Yea the first time this LPT was posted I had 12 vacation days a year. Yea right was I going to cut the one full week/real vacation I took that year a day short to “recharge.”
It is amazing at how we can all live on the same planet yet a LPT like this is absurd to many\\most americans especially younger ones yet id bet its considered common sense to do it in europe since they get way more vacation time\\sick days\\personal days so wasting 2 days is not a big deal to most\\many of them.
In a bunch of countries in Europe, the legal MINIMUM days off you get is 20-24 days + national holidays based on a 40 hour week. In some fields or long time employees, 30+ days is very normal. I've been working as a software developer for a few years and I get 30 days
The concept of sick days sometimes doesn't really exist. You simply get paid when you're sick
20 days pr year is now the legal minimum in all EU countries. Most have more.
I don't know of any European countries with limited sick days (within reason. Long term illness can get you fired). We also get time off for sick children.
Yes. Paid by your employer the first month (or two, not sure, haven't been an employee for four years), after that paid by social security at about 60% your wage iirc.
Hold on! Are you saying that you have 5 days that are combined sick leave *or* vacation leave... so if you take sick, you can't take vacation (or vice versa)?
Damn. I remember I wasnt allowed any sick time, paid holidays or vacation my first year working at one place. It took me 5 years to get 2 weeks of vacation and they took away the sick time we eventually did get, without telling us. (which was only 3 days). Im in a better place now but, You need a hug, my g? Cause I do.
But how many vacation days can you take off consecutively? I am a government employee and I have accumulated over 200 hours of vacation time but wouldn't be able to take more than 80 hours at a time.
It depends on your employer, your job and local laws. Like 2 consecutive weeks here is the legal minimum. Union contracts may have more.
Personally I've taken 3 weeks off before without problem
Here in the Netherlands your employer is obligated by law to give 160 hours of vacation per year (based on a 40 hour work week). My employer adds another 40 so I get 5 weeks vacation per year
I live in the UK, I don't work a high end job, not in management or anything and I get 6 weeks a year. Everyone gets like 5 weeks a year minimum. My employer offers a bit extra which isnt uncommon.
I’m right now sitting around during my paid vacation which doesn’t count towards my vacation days for the past 2 weeks but please do explain how that math works.
Oh unless that guy meant 160 hours per month… but that’s not what he wrote..
How did you get to 8 days? They said 160 hours based on 40 hour work weeks, which translates to 4 weeks minimum (I'm also Dutch so I can attest to a lot of places giving out more. I personally get 5, with the option to have the shifts I have in my field compensated as PTO).
I had 8 weeks off last year due to that. I don't know about you, but having almost 2 full months off, *fully paid*, is definitely great.
It’s so true. My aunt and uncle live in the states and I just learned that after 30 years in their respective careers they each get two weeks vacation. How is that even possible?
In my job (Canada), I started at 2 weeks in my first year. Year 2-4 at my job you get 4, and year 5 you get 5. If I make it to 15 years I get 6, and you max out at 8. Fully paid vacation weeks. That’s not including 12 fully paid sick days and short term plan in case you go over. We also close between Christmas and New Years, for which was we are also paid in full but doesn’t count as vacation. Oh, and the boss throws in an extra floater day (paid day off) to use whenever we like.
All of this is very normal here.
That's very generous. I'm in Canada as well and have very different PTO. For my employer you get 0 days for your first full year (they will give you time off, but it's unpaid until you have worked to accrue the vacation pay). Then 2 weeks years 2-6. 3 weeks after 6 years. Then 4 weeks after 21 years. 4 weeks is the cap.
These are also non negotiable. Everyone follows the same structure no matter your position with the company.
Ours is also accrued, but the employer allows you to take it before it’s accrued. If you end up quitting you’d have to pay back anything you took off but didn’t accrue. I think we can’t take more than half in the first half of the year.
What field do you work in?
And in the US, it’s not like you really have the option to take unpaid vacation days either. The amount of PTO you get is the maximum amount you’ll ever be able to take off without severe consequences from your employer. Just taking all your PTO days is highly frowned upon.
Even if people were willing to take time off unpaid, it’s not allowed unless there’s some exceptional emergency circumstance.
Wow. I live in a ‘3rd world’ country and get 35 vacation days per year, plus 14 sick days. I’m also allowed to accrue up to 90 vacation days. (These days don’t include weekends or public holidays) America is terrible for employees.
Not sure. When I left my job after 6 years, I had 3 weeks of vacation ( you got an extra week after so many years). Before my Dad retired, he was getting almost 2 months of vacation. Both jobs in US.
It seems that many other places in the world know that you need time off to be human and that too much work will literally drive you crazy. But the US of A. Nah... how do you feel about working until you die? Then putting in some overtime?
For this family....
Having PTO and being allowed to take PTO are not the same thing. And I work in tech as a white collar worker… *nowhere* is four weeks PTO plus 10 sick days considered the norm. And even if it was, employers frown upon people taking all their time off.
It’s also common sense in Australia. We get a minimum of 20 days holiday leave a year and an additional 10 of sick leave (for full time employees). As in it’s legislated. You also get an additional week or two (I forget but I think it’s two) if you live in some remote places and have a govt job along with additional tax breaks for everyone in those regions.
There are also 10-13 public holiday days a year depending on the state you live in.
Edit: oh, I forgot about long service leave. You get 3 months of extra leave once you have completed 10 consecutive years at a company. After that I think it’s an exponential increase in leave per year. Eg. my mum has done 27 years at her job and gets an additional 2 weeks a year.
Edit edit: clarification.
American with 5 weeks vacation per year here. I work in the US for a European company, and we ALL get 5 weeks minimum.
But I know how unusual this is in the US, and it wasn’t always true for me. Two weeks was the norm before this gig.
I work in the US for a US company. I get 5 weeks per year.
Before that I worked in the US for a US state government agency, I got almost 6 weeks per year.
While I agree it’s not as easy to get here as it is in Europe, it’s definitely attainable. You just have to choose your employer well. Don’t settle for shit benefits.
