Lack of Vacation

Posted by Mike Smith :: January 23, 2008 @ 6:50 am

In my recent post, Raising Your Hourly Wage, I discussed how you should use as much of your paid time off as possible to maximize your effective hourly pay. Looking into vacation in greater depth, I’ve found that workers in the United States are much worse off in that area than in many other developed nations.

In its report, No Vacation Nation, the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that the United States is the only country with an advanced economy that doesn’t guarantee paid vacation for its workers. Adding in the lack of government-mandated paid holidays only makes the matter worse. Nearly one in four Americans has no paid time off.

Lack of paid time off also induces a culture where taking time off is shunned. That’s why I encouraged readers to use their time off in my post. There seems to be a stigma attached to taking vacation. There shouldn’t be. It’s just that ideas that break from the status quo are sometimes viewed negatively just because they are new.

I first noticed the cultural attitude differences toward vacation when I worked in Germany. It seemed like there was always a colleague taking a vacation with his or her family. These weren’t the annual “one-week trip with the family” kind of vacations either. They were 2-month-long life-changing adventures to exotic locations. There was usually a week off before the travel for preparation as well as a week or two off to decompress afterwards before returning to work. No one had a problem with such extended vacations because everyone did it. The companies were organized to deal with interruptions in the workforce by planning delegation of work responsibilities from the start.

In addition to the minimum 24 vacation days and 10 paid holidays in Germany, we only had a 35-hour work week. Despite being salaried, every hour I worked above 35 went into my time bank that could effectively be used as vacation as well. By simply working the normal 40-hour work week I was used to, I earned 5 hours of time off each week. Imagine if employees in the US who worked 70 hours a week were entitled to 30 hours of vacation a week for their overtime!

Of course, for this one area where the United States is lacking compared to the rest of the world, it offers many opportunities that make up for it. I strongly believe that the United States is the greatest country in the world. That I live and work here proves my belief. As a global leader in so many other aspects, it’s just surprising that our country is lacking in its vacation policies. Some would argue that our lack of time off has propelled our country into the strong position that it finds itself in, and I can see that point as well.

Until such time as we have mandated paid time off, I renew my encouragement to take as much of your available time off as possible. It might not be a popular idea, but it may lead to greater satisfaction with your life, which would certainly outweigh any negative consequences. In addition to traveling with your family, you can use your time off to get your financial house in order by fine-tuning your budget, for example. You can also hone your investment strategies and try person-to-person lending on Lending Club. Making the most of your time, whether you are working or not, is always in your best interest.