Six weeks annual vacation time - Germany

Today I was discussing during lunch with my German collleagues about the 6 weeks Holiday which every employee is eligible in Germany. They were very curious to know about the holidays back in Asia. In Asia mostly across all countries 3 weeks is maximum which a person is eligible for holiday during a year. This is excluding the 10-12 public holidays. After coming to Germany I realized there are 6 weeks of holiday for vacation, 14 public holidays (2007 Calendar year) and if a person is sick these are not counted as holidays. So out of 12 months roughly 2 months are holidays. I dont know about the US but my friends who work told me about the maximum of 3 weeks in a year + additonal public holidays. I think the number of holidays are too many in Germany or is it common across Europe?

In what warped frame of mind could any number of holidays possible be too many?

nataras, take what you can get!! 6 weeks is great. To answer the question though, I think Germany's economy would be stronger (or even stronger) if they cut back on vacation time. What do you think?

well too many I doubt or would you turn down the offer to get 6 weeks holiday? . It also depends on how old one is and how long one has been working for the company. It is not generally 6 weeks and varies as already mentioned.

Errm, sod off!! Are you mad??

In the nicest possible way of course.

Fuck off.

In the nicest possible way of course

@ BD. Wow that was spooky. Although clearly you are more restrained than me!

Same in Italy and, as far as I know, also France.
In Ireland it's about 4 weeks, if memory helps


Jain
People on vacation create good business for tourism, for example. Also, one could argue that if people are well rested and recharged from the holiday they are more productive when they go back to work.

Actually, stateside 3 weeks would not be a maximum. Technically there is no legal requirement to give any, 2 is average, and alot of larger companies would work on an accrual basis.

Depends on your outlook on life. Frankly I don't want to live just to work and prefer to have as much time free as possible.

I work to enable me to live. Wow that just sounded really good

@ yanksavage. I think the holiday has got nothing much to do with economy.
@ barbett. I agree with his point. It creates good business for Tourism. Regarding the point of rested. It is just psychological and does not matter in my view point...

Is this a wind up?

well, not yet!!

But do people in some Asian countries actually get the holiday they're eligible for?

Xinhua News Agency:


http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/May/167390.htm


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article...RTICLE_ID=25567

I don't totally disagree. All the employee benefits we get in German makes us very expensive to employ which can potentially scare companies away from coming to Germany. It also (arguably) means German companies are not as competitive on the Global market because their costs are just too high in comparison.

Not that I don't love having 6 weeks holiday, just trying to look at things objectively.

Hm. Actually, the legal minimum is 24 days, including Saturdays. In other words, four, not six weeks.

24 days is one day short of 5 weeks, not 4.

In the States, the longer you work for a company, usually the more vacation time you get. I had to work for 5 years for one company to get an extra 5 days (bringing me up to 3 weeks) of vacation.

With all the school and religious holidays in April, May and June - things were pretty slow around my office. Now it is August and, again, it is very slow. September will be quiet again because, well, it's Oktoberfest time and then again in December, because it's Christmas, then again in February because it's Fasching. Honestly, I think it is ridiculous. I love the vacation, of course, but, yes people would be much more productive if they would actually work a full week for 4 weeks straight.

Need to differentiate between Productivity and Attendance.

6 weeks is nice mmmm.

here in australia i currently get 4 weeks a year, 3 point something hours a week that usually makes around 4 weeks. extra 2 weeks a year would be great ! - wouldnt mind that at all.

The 6 week holiday is all a con if you ask me. Looks nice on a contract, but really its overweighed by the shitty corporate environment that has developed and led to us working more and more hours per week. Somebody I know had to sign an agreement to work 42 hours, instead of the "normal" 40 in a company after a threat to move operations to eastern Europe (or as I like to call it, western Russia). 42?!? This is nuts. 35 hours a week should be max, but its creeping up and up and up. Don't take a genius to work out that the equivalent hours of an extra working day per week adds up quiiiiiite a lot over a year.

The original poster of this thread is presumably from Asia, seeing as he/she wrote "back in Asia". I'll tell you what, instead of occupying your mind with thoughts of "too much holiday here", have a look at the difference in income tax, and bitch about that instead.

How about this wacky theory:
in corporate environments, everyone is trying to prove his indispensablity by creating problems only he can solve, instead of actually getting something done. Therefor everyday an employee is on vacation, the productivity grows.