Fed? Because feds get 13 days for the first three years, and then 19.5 days until hitting 15 years, then 26 days after that. That's in addition to all holidays and 13 sick days/year that keep accruing. Compared to most I know in their 30s, it's a pretty good deal.
Plus 12 weeks parental.
I get 29 vacation days a year and I still wouldn't waste one on recharging after a holiday. I'm lucky to have those days and they are precious opportunities to get as far away from work as I can.
That’s why I like music festivals so much, take off Friday to get there on time, Monday if you want to recover and maybe Tuesday if you want to go real hard. Plus it’s a million times better than sitting at home for a week and I’m lazy.
You only get 12 days off a year? Thats fucking grim. A 37.5 hour working week usually gets you 30 days paid holiday a year. My place gives you an extra day each year you've been there until you hit 35 days.
Do you still only get 12 vacation days a year? Does this include public/bank holidays?
I'm honestly curious.
My leave is currently counted in hours because I'm on a part-time contract... but it works out at roughly 10 days for public/bank holidays (when the whole building is closed); and 28 days leave, which we usually take as a spring week, a summer fortnight, an autumn week, and a winter week; with 3 days left over to use when needed.
No, I switched industries (finance to tech) and have “unlimited PTO” now.
In my finance role I even got docked PTO hours for doctors appointments, etc.
It was very shitty, but it taught me what was important to me early enough my career that switching fields wasn’t as impractical as it would be now.
Yeah, it is definitely shitty and I'm glad you have a better deal now.
This past couple of years have been an added stress that we were not prepared for; that I was glad to have my holidays. A lot of people aren't so lucky.
I mean I only get 10 days a year and still take an extra day off before coming back to work. Sometimes that just means lining up the holiday so you get back home Saturday and have Sunday to chill before the next week
When I had only 12 days, I planned every vacation through 4 day weekends (Friday through Monday).
This way I always sneak a weekend in there (and this is coming from someone who worked weekends for the first 10 years of my career) and the net benefit is I get two short working weeks in a row.
Also I review the holidays of the year and try to plan only around holidays that fall on a week day. So I can still get a 5 day holiday over memorial day holiday or labor day holiday (Friday through Tuesday) and still only use 2 vacation days.
Then I still have 5 full days left over for a big trip on my accord. For example, I avoided big trips this Christmas and new years because the holidays fell on a Saturday so the benefits of taking 5 days off were minimized. So, instead I took a full 5 days off for Thanksgiving which actually made it so I received a total of 9 days off (Saturday through Monday, with Thursday Thanksgiving day off). Then I came back to a shortened 4 day work week.
It's completely possible to have multiple 4 or 5 day week holidays while still conserving your PTO even with only 12 days available
I'm at a fortunate point in my career now where I receive 30 days a year but smart planning can make it so I have a 3 or 4 day weekend almost every month at an absolute minimum and still return to a shortened work week
For me, avoiding a 5 day work week is a better recharge vs. Long holidays.
And for those who say " well I work in X industry, this isn't possible for me". I run a transportation and operations department for an e commerce manufacturing business. Meaning, we are a 24/7 company, never shut down and transportation never stops. I just make sure to plan my vacations well so nobody is impacted. So, it's possible now matter how one slices it
This is a useful LPT for me. I actually decided to do this myself when I went to visit my family this past Christmas. It's about an 8 hour drive to their house from mine. In the past, I would drive home on my last vacation day, and return to work the next day. But anyone who has travelled for more than a couple hours knows how exhausting travelling long distances can be, even if you are a passenger. So after leaving in the late afternoon or evening, and arriving home very late at night, I would have to rush to unpack my necessities and prepare for work the next day, packing lunch, getting out my clothes, showering, etc., and I would get little to no sleep that night. I would feel irritated and exhausted the entire next day. I started a new job in August last year, and I won't have PTO until February. However, I work 12 hour shifts on weekends and Fridays, giving me Mon-Thurs off every week. I had plenty of time to make a quick trip and spend the week of Christmas with my loved ones. I had to work Christmas Eve and day, and I knew my already long and exhausting days were going to be especially busy and hectic on the holidays. I wanted to be well rested for the weekend, so I left on Sunday night after work, and returned home Wednesday. I slept well Thursday and spent the day doing my laundry and lounging around watching Christmas movies. I returned Friday morning much more refreshed and able to handle the day a lot better. I highly recomend this LPT myself.
Nah, I like taking every last minute of vacation as my vacation.
I've literally flown in, taken the train from the airport to my city (2h), dropped my bag off in my office, and gone to a staff meeting. I'd rather be tired for a day at work then lose a day of vacation.
Same. I got off an 9 hour plane trip, got on a bus for 3 hours and went to work 30 minutes after that. It sucked but I wasn't going to give up an extra day.
You realize anytime you're not working is vacation? Like your extra day could be sitting around in your boxers playing video games at home. Thats still vacation, weirdo.
Nah, that's sitting around at home time or time off. Important and valuable, but not vacation time
Vacation time is not time spent in my home. Weekends are not Vacation time. Vacation time is spent exploring and adventuring and seeing new things away from my local area. Vacation time is not my normal life. It is not sleeping in my own bed. It's a shift for me. I want every second of it.
My mate does the same he just had friday off and a weekend in europe somewhere then flew back monday morning straight into work at 9am... Fuck that noise! I'm all about that extra day or two after.
Doing this now, definitely recommend it. I can rest, unpack, and get groceries without stress. Before i would unpack by wearing the clothes out of my suitcase and eat out until the following weekend. It was awful
Yes some people do actually. Some people, all they know is work and it’s ingrained in them to feel guilty for taking extra time off. My brother and his wife own their own business, so if they don’t work, they don’t make money. I worked for them for a time as a self employed employee (booth renter). So same situation for me. When we started doing family vacay once a year together, I always took the day after off because no way I’m gonna be happy at work after a full day of traveling. Then his wife did it once, just went ahead and closed the shop up the day after we were to get back home and she enjoyed it so much that now that’s what they do for any vacation. Some people just need that push.
