ever heard of for public universitie…

As I said in my comment it has nothing to do with tuition fees.

Then what exactly is your point? That people require money to live? My parents spent exactly $0 on my education, as every student gets a grant of around €3000/m, and you can get a low interest student loan for the rest.

Re: 66% of Americans say they want extended European-style vacation policies at work

#129
post #4

> While the average American is lucky to get 11 vacation days WHAT? Does that count sick days as well, or is that a myth? Here in Germany, I get 30 vacation days per calendar year, plus any sick days, and thats fairly normal. Edit: Sure the absolute salaries here are lower, but the cost of living is vastly different and the social support structures and healthcare are different, too. That should definitely be kept in…

click the hyperlink in that very quoted sentence and you'll get your answer (no the figure doesn't include sick days)..

Re: 66% of Americans say they want extended European-style vacation policies at work

#130
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parents have to pay for university in Europe unless they are poor. And while there are no fees, the costs are typically between 30k and 100k per child. edit: In Germany. I‘m German and I have studied there. I should know. edit2: Someone said this comment could be interpreted as the cost per year which is not the case. This is the total cost.

BS.

Some sources:

35.000-45.000 for the Bachelor alone.

https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/geld-versicherunge... (Verbraucherzentrale, semi-public consumer protection agency)

10.000 per year:

https://m.faz.net/aktuell/finanzen/meine-finanzen/frag-den-m... (one of the top quality newspapers in Germany)

36.000 und 75.000 per child:

https://www.sparkasse.de/pk/ratgeber/bildung/studium/studien... (Sparkasse, pretty much the largest credit union)

Up to 133.000 (1851 per month):

https://www.studis-online.de/studienkosten/

But sure, believe what you want.

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