The Countries With The Most Paid Vacations Days

Taking a break from work is essential. Not only does it provide quality time with family and friends, but it also allows us to step away and reset, returning to our jobs refreshed and clear-headed. Weekends are fine for this, but not as good as vacations.

Many studies exist that explain the importance of taking time off, from health benefits, to career and productivity benefits. Yet most work places and the law provide minimal vacation days. Especially compared to other countries.

You might think with a mandated 10 paid vacation days and 10 stat holidays we have it pretty good. But that’s only 20 days out of the year, and falls far short of a number of other countries within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

In 2020 the OECD had this list as their top 5:

Austria: Public Holidays – 13, Mandated Days of Annual Leave – 25, Total – 38

France: Public Holidays – 11, Mandated Days of Annual Leave – 25, Total – 36

Spain: Public Holidays – 14, Mandated Days of Annual Leave – 22, Total – 36

South Korea: Public Holidays – 15, Mandated Days of Annual Leave – 16, Total – 31

Germany: Public Holidays – 10, Mandated Days of Annual Leave – 20, Total – 30

The U.K. has 8 public holidays and 20 mandated days of annual leave, putting them still 8 entire days off more than we have in Ontario, 9 if you’re speaking of Canada in general. The only country of note that is worse off than we are is the U.S., who also has 10 Public Holidays, though they have no mandated days of annual leave.

There are workplaces that offer more, some even go as high as offering a full four workweeks of vacation time after years of continued employment. Which can take an individual up to 30 days off a year. But that’s not the mandated minimum, and takes more than just hard work to achieve. The result is a workforce that’s often obliged to push through looming burnout in an effort to make it to that long-awaited (but never long enough) vacation. Which isn’t good for anyone’s mental health, physical health, or the productivity for the companies.

The good news is that this is a situation that is entirely capable of being corrected. Business owners can recognize the importance of attracting and maintaining workers as a net benefit, coupled with the overall increased productivity that comes with increased time off and raise their base number of vacation days voluntarily; or government officials can recognize the proven benefits to the mental and physical health along with the reduced strain on our healthcare systems that come with more time off and raise the minimum number of vacation days by law.

Just because something is “the way it’s always been,” doesn’t mean it’s the way it always should be. Here’s to a happier, healthier, more productive time.

Source: https://bit.ly/3yeQbWA