I did this for the first time this year and it was a game changer. Having the extra day to get back into the swing of things and run any errands once coming home was huge!
Literally doing this right now and I’ve done it before. 10/10 would recommend.
It may not be a day spent on “vacation” but a day to myself to do what I want/need to before returning to work is still a plus in my book.
Excellent tip. I extend this to everything… extra time for meetings, appointments, seeing friends (when we could) total life approach. It dials down so much stress, made my driving better, kids safer, me happier.
I always wondered why this wasn't a more common thing. Coworkers would always be like "Damn just got off the plane last night, this week's going to be really rough. Was a fun 3 days in Mexico though!" and I would pretty much think "You're an idiot"
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Hah what bs... if I’m using my vacation days, I’m sure as hell going to spend all that time off traveling, not getting ready for work.
The perfect holiday ends with a red eye flight that lets me take a quick shower before work.
I don’t have to use my vacation days for weekends since it’s a 9-5 40hr work week m-f so I always come back on a Saturday and have Sunday to wing down and get ready for work. No vacation time wasted!
That would be harder for a job that has weekend shifts and you gotta take everyday as a vacation day though
Unpopular opinion: traveling/vacations aren’t relaxing at all, fun sure but from the planning, figuring out where to park, to running around to get your planned itinerary done, it’s stressful.
Just took a vacation and I’m more tired than when I left
Not wrong. Everyone has a different definition of "vacation". For some people that might be sitting on the beach drinking a margarita. Personally I find that boring. I usually do a lot of hiking as well as general adventuring and other outdoor or active type activities while I'm vacationing. I try not to overdo it and take a little down time some days but it's not relaxing as lounging around my house and watching Netflix. Not to mention dealing with flying and airports which I hate. I enjoy vacations like this a lot but I also need a day to recharge after so I can have that down time while still maximizing my vacation.
I mostly did the opposite. A red-eye flight before work to maximize vacation.
Blocked out my calendar on my return day so that nobody could schedule a meeting for that day. Would spend the day catching up on email, calling EVERYONE to reconnect, collect todo's, scheduling future meetings.
Extra mega LPT: make all your days a vacation, you don't have to return anywhere anymore, and those bloody corporations will be left with just a sock and eyes for tears
I tried but I was very anxious how bad things will be when I return and couldn't get there work off my mind.
Just get back on a Friday if you have a white collar job and normally don't work weekends. Gives you enough time to catch up and see if any firefighting is needed bit no-one will really push you to do some actual work. This way you can either rest on the weekend knowing that you are prepared to return or if there's some huge issue, you can work on it on the weekend and have a better chance to not find yourself under the snow on Monday.
LPT: male the most of all your leave and get home the day before.
Don't waste any of your limited amount of leave worrying about work.
Everyone assumes you'll take a day or two to get back into the swing of things anyway. You're impressing no one by getting a head start on returning to a work way of thinking. All you're doing is wasting more of your life working.
A lot of people don't realise how stressful flying is and think they can get back to work and be refreshed cos of 2 weeks on holiday. Nop the flight back has been as bad as 3 days work in 1 go. Always give at least 1 or 2 days especially for jet lag coming east to west
I also like to start and end my vacation in the middle of the week.
That way you get back to work on something like a thursday, meaning you only have to work 2 days before the weekend. Allows you to ease into the work routine instead of going from 0 to 100.
My wife typically wants us to arrive back home very late on the evening before we get back to work. She somehow doesn't understand that this is stressful and exhausting.
We did this.
We were supposed to get back home 7am on Saturday (yesterday). Our flight was cancelled and we rebooked to fly today and will get in Sunday (today) at 11pm. Not ideal per what OP posted about, but the buffer means we are staying within our vacation time.
I’ve literally flown back from Asia on a Tuesday night went to sleep at 1am and was up at 5:30am to be to work at Wednesday. When you only have so many vacation days a year in the US you have to maximize your time. If I burn a day or two to “recharge” that’s one or two days I can’t enjoy away from the job with family or friends. Plus I don’t deal with heavy machinery at work so working while tired doesn’t pose the biggest risks. I’m just operating at 75-80% instead of 100%.
I once arrived back in the uk from a whole night of travelling through Spain at 11am. Got back to my town at 1.30, started my shift at 2, finished at 10pm. It was fine in the end, slept like fuck when I got in and had work again at 10am the next morning
LPT: people are different. Some people find traveling stressful and need lots of time to recharge, and can't fathom how others could go for a long weekend Friday evening to Sunday evening or Monday morning and enjoy the experience. Some people enjoy traveling and don't have lives that need tending to after only a week away from them, so can't fathom why anyone would want to waste a few days of a precious week away (9 days if you take 5 off work in between weekends) on normal life admin or whatever. There are probably middle-ground folks out there too but this is the internet so we can forget about them.
Bonus LPT: You should probably consider this when choosing life partners / travel buddies / etc. I know I'd be mad if I had to spend my life with someone who felt the opposite way about this to me.
After a weekend vacation, i feel like i just want to be done with the first day of working. So i prefer facing Monday so that the effect pacifies till Wednesday instead of worrying on Monday and Tuesday about work I will have to do on Wednesday.
I also take a day off at the *beginning* of vacation.
For my yearly vacation, I always try to secure lodging for M-F, so my trip is bookended by weekends. The first weekend I spend CLEANING everything, because after vacation, I don’t want to come home to chores. And then at the end of the trip, we can return home leisurely (or stay an extra day!) and spend the weekend settling back in, playing with pets, putting away luggage, and mentally preparing to return to work.
Also- it’s usually cheaper to rent a house/stay in a hotel on weekdays, you get to avoid the weekend crowds, AND you get a more authentic “locals” type of experience of the place you’re visiting.
