ALT-4 Should us Workers be Guaranteed more Vacation Time – Yes
As a European, I must admit I can never get my head around the ridiculously pecuniary leave entitlements that friends of mine who live in the States are given. For a so-called "civilised" society, it seems that US citizens are treated far, far worse than people in other Western countries.
Here in England, it is illegal for workers to have less than 20 days paid holiday a year (pro-rata for those employed for less than 35 hours a week), which equates to 4 weeks a year. Most people, however, get 25 to 30 days, which is 5 or 6 weeks, and this is slightly less than those in Germany, France, Spain and most other European countries. I believe Australia and New Zealand are the same as the UK. Public Holidays, by which I mean Christmas Day, Easter Monday etc are extra, and number 8 in the UK, and slightly more in the rest of Europe.
Now I know American friends of mine are so envious of this, and yet really, our entitlements are not so generous, if you consider that there are 52 weeks in the year, so having an average of 5 weeks off is a very small part of that.
There is an old saying "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", and certainly psychological tests and studies have categorically proved that people who do not take adequate vacation time become dull and stressed, and do not perform to their full capacity in the working environment. Human beings need time with their families (especially where there are young children), and also time just to stop and smell the coffee - rest, recuperate, evaluate, travel, see a little more of the world, take stock of their lives and the world and what is going on around them. Life in a constant round of traffic jams, rush hours, and deadlines working for some employer who does not really appreciate you, is certainly not the best way to achieve those goals, and rather than making the worker fulfill their potential, it will cause them to stagnate. So instead of giving them enough time off to have them back at their desks fit and raring to go, refreshed and keen and full of new ideas for their job, they will just be a row of tired zombies.
I honestly cannot imagine how the 2 weeks that most Americans seem to have can be adequate for everything that a person has to do in the course of a year. Even if you do not travel, and cannot afford to go away on holiday, - what about "bonding time" with your children during the School holidays? And what about essential medical tests and appointments, or working on repairs and improvements in the home, let alone waiting for tradesmen to call to do repairs in the house, or going to family occasions such as funerals and weddings, and attending Meetings at your childs' School? It is impossible to fit it all in in my opinion.
So in conclusion, my view is simple. People are not robots, - they are living, breathing human beings. Of course every employer has the right to expect a good days' work for a good days' pay, but slave labour went out hundreds of years ago. The rest of the world has moved on - isn't it about time the States did the same, and treated their workers with respect, instead of using them with no thought or care for their welfare?
