Would you mind giving your input?

[Belle041281]

As you know, America does not have any laws protecting time off for vacation time. I read that Great Britain does. Would you mind checking out this thread on the Community Board and chiming in with some of your thoughts?

I'm interested in what some of you might think on this matter.

What are your feeling on having a law that creates Mandatory Paid leave (Vacations)?


Thanks in advance.

 

[Miffy2003]

Oh my.

My personal view (and that is all it is) is that EVERYONE should be entitled to paid leave from work for at LEAST 4 weeks a year.

Now I appreciate this is not the norm in the US but in general I think we are luckier here in the UK from this perspective. Whether the leave in effect is deducted from your salary anyway I wouldn't like to say (for example, say a job pays £21k per year, perhaps if there was no annual leave associated with that job, the actual salary would be £22k). I'm not saying this is the case, but could be food for thought.

I think regardless of how much you like your job, most people need to have some time out to relax, chill out, travel or do whatever. Personally I always feel very refreshed when I have had a holiday and I'm sure I perform better at work afterwards. I know at the moment I haven't had a week off for a looong time and I feel generally a bit tired because of it. I'm sure after I've had a break I will feel and be better at work!

I am lucky enough to get 5 1/2 weeks paid holiday per year, plus however many bank holidays we get (8 per year?). I could cope with less but if I'm allowed to take it, then I will! I would feel very disgruntled to only get say 2 weeks per year which I understand is not uncommon in the US.

UKDeb posted an excellent view on the original thread and I agree with everything she said

Cheers

Karen

 

[SandraM]

I worked for a lovely Wall Street Trust Co back in 1983/84. The idea of only having 2 weeks off had me in shock (especially as I wanted to make a trip home to Ireland for Christmas), but the company made a deal with me that for any overtime I worked, I could have time off in lieu.
This suited me fine, although I would have got an extra amount per hour for overtime, I would have had to pay tax on it, but my hours off couldn't be taxed, so when a friend from home was paying a visit to NY, I could take a day off to show them around the city. For me this was a pleasure you couldn't put a price on, especially when I think back to all the people I brought up the Twin Towers.
However, that was fine short term, but I'd hate to think that two weeks off per annum was all I had to look forward to for the rest of my life!