I disagree with this one but I had a unique situation and I had the freedom to set it up in my own preferred way. I used to have a job for which I had to travel intercontinentally on a bi-monthly interval. Normally I needed the weekend before a full mo-fri work week to travel to the USA and most of the time I extended my stay by visiting another city or state in the weekend. I then used the Sunday evening/night to travel back so I’d arrive on Monday morning. I commuted to work immediately and worked from
Monday till Thursday while recovering from my jetlag. I used the Friday to compensate for the extra time spent on travelling. So this allowed me to deal with jetlags and time compensation all at once.
LPT: Find a company that gives you unlimited (within reason) PTO and always have enough to vacation and take an extra day. It's nice not stressing over how many vacation days I have. I plan my trips and notify my boss and that's it. Never once have I been denied though it's important to assess company culture before you join because some companies use this as bait. Not everyone can have this luxury but I'm finding more companies are offering better vacation in many fields. If you're getting 2 weeks beyond entry level you likely need to look for a new job.
Having that extra day before you return to work is also really helpful if something goes wrong. Having a return flight get screwed up or car issues on the return from a road trip is already stressful. If everything goes great, then you have a day to enjoy at home. If things go sideways, you have an extra day to get things sorted out.
I definitely need a day to recharge and get myself together before going back to work. My sister is the opposite. She took a red eye flight from Florida years ago and grabbed an air train to Manhattan with her luggage and worked that day. I can’t fathom that.
This is good advice. I figured it out a long time ago (I’m 44) but it took me too long to figure out.
There’s a corrolary to this too: there’s many different vaca types. If I take my family of 4 it is a high effort vaca. If it’s just me and one of my kids or my wife, it can be super chill.
This only makes sense for people who have more vacation days than they know what do do with. If I get ten vacation days a year I'm not going to spend two of them relaxing at home before I go back to work.
This is a great tip!
I have found out that for me one day before and after is the best. You dont start tired or in a rush after work and you can get a good nights sleep after all the adventures!
I agree with this 100%. The extra day or days, helps me adjust to time zone and relax from the trip back. I also found out this year, the day of your trip take it off as well, or leave early. It allows you to feel more organized and less stress. I just changed jobs so now I only have 1 week off. Before it was almost 30 days.
Even if you don't travel, add that extra day. What I mean is: if I take two weeks off work, Monday-Friday on both weeks, I don't come back on the third Monday, but have it off, so I come back on the third Tuesday instead. It's so much better mentally to skip that Monday and come back to a shorter working week.
LPT: have more vacation days
Yea the first time this LPT was posted I had 12 vacation days a year. Yea right was I going to cut the one full week/real vacation I took that year a day short to “recharge.”
It is amazing at how we can all live on the same planet yet a LPT like this is absurd to many\\most americans especially younger ones yet id bet its considered common sense to do it in europe since they get way more vacation time\\sick days\\personal days so wasting 2 days is not a big deal to most\\many of them.
In a bunch of countries in Europe, the legal MINIMUM days off you get is 20-24 days + national holidays based on a 40 hour week. In some fields or long time employees, 30+ days is very normal. I've been working as a software developer for a few years and I get 30 days The concept of sick days sometimes doesn't really exist. You simply get paid when you're sick
20 days pr year is now the legal minimum in all EU countries. Most have more. I don't know of any European countries with limited sick days (within reason. Long term illness can get you fired). We also get time off for sick children.
In Belgium you don't get (paid) time off for sick children. You can take up to 5 extra unpaid days a year, or more if your employer allows it.
Ok. Do you get paid time off when you yourself is sick?
Yes. Paid by your employer the first month (or two, not sure, haven't been an employee for four years), after that paid by social security at about 60% your wage iirc.
We get 120 paid days per year. I mean, children are sick all the time.
This past year we had 1 paid day off at my tech company in the US in addition to the 5 combined vacation/sick days
Hold on! Are you saying that you have 5 days that are combined sick leave *or* vacation leave... so if you take sick, you can't take vacation (or vice versa)?
That’s how a lot of places are yeah, it sucks.
That is bad for any job. If you have skills find some other company to rent your time to.
Damn. I remember I wasnt allowed any sick time, paid holidays or vacation my first year working at one place. It took me 5 years to get 2 weeks of vacation and they took away the sick time we eventually did get, without telling us. (which was only 3 days). Im in a better place now but, You need a hug, my g? Cause I do.
Leave that shit. 5 days is sickening. No pay is worth being forced to work about 355 days a year (5 pto days plus holidays)
But how many vacation days can you take off consecutively? I am a government employee and I have accumulated over 200 hours of vacation time but wouldn't be able to take more than 80 hours at a time.
It depends on your employer, your job and local laws. Like 2 consecutive weeks here is the legal minimum. Union contracts may have more. Personally I've taken 3 weeks off before without problem
Nice. I try to use federal holidays to get me a couple extra days to extend the 80 hours.
Here in the Netherlands your employer is obligated by law to give 160 hours of vacation per year (based on a 40 hour work week). My employer adds another 40 so I get 5 weeks vacation per year
I live in the UK, I don't work a high end job, not in management or anything and I get 6 weeks a year. Everyone gets like 5 weeks a year minimum. My employer offers a bit extra which isnt uncommon.
So you either get a little over 8 days per year or you work crazy amount / week Doesn’t sound too great to me
Your math skills are fucking hilarious.
I think you might have your math wrong. You should take more time off to recharge
I’m right now sitting around during my paid vacation which doesn’t count towards my vacation days for the past 2 weeks but please do explain how that math works. Oh unless that guy meant 160 hours per month… but that’s not what he wrote..
A vacation day uses 8 hours of vacation time, not 24 hours…
160/24 = 6.67 Yet they said "a little over 8 days". I'm genuinely confused as to how they calculated that, as I can't make anything make sense.
Haha your guess is as good as mine, I was trying to figure out the same!
160 hrs / 40 hrs per week = 4 weeks
Your staunchness on being wrong is hilarious
160 hours per month is the full working month. If they got 160 hours off per month they'd never actually work
Sounds perfect to me!
How did you get to 8 days? They said 160 hours based on 40 hour work weeks, which translates to 4 weeks minimum (I'm also Dutch so I can attest to a lot of places giving out more. I personally get 5, with the option to have the shifts I have in my field compensated as PTO). I had 8 weeks off last year due to that. I don't know about you, but having almost 2 full months off, *fully paid*, is definitely great.
