Just Curious, How Long Is Your Work Day in Non-US Countries?

[Disneylvr]

This was something I was thinking about last night and was wondering how the United States compared to other countries.

My official hours are 8:30am-4:30pm as a librarian here in the United States. However, I usually have to work over that amount averaging about 45-48 hours per week. Because the library is open 7 days a week I also have to ocassionally work weekends and evenings. I am salaried and do not earn overtime. I get a 30 minute lunch (unpaid) and 2 paid 10 minute breaks for each 8 hour shift. Because I have been in this job for over 10 years now, I have earned 4 weeks of paid vacation per year.

I was just wondering what typical work hours are in Europe, Asia, Australia etc.... Do you work 5 days a week for at least 8 hours per day? Do you get paid lunch breaks? How much paid vacation time do you get per year? Is overtime pay common?

 

[Pin Wizard]

Not bad, Disneylvr! So your straight day is 7.5 hours since you have your .5 hour lunch taken out. I miss that schedule! I had it in NJ...in FL...HA! Right to work state. Booooo hisssssssssss! 8.5 hour days with .5 hour lunch. I'd be interested in hearing about other countries as well. I know we're getting ripped off on the vacation time of starting with 2 weeks...sometimes 1.

 

[KayleeUK]

My standard week is 37 hours usually over 5 day's. I get 25 day's holiday a year as well as 10.5 public/privilege day's.Lunch breaks are not paid. Currently have overtime up to 18 hours a week (10 weekday & 8 weekend) Weekday paid time and a half and weekend paid double time with travelling time/expenses and paid meal break.

 

[Disneylvr]

Originally posted by Pin Wizard
Not bad, Disneylvr! So your straight day is 7.5 hours since you have your .5 hour lunch taken out. I miss that schedule! I had it in NJ...in FL...HA! Right to work state. Booooo hisssssssssss! 8.5 hour days with .5 hour lunch. I'd be interested in hearing about other countries as well. I know we're getting ripped off on the vacation time of starting with 2 weeks...sometimes 1.

My straight day is 7.5 hours, well at least that is what I get paid for. We are technically "salaried" but get paid an hourly rate based on 37.5 hours per week. HOWEVER, I almost always have to work more hours than that each week in order to get my work done. But still not bad but I wish I didn't have to work weekends like I am today! And honestly I could use the extra pay that would come with a paid 8 hour day. Our full time workers get 2 weeks of vacation after 1 year of service, 2 weeks after 5 years and 4 weeks after 10 years.

 

[jjcollins]

9hr day here -- used to do 2x12hr days then 2x12hr nights then off for 3days lol


jj.......

 

[jana]

My DBF lives/ works in England and works 10 hr days 5 days a week. He usually doesn't have a lunch break unless taking a client out. They do provide food for the employees though.

 

[marlouwrig]

I work for an investment bank. 35 hour 5 day week covering Monday - Sunday. One hour for lunch each day unpaid.

25 days paid leave plus 8 national holiday.

If I am sick I am entitled to up to 3 months full pay and a further 3 months half pay. This is after 3 years of service. Sickness entitlement doubles when you have clocked up 5 years service

If I have to take time off work because my kids are sick I have to either take this as unpaid leave or deduct it from my holiday entitlement

 

[Tartan Tigger]

I work Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5.30pm. We have two 15 minute tea breaks and an hour for lunch each day which we are paid for.

 

[tiggerlover]

In Italy most places of business are open from 8:30/9:00 a.m. to 12:30/1:00 p.m. and then most open back up at 3:00/4:00 and are open until 7:00/8:00. Restaurants typically open at noon and close at 3:00 p.m. and then they open back up at 7:00/8:00 p.m. and are open until 1:00/2:00 a.m. Most Italians take their big meal in the afternoon and then have a nap before heading back to work. Also, most Italians stay up until midnight or later.....this probably explains their need for cappuccino and expresso!

I on the other hand work on an american military base in the post library. I am part time, 20 hours a week, I work two 8 hour days and one 4 hour day. I can eat lunch at my desk and take whatever breaks I need and they are all paid.

 

[princessmomma]

When I lived in Canada, we had a few more Stat Holidays than in the States. The biggest difference is maternity leave, are you sitting down? In Canada, a woman can take up to 1 YEAR maternity leave with approx. 60% wage paid the entire time. The father and mother can share this leave any way they like.

It was absolutely great! I can't imagine going back to work after 6 weeks of giving birth.

 

[alisonia]

My hubby has a senior position but usually works from 8-30am until about 6pm.

We take 6 weeks holiday in Orlando at our house and usually get a couple of extra days around Easter and Aug bank holiday to got to France (We used to own a wooden chalet in Brittanybut sold it last year to concentrate on Florida)

He was the only person in work between Xmas and New Year as we like to save as many holidays as possible for Florida.

