Should us Workers be Guaranteed more Vacation Time – Yes
USA Employees should be given more time off than the current standards. These standards vary all over the map and can hardly be called vacation standards. We are so far out of kilter with employers from other industrialized nations that a comparison is humorous.
Most employees from European nations routinely have 3 weeks out of the winter and 3 weeks out of the summer seasons. Additionally, many have PAID maternity leave, much more generous sick leave and injured workers provisions. Routinely, employees are granted time for weddings, funerals and other family events. The longer an employee has been with the employer in Europe, the more generous the employer is with granting time for events. Talk with any employee of the BMW plants in Germany or the wine bottling industry in France to get a glimpse of how far out of date and lagging behind this country really is when compared to Europe.
So what should be constructed to replace our ailing vacation and specialized leave structure? I like the trend seen at many employers where a number of days off are given each year and it doesn't matter if you want to see somebody married, go on a road trip to Topeka, or whatever, the days are yours. Sick leave is included and if you overuse your allotted time you slip automatically into unpaid time off. Everybody understands this up front and seems to be able to live with it reasonably well. Typically, the longer you are with these employers the more days off you earn. One manufacturing plant in the press recently, noted that entry level employee were given 30 days. Other employers have started with 15 to 30 days.After 3-5 years employment the employee usually enjoys about 60 days off.
Why is this better than the usual 2 or 3 weeks? Because it is at the discretion of the employee to utilize these days, not the employer. In fact, one part of the program somewhat criticized is the employees lack of use of the whole package each year. Employers, human resource departments, line supervisors and other management type usually prod these employers to use it or lose it. If employees overused 2 or 3 weeks, why wouldn't they fully utilize 30-60 days off when it is universally available? Good Question! Answer: They control the use of the leave time! When employees are given this range of options, the utilization of sick leave goes down and the employer loyalty goes up! A startling implication for employers here in the 21st Century!
What will happen if we continue our meager leave policies? Over time, I would suggest that the cost of employee health benefits, stress on the job, emotional content of the social side of work, cheating employers, stealing from employers, etc will continue to rise until a change is made in the attitude of employers about leave time for employees.
Should employees be guaranteed more vacation time? No! They should be given 30-60 days off each year to spend as they desire. This would be a good place to start. Employers will complain about the cost of this kind of change in policy until they see the return of more stable work patterns, less time off for illness, less time off for screwing off and fewer employee problems with stealing and cheating, etc.etc. Put the employee back in charge of maintaining their mental and physical health - it works!