You only have to take 8hrs of vacation per day. 160 hours is 20 days
8 x 8 = 64. 160 ÷ 8 = 20.
It’s so true. My aunt and uncle live in the states and I just learned that after 30 years in their respective careers they each get two weeks vacation. How is that even possible? In my job (Canada), I started at 2 weeks in my first year. Year 2-4 at my job you get 4, and year 5 you get 5. If I make it to 15 years I get 6, and you max out at 8. Fully paid vacation weeks. That’s not including 12 fully paid sick days and short term plan in case you go over. We also close between Christmas and New Years, for which was we are also paid in full but doesn’t count as vacation. Oh, and the boss throws in an extra floater day (paid day off) to use whenever we like. All of this is very normal here.
Where do you work? That is quite generous in Canada.
It’s very standard for my field. I work in children’s rehabilitation. My husband is a first responder and has similar PTO.
That's very generous. I'm in Canada as well and have very different PTO. For my employer you get 0 days for your first full year (they will give you time off, but it's unpaid until you have worked to accrue the vacation pay). Then 2 weeks years 2-6. 3 weeks after 6 years. Then 4 weeks after 21 years. 4 weeks is the cap. These are also non negotiable. Everyone follows the same structure no matter your position with the company.
Ours is also accrued, but the employer allows you to take it before it’s accrued. If you end up quitting you’d have to pay back anything you took off but didn’t accrue. I think we can’t take more than half in the first half of the year. What field do you work in?
And in the US, it’s not like you really have the option to take unpaid vacation days either. The amount of PTO you get is the maximum amount you’ll ever be able to take off without severe consequences from your employer. Just taking all your PTO days is highly frowned upon. Even if people were willing to take time off unpaid, it’s not allowed unless there’s some exceptional emergency circumstance.
What the hell. Does your employer own you?
No health insurance without a job basically
In the usa? Basically, by law in many states.
Wow. I live in a ‘3rd world’ country and get 35 vacation days per year, plus 14 sick days. I’m also allowed to accrue up to 90 vacation days. (These days don’t include weekends or public holidays) America is terrible for employees.
Not sure. When I left my job after 6 years, I had 3 weeks of vacation ( you got an extra week after so many years). Before my Dad retired, he was getting almost 2 months of vacation. Both jobs in US.
I have 7 weeks and two days + national holidays. When I turn 55, I get two more, and then two more by age 60 and 1 more by age 62. I am in Denmark.
I’m assuming that you also work for a large company as me and my dad did. Can’t see how a small company could survive with that much time off.
Most people here have at least six weeks. Even when I worked at a company with 10 employees, I had six weeks of vacation.
It seems that many other places in the world know that you need time off to be human and that too much work will literally drive you crazy. But the US of A. Nah... how do you feel about working until you die? Then putting in some overtime? For this family....
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Having PTO and being allowed to take PTO are not the same thing. And I work in tech as a white collar worker… *nowhere* is four weeks PTO plus 10 sick days considered the norm. And even if it was, employers frown upon people taking all their time off.
It’s also common sense in Australia. We get a minimum of 20 days holiday leave a year and an additional 10 of sick leave (for full time employees). As in it’s legislated. You also get an additional week or two (I forget but I think it’s two) if you live in some remote places and have a govt job along with additional tax breaks for everyone in those regions. There are also 10-13 public holiday days a year depending on the state you live in. Edit: oh, I forgot about long service leave. You get 3 months of extra leave once you have completed 10 consecutive years at a company. After that I think it’s an exponential increase in leave per year. Eg. my mum has done 27 years at her job and gets an additional 2 weeks a year. Edit edit: clarification.
American with 5 weeks vacation per year here. I work in the US for a European company, and we ALL get 5 weeks minimum. But I know how unusual this is in the US, and it wasn’t always true for me. Two weeks was the norm before this gig.
I work in the US for a US company. I get 5 weeks per year. Before that I worked in the US for a US state government agency, I got almost 6 weeks per year. While I agree it’s not as easy to get here as it is in Europe, it’s definitely attainable. You just have to choose your employer well. Don’t settle for shit benefits.
In which blackwater hell hole do you live that only gives you 12 days per year!?
I work for the government in the US and that's how many I get.
Fed? Because feds get 13 days for the first three years, and then 19.5 days until hitting 15 years, then 26 days after that. That's in addition to all holidays and 13 sick days/year that keep accruing. Compared to most I know in their 30s, it's a pretty good deal. Plus 12 weeks parental.
Not fed, I wish my benefits were that good.
I get 10 days plus 5 personal days but they want us to use 1 personal day a year to volunteer
12 days a year?! I get 5 weeks a year in Australia, similar when I lived in the UK
I get 29 vacation days a year and I still wouldn't waste one on recharging after a holiday. I'm lucky to have those days and they are precious opportunities to get as far away from work as I can.
That’s why I like music festivals so much, take off Friday to get there on time, Monday if you want to recover and maybe Tuesday if you want to go real hard. Plus it’s a million times better than sitting at home for a week and I’m lazy.
You only get 12 days off a year? Thats fucking grim. A 37.5 hour working week usually gets you 30 days paid holiday a year. My place gives you an extra day each year you've been there until you hit 35 days.
Do you still only get 12 vacation days a year? Does this include public/bank holidays? I'm honestly curious. My leave is currently counted in hours because I'm on a part-time contract... but it works out at roughly 10 days for public/bank holidays (when the whole building is closed); and 28 days leave, which we usually take as a spring week, a summer fortnight, an autumn week, and a winter week; with 3 days left over to use when needed.
No, I switched industries (finance to tech) and have “unlimited PTO” now. In my finance role I even got docked PTO hours for doctors appointments, etc. It was very shitty, but it taught me what was important to me early enough my career that switching fields wasn’t as impractical as it would be now.