 

[binny]

Originally posted by princessmomma
When I lived in Canada, we had a few more Stat Holidays than in the States. The biggest difference is maternity leave, are you sitting down? In Canada, a woman can take up to 1 YEAR maternity leave with approx. 60% wage paid the entire time. The father and mother can share this leave any way they like.

It was absolutely great! I can't imagine going back to work after 6 weeks of giving birth.

is that fairly new? I dont think we had that option when Cam was born in Calgary 8 years ago.

That would have been very nice... but Im sure it wasnt offered then!

 

[jvas]

7.30am to 4.30pm with a 1 hr lunch....I usually get to work around 5.30am tho...to take care of paperwork and get "warmed up" for the day.....

Vacation time...hmm...I have been able to accumulate (as of right now) 70 days vacation.

We leave for WDW on June 30th....
Return on July 9th..from now till then, I am taking time off here and there.....mostly 4 day weekends.....
there are only 5 weeks between now and then that I will be working a full 5 day week.....
becuase I am still accumulating vacation...when we get back home from our WDW/Cruise vacation...I will still have 9 weeks vacation.

guess I will just have to deal with it huh?..

 

[princessmomma]

binny,

Yes it was new about 3 years ago. Prior to that the maternity leave was about 6 months with pay.

 

[JDY]

I know this was for people from other countries but it looked interesting.

My contract requires that I work 200 days per year (190 school days) and that I work from 8am until 3:30 pm with a 30 minute lunch. I usually get to school at 7:30, leave around 4:00 and then work at home until 6:00 or so. I get Labor Day, 1 week in October, Wed-Fri at Thanksgiving, 2 weeks at Christmas, 1 week in the Spring (varies), Fri-Mon at Easter, Memorial Day, and June and July off. We also get 2 Personal days that must be used each year and we earn 1 sick day per month (I have 20-something saved - save enough and you can retire early).

 

[DocRafiki]

Originally posted by tiggerlover
In Italy most places of business are open from 8:30/9:00 a.m. to 12:30/1:00 p.m. and then most open back up at 3:00/4:00 and are open until 7:00/8:00. Restaurants typically open at noon and close at 3:00 p.m. and then they open back up at 7:00/8:00 p.m. and are open until 1:00/2:00 a.m. Most Italians take their big meal in the afternoon and then have a nap before heading back to work. Also, most Italians stay up until midnight or later.....this probably explains their need for cappuccino and expresso!

That sounds like my kind of schedule! I could get up that early if I had a nap in the middle of the day!

 

[doxdogy]

I work 730-330 everyday. I earn 10 hours per month of time off. It is used as either sick or vacation time. I get 7 or 8 paid holidays a year. I remember seeing a piece on paid time off on 60 Minutes years ago. It compared the amount of vacation time we get here in the USA compared to other countries. Ours was the worse. I think Australia had the best vacation "policy" for workers.

 

[Nutsy]

Ok, well it really depends on what your job is..........

When I was working I started at 8.15 & finished at 4.45 & that was Admin work.

DH used to work in the mail room (mail sorter) which was shift work.

His hours varied depending if there was overtime or not.....

But he started at 6pm & finished at 1.45am without overtime. With overtime it was 3 sometimes 4 hrs more than that.

Also, I should point out that we are from Australia.


Non shift workers have 4 weeks annual leave a year & shift workers 5 weeks a year. 5 day working week in most cases too, depending once again on what you do for a living.

 

[pogo791]

Why is it that you can't find the statistics when you need them - just a few days ago, the local paper printed comparative working hours (and total hours worked per year), with Japan having the longest, and the US close behind. In Europe, Italy was one of the countries with the shortest hours, the UK and Germany with among the longest.

As for my own country, Finland, the standard for both government and the private sector is a forty-hour week, including one hour paid lunch each day. Ten national holidays and 24 days paid leave; those of us working for the government who choose to take our annual vacation during the off-season (October through May) can use up to 36 days paid leave - which is why I'm going to Disney World in twelve days' time ...

Then there's sickness entitlement, pretty much like Marlouwrig described. (However, in Finland the sickness can be your own, or your child's.) And as Princessmomma said for Canada, we in Finland can have a year's maternity leave at 60%, divided between the mother and father in any way they choose. (And incidentally, the mother / father has the statutory right to return to the same job; none of this downgrading of your job while you're away for a year.)

 

[off2disney]

I'm salaried and work an average of 48-50 hours with a varied schedule - two 12-14 hours days, and three days that average 6 to 9 hours. We are open Wed thru Sunday, so I work most weekends and take Mon & Tues off. We close around Dec 15 until New Years Eve and take vacation then. Most holidays I work so that we don't haave to pay holiday pay to anyone hourly.