All Work, No Play
Campaigning For Legislation To Guarantee Workers 3 Weeks
The United States is the “no-vacation nation,” the only advanced economy in the world that doesn’t guarantee its workers any paid vacation time, says a recent report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. 28 million Americans are no-vacation workers, receiving no paid time off, vacation or holidays. On the other hand, managers and professionals often get a good deal of vacation. Then there’s a large group in the middle that gets some time off, but not much — and they can’t even count on that time being all fun and games. It’s the time they use to take care of business. On average, full-time American workers receive 19 annual paid days off, according to the report (12 vacation days and seven holidays) compared with 31 guaranteed days in France.
In May, Take Back Your Time, a 10,000-member organization that thinks work is out of balance with the rest of life in America, began a campaign calling for national legislation to guarantee every worker in the United States three weeks of paid vacation. “Americans are the workaholics of the world,” says John de Graaf, Take Back Your Time’s national coordinator. “Having three weeks off wouldn’t make people lazy. It would prevent burnout, make them better workers when they’re working and give them a chance to pay attention to other aspects of their life.” Extra perks for other countries: Some workers get a bonuses: Austrians get a tax break on the salary they draw while on vacation; Swedes get 108% of their normal salary on vacation; and New Zealanders get 112%.