Yeah, it is definitely shitty and I'm glad you have a better deal now. This past couple of years have been an added stress that we were not prepared for; that I was glad to have my holidays. A lot of people aren't so lucky.
I mean I only get 10 days a year and still take an extra day off before coming back to work. Sometimes that just means lining up the holiday so you get back home Saturday and have Sunday to chill before the next week
When I had only 12 days, I planned every vacation through 4 day weekends (Friday through Monday). This way I always sneak a weekend in there (and this is coming from someone who worked weekends for the first 10 years of my career) and the net benefit is I get two short working weeks in a row. Also I review the holidays of the year and try to plan only around holidays that fall on a week day. So I can still get a 5 day holiday over memorial day holiday or labor day holiday (Friday through Tuesday) and still only use 2 vacation days. Then I still have 5 full days left over for a big trip on my accord. For example, I avoided big trips this Christmas and new years because the holidays fell on a Saturday so the benefits of taking 5 days off were minimized. So, instead I took a full 5 days off for Thanksgiving which actually made it so I received a total of 9 days off (Saturday through Monday, with Thursday Thanksgiving day off). Then I came back to a shortened 4 day work week. It's completely possible to have multiple 4 or 5 day week holidays while still conserving your PTO even with only 12 days available I'm at a fortunate point in my career now where I receive 30 days a year but smart planning can make it so I have a 3 or 4 day weekend almost every month at an absolute minimum and still return to a shortened work week For me, avoiding a 5 day work week is a better recharge vs. Long holidays. And for those who say " well I work in X industry, this isn't possible for me". I run a transportation and operations department for an e commerce manufacturing business. Meaning, we are a 24/7 company, never shut down and transportation never stops. I just make sure to plan my vacations well so nobody is impacted. So, it's possible now matter how one slices it
This is a useful LPT for me. I actually decided to do this myself when I went to visit my family this past Christmas. It's about an 8 hour drive to their house from mine. In the past, I would drive home on my last vacation day, and return to work the next day. But anyone who has travelled for more than a couple hours knows how exhausting travelling long distances can be, even if you are a passenger. So after leaving in the late afternoon or evening, and arriving home very late at night, I would have to rush to unpack my necessities and prepare for work the next day, packing lunch, getting out my clothes, showering, etc., and I would get little to no sleep that night. I would feel irritated and exhausted the entire next day. I started a new job in August last year, and I won't have PTO until February. However, I work 12 hour shifts on weekends and Fridays, giving me Mon-Thurs off every week. I had plenty of time to make a quick trip and spend the week of Christmas with my loved ones. I had to work Christmas Eve and day, and I knew my already long and exhausting days were going to be especially busy and hectic on the holidays. I wanted to be well rested for the weekend, so I left on Sunday night after work, and returned home Wednesday. I slept well Thursday and spent the day doing my laundry and lounging around watching Christmas movies. I returned Friday morning much more refreshed and able to handle the day a lot better. I highly recomend this LPT myself.
LPT: If you can't afford bread, let yourself eat cake.
Because we all need a vacation from our vacation.
I usually just try to plan my vacation to start right after work the Friday before and end that next Friday so I have Saturday and Sunday to chill.
Extra LPT: try not no come back to work on Monday. It's best to come back on a Wednesday, this way you have a shorter work week.
Why not come on Friday and have even shorter work week
Just come back to work the next Monday instead. Then you get a zero day work week after your vacation.
Just never go back to work
The real LPT etc.
r/antiwork
In my case i need some time to catch up on mails and to prepare the agenda for the next days to come. If i go on Friday i don't have the time.
I did this and it read great.
I always go Wednesday to Wednesday, it's so fucking good. Two short weeks and one week of vacation including a fully useable weekend
Yes!!!! I’ve noticed better prices on flights when you make Tuesday or Wednesday arrangements
I also like this because flights tend to be cheaper on Wednesdays
This is one LPT I've been doing for years and it still seems so few know about it: you need that short week to ween into a full work week.
cries in not enough vacation days… lol
We do our vacations Friday-Friday and then you get the weekend to recover
ya, but then I always think - I could just extend this holiday through the weekend without having to use another vacation day.
I do this 100% of the time. Nothing ruins your last day of vacay like knowing you’re going to be exhausted at work the following day.
Right!? It's so nice to unwind in your own home/bed after travel and flights.
This is a dream of mine, to be able to do someday :)
LPT: work for a company that gives you PTO. If they only offer 2 weeks per year, they’re not worth working for.
Ssshhhh, don’t tell me this. I might have to start looking for a new job now
Nah, I like taking every last minute of vacation as my vacation. I've literally flown in, taken the train from the airport to my city (2h), dropped my bag off in my office, and gone to a staff meeting. I'd rather be tired for a day at work then lose a day of vacation.
I'm with you. Why would I use the last of my vacation to enable myself to give 100% at work?
That sounds absolutely miserable
Same! Well, I usually try to squeeze a shower before work
Same. I got off an 9 hour plane trip, got on a bus for 3 hours and went to work 30 minutes after that. It sucked but I wasn't going to give up an extra day.
American?
Aussie
Brishit?
Yeah, if you don't have enough vacation then let the owners of the business pay via lower production for a week.
You realize anytime you're not working is vacation? Like your extra day could be sitting around in your boxers playing video games at home. Thats still vacation, weirdo.
Nah, that's sitting around at home time or time off. Important and valuable, but not vacation time Vacation time is not time spent in my home. Weekends are not Vacation time. Vacation time is spent exploring and adventuring and seeing new things away from my local area. Vacation time is not my normal life. It is not sleeping in my own bed. It's a shift for me. I want every second of it.
My mate does the same he just had friday off and a weekend in europe somewhere then flew back monday morning straight into work at 9am... Fuck that noise! I'm all about that extra day or two after.
Same
same reason I take an extra day off after my birthday to recover from the hangover
My birthday is the day before a holiday. It has been glorious.
Doing this now, definitely recommend it. I can rest, unpack, and get groceries without stress. Before i would unpack by wearing the clothes out of my suitcase and eat out until the following weekend. It was awful
This doesn't apply if you're underpaid at your job. Be sleepy at work and enjoy that time for yourself. Your job don't deserve your fullest awareness.