Entrepreneurs and self-employed dont vacation that much. Even in germany I know some that work six days a week, from 7am to 10pm and havent had more than one week of christmas vacation for years.

mmm not sure, but in India we get 21 days (that's four weeks) annual leave excluding the 10-12 public holidays and sick leaves.

Are you nucking futs or what?
Get over it and learn to relax. Life is too short to work all the time.

This is about the only occasion when the "Get a life" jibe could be justified.

Sorry, I must be dim but I really don't get this. If you work five days a week then four weeks amount to 20 days off, so where does the extra day come from? Do you usually also work one Saturday a month or something?

You could add to that definition someone who claims something was said when no one said it oder?

Could you kindly point us in the direction of who said that?

Come on Kay, Cant you ignore that 1 day? well 4.2 weeks then

Not nesessarily wacky at all- in some environments you have nothing but this type of dysfunctional behavior.

ha! that is so debatable.

Actually, upon reflection i think Daffyd's view on this was correct.

Cobblers, I'm self employed and take about 8 weeks holiday a year. You can never have too many holidays, anyone who thinks otherwise is weird!

I think Germany has the right balance between work and leisure time. Many employees in the States and Asia don't even use up the meagre amount of holidays allotted to them for fear of looking like some kind of slacker.

Holidays are like pay rises and blow jobs, you can never get too many. 6wks, lovely.

The fact that this question is even being asked shows how deep this type of corporate mentality has penetrated society...

Who decided that we should work a minimum of 5 out of 7 days per week...

Is it not conceivable that we would be happier if we only had to work 4 out of the 7 days in a week?

I am very happy with my work. It is challenging and the environment is comfortable, but if i was given the choice to work for 4 days per week instead of 5, I would take it without question...

Think about it...

Maybe we live only once...

Do you really want to spend this valuable time making someone else money or would you prefer to spend your final moments on this planet feeling satisfied that you have experienced everything you wanted to?

I normally forget my login password when I return from vacation...

In UK, my company only gives 28 days for each of us, and that's including all the public holidays! Therefore if any of us wants to take a holiday, even if it's already a public holiday, we have to apply for it. Can you imagine if I am declined a holiday on the public holiday, I will have to work the day? Many of us are forced to work during Christmas, and New Years.

It's american company listed in NASDAQ, and it's a multimillion dollars reputable company. Somehow the English law allows such an arrangement.

Oh one more thing. It's my fault to sign on the dotted line without realising that the 28 days holiday included public holidays. I have worked there for 4 years, and I am used to the limited holidays I have.

i have 28 days including bank holidays too

You mean you only get 3 weeks(15 days) holiday? Or do you not get 13 public holidays, like Bavaria, in Berlin? You're in the wrong job.

I get 0 days paid vacation.

lovely.

To answer the question, 4 weeks should be standard...6 weeks after a few years of service

i get 20 plus standard UK bank holidays, i picked a job that deals with UK companies but in this town im lucky to have a job and its easy so thats ok

oh my god, the 6 week vacation deal is great. Most U.S. companies you don't get any vacation for the first year and after the first year you get like a week. Bank of America wasn't bad though. You got 2 weeks your first year and you could purchase a 3rd week. Once I changed departments I got a 4th week but the kicker is you couldn't take all four weeks at the same time. You had to split it up. the max was 2 weeks. And if you were out sick or whatever they docked the pay that you missed because of the sick time if you took all 4 vacation weeks at the end of the year. Sucked.

Almost forgot mine this morning...but totally had to get a new PIN number for my EC card. Could not remember the number for the life of me!

Ask me today and I will tell you that it is no where near enough. I need three months just to recuperate from the last three weeks.

I assume that we're talking about "paid vacation" on this thread.

As a contractor, I can take as much or as little vacation as I want, but I don't get paid for time off.

I read several articles on the web about this recently. It seems that the US is the only industrialized country not to have a minimum vacation time. Average vacation per years is around 10 days. Japan, for example has significantly more than that (both in vacatian granted and actually taken, if I remember right, it was around 25 days), Europe still a little more than Japan.

If you look at the GDP per hours worked and not per capita you find that there is little difference between the US and Germany (I have heard from other sources, that the GDP per worked hour is higher in Germany, though). That means that if you just look and the economy and the per head salary then there is a payoff for more vacation. This, of course raises the question what a strong eonomy is supposed to do for the people.

You also have to look at the fudged hours. In both Germany and the US there is a lot of unreported overtime, but who has more I don't know. If I had to guess, then I would say the US.