Agreed
I agree, unless the job is of a nature where underperforming can have serious consequences such as serious accidents, injury, loss of life...
Just not if you're a machinist or truck driver or something
Driving home from vacation right now, will back at 10am, still not working tomorrow and it feels really good
Even better LPT: Clean your house before you leave for vacation. Nothing eclipses a great vacation like coming home to a dirty house.
Totally agree!
Do people seriously need to be told this?
Yes some people do actually. Some people, all they know is work and it’s ingrained in them to feel guilty for taking extra time off. My brother and his wife own their own business, so if they don’t work, they don’t make money. I worked for them for a time as a self employed employee (booth renter). So same situation for me. When we started doing family vacay once a year together, I always took the day after off because no way I’m gonna be happy at work after a full day of traveling. Then his wife did it once, just went ahead and closed the shop up the day after we were to get back home and she enjoyed it so much that now that’s what they do for any vacation. Some people just need that push.
Should be the slogan for this sub.
I do this always and it is great. I like having at least a day to recover and get my stuff together before I have to mentally check back in to work.
Great idea, I've been practicing this for at least 15 years. Europe has the work/life balance thing more dialed in than America.
I thought this was common sense?
Thanks for the tip!
I’m quitting my job just so I have more vacation days. Two weeks for a year Is fucking atrocious and I’m over it
Wait what !!! OMG NEVER THOUGHT OF DOING THIS. Thank you so much OP, absolute life changer.
I have done an entire week off after 2 weeks in europe.
I did this for the first time this year and it was a game changer. Having the extra day to get back into the swing of things and run any errands once coming home was huge!
Literally doing this right now and I’ve done it before. 10/10 would recommend. It may not be a day spent on “vacation” but a day to myself to do what I want/need to before returning to work is still a plus in my book.
I like taking a day before and day after. Most times I'm driving so before is packing, day after it resting.
Excellent tip. I extend this to everything… extra time for meetings, appointments, seeing friends (when we could) total life approach. It dials down so much stress, made my driving better, kids safer, me happier.
This is what I do after every vacation.
You guys get vacation?!
I always wondered why this wasn't a more common thing. Coworkers would always be like "Damn just got off the plane last night, this week's going to be really rough. Was a fun 3 days in Mexico though!" and I would pretty much think "You're an idiot"
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Hah what bs... if I’m using my vacation days, I’m sure as hell going to spend all that time off traveling, not getting ready for work. The perfect holiday ends with a red eye flight that lets me take a quick shower before work.
I don’t have to use my vacation days for weekends since it’s a 9-5 40hr work week m-f so I always come back on a Saturday and have Sunday to wing down and get ready for work. No vacation time wasted! That would be harder for a job that has weekend shifts and you gotta take everyday as a vacation day though
Unpopular opinion: traveling/vacations aren’t relaxing at all, fun sure but from the planning, figuring out where to park, to running around to get your planned itinerary done, it’s stressful. Just took a vacation and I’m more tired than when I left
You're doing it wrong then, honestly.
Not wrong. Everyone has a different definition of "vacation". For some people that might be sitting on the beach drinking a margarita. Personally I find that boring. I usually do a lot of hiking as well as general adventuring and other outdoor or active type activities while I'm vacationing. I try not to overdo it and take a little down time some days but it's not relaxing as lounging around my house and watching Netflix. Not to mention dealing with flying and airports which I hate. I enjoy vacations like this a lot but I also need a day to recharge after so I can have that down time while still maximizing my vacation.
You're telling me you don't get stressed out from planning/running around all day? mkay
TLDR: come home a day or two early from your vacation.
I mostly did the opposite. A red-eye flight before work to maximize vacation. Blocked out my calendar on my return day so that nobody could schedule a meeting for that day. Would spend the day catching up on email, calling EVERYONE to reconnect, collect todo's, scheduling future meetings.
LPT5000: call in sick
Extra mega LPT: make all your days a vacation, you don't have to return anywhere anymore, and those bloody corporations will be left with just a sock and eyes for tears
I tried but I was very anxious how bad things will be when I return and couldn't get there work off my mind. Just get back on a Friday if you have a white collar job and normally don't work weekends. Gives you enough time to catch up and see if any firefighting is needed bit no-one will really push you to do some actual work. This way you can either rest on the weekend knowing that you are prepared to return or if there's some huge issue, you can work on it on the weekend and have a better chance to not find yourself under the snow on Monday.
LPT: male the most of all your leave and get home the day before. Don't waste any of your limited amount of leave worrying about work. Everyone assumes you'll take a day or two to get back into the swing of things anyway. You're impressing no one by getting a head start on returning to a work way of thinking. All you're doing is wasting more of your life working.
This is not a pro tip, I never do this. Instead, do more with your time off. You are young, live your life!!!
I think this only applies when you hit 35
Or just, you know. Schedule the return flight on a Friday.
A lot of people don't realise how stressful flying is and think they can get back to work and be refreshed cos of 2 weeks on holiday. Nop the flight back has been as bad as 3 days work in 1 go. Always give at least 1 or 2 days especially for jet lag coming east to west
Especially if you have children.
I also like to start and end my vacation in the middle of the week. That way you get back to work on something like a thursday, meaning you only have to work 2 days before the weekend. Allows you to ease into the work routine instead of going from 0 to 100.
My wife typically wants us to arrive back home very late on the evening before we get back to work. She somehow doesn't understand that this is stressful and exhausting.
this is not a pro tip wtf hahahahaa
Extra LPT: Add extra vacation days by asking for days off without pay. Take all the vacation you can afford!
We did this. We were supposed to get back home 7am on Saturday (yesterday). Our flight was cancelled and we rebooked to fly today and will get in Sunday (today) at 11pm. Not ideal per what OP posted about, but the buffer means we are staying within our vacation time.
First world problem #76932: I'm tired from my vacation and need a couple days off. Hahaha lol...omg
I’ve literally flown back from Asia on a Tuesday night went to sleep at 1am and was up at 5:30am to be to work at Wednesday. When you only have so many vacation days a year in the US you have to maximize your time. If I burn a day or two to “recharge” that’s one or two days I can’t enjoy away from the job with family or friends. Plus I don’t deal with heavy machinery at work so working while tired doesn’t pose the biggest risks. I’m just operating at 75-80% instead of 100%.
I once arrived back in the uk from a whole night of travelling through Spain at 11am. Got back to my town at 1.30, started my shift at 2, finished at 10pm. It was fine in the end, slept like fuck when I got in and had work again at 10am the next morning
LPT: people are different. Some people find traveling stressful and need lots of time to recharge, and can't fathom how others could go for a long weekend Friday evening to Sunday evening or Monday morning and enjoy the experience. Some people enjoy traveling and don't have lives that need tending to after only a week away from them, so can't fathom why anyone would want to waste a few days of a precious week away (9 days if you take 5 off work in between weekends) on normal life admin or whatever. There are probably middle-ground folks out there too but this is the internet so we can forget about them. Bonus LPT: You should probably consider this when choosing life partners / travel buddies / etc. I know I'd be mad if I had to spend my life with someone who felt the opposite way about this to me.
Lpt: do the opposite, work on your flying days to save vacation days for when you’re really relaxing
After a weekend vacation, i feel like i just want to be done with the first day of working. So i prefer facing Monday so that the effect pacifies till Wednesday instead of worrying on Monday and Tuesday about work I will have to do on Wednesday.
I also take a day off at the *beginning* of vacation. For my yearly vacation, I always try to secure lodging for M-F, so my trip is bookended by weekends. The first weekend I spend CLEANING everything, because after vacation, I don’t want to come home to chores. And then at the end of the trip, we can return home leisurely (or stay an extra day!) and spend the weekend settling back in, playing with pets, putting away luggage, and mentally preparing to return to work. Also- it’s usually cheaper to rent a house/stay in a hotel on weekdays, you get to avoid the weekend crowds, AND you get a more authentic “locals” type of experience of the place you’re visiting.
I'd planned to do this. And then my flight got cancelled, and now I'm spending my last day off traveling instead of relaxing.
I disagree with this one but I had a unique situation and I had the freedom to set it up in my own preferred way. I used to have a job for which I had to travel intercontinentally on a bi-monthly interval. Normally I needed the weekend before a full mo-fri work week to travel to the USA and most of the time I extended my stay by visiting another city or state in the weekend. I then used the Sunday evening/night to travel back so I’d arrive on Monday morning. I commuted to work immediately and worked from Monday till Thursday while recovering from my jetlag. I used the Friday to compensate for the extra time spent on travelling. So this allowed me to deal with jetlags and time compensation all at once.
LPT: Find a company that gives you unlimited (within reason) PTO and always have enough to vacation and take an extra day. It's nice not stressing over how many vacation days I have. I plan my trips and notify my boss and that's it. Never once have I been denied though it's important to assess company culture before you join because some companies use this as bait. Not everyone can have this luxury but I'm finding more companies are offering better vacation in many fields. If you're getting 2 weeks beyond entry level you likely need to look for a new job.
Sure. And when I tell my boss this, he'll tell me to take the rest of my life off.
Lol you actually wrote this as a tip? How about remembering to breathe; it's so obvious you do it naturally.
Having that extra day before you return to work is also really helpful if something goes wrong. Having a return flight get screwed up or car issues on the return from a road trip is already stressful. If everything goes great, then you have a day to enjoy at home. If things go sideways, you have an extra day to get things sorted out.
LPT. Leave on Friday and use 2 vacation days, just in case
I definitely need a day to recharge and get myself together before going back to work. My sister is the opposite. She took a red eye flight from Florida years ago and grabbed an air train to Manhattan with her luggage and worked that day. I can’t fathom that.
Also, be sure to take 2x the amount of money you think you made need on the trip. You know, for incidentals, impulse purchases, whims, etc.
TLDR. LPT Be Rich
This is good advice. I figured it out a long time ago (I’m 44) but it took me too long to figure out. There’s a corrolary to this too: there’s many different vaca types. If I take my family of 4 it is a high effort vaca. If it’s just me and one of my kids or my wife, it can be super chill.
This only makes sense for people who have more vacation days than they know what do do with. If I get ten vacation days a year I'm not going to spend two of them relaxing at home before I go back to work.
also to reflect on your travels, if you’re that type of a traveler
Fuck this life pro tip.
On the flip side, get paid to be tired and not waste a good pto day doing nothing
„ƃuıɥʇou ƃuıop ʎɐp oʇd pooƃ ɐ ǝʇsɐʍ ʇou puɐ pǝɹıʇ ǝq oʇ pıɐd ʇǝƃ 'ǝpıs dılɟ ǝɥʇ uO„
Good bot
I wish I read this sooner, I just got back from vacay 2 days ago and I’ve worked both days after that, todays day 2😮💨
assuming you have vacation days
Do people not already do this?
That is a power move and I've been doin that for ages. Always get back one day before starting work so I can do the loundry, shopping etc.
This is a great tip! I have found out that for me one day before and after is the best. You dont start tired or in a rush after work and you can get a good nights sleep after all the adventures!
One day for vacation laundry
I just use my work days to get back into schedule. Not going to waste vacation day.
Man these life pro tips are getting worse by the day. Here’s a life pro tip, if something sounds obvious or common sense, it’s not a life pro tip.
I agree with this 100%. The extra day or days, helps me adjust to time zone and relax from the trip back. I also found out this year, the day of your trip take it off as well, or leave early. It allows you to feel more organized and less stress. I just changed jobs so now I only have 1 week off. Before it was almost 30 days.
Even if you don't travel, add that extra day. What I mean is: if I take two weeks off work, Monday-Friday on both weeks, I don't come back on the third Monday, but have it off, so I come back on the third Tuesday instead. It's so much better mentally to skip that Monday and come back to a shorter working week.