In the U.S., the standard number of vacation days per year is 10, and you're one of the lucky ones if they're all paid vacation days. In Europe, it's almost unheard of to get less than 20 paid vacation days. In the U.S., you are expected to show that you're totally devoted to the company, which often means pulling long hours, working through your weekends and vacations, or not taking your vacation days at all! In our current uncertain times and the lack of job security, people are working their rear ends off to avoid the chopping block, as if our work culture wasn't bad enough before. Even before our current economic crisis, people felt they're less likely to be rewarded with a raise or a promotion unless they have no life but the life of devotion to work.
Yet with all our miserable days and hours spent working, our productivity levels are not way higher than a country with a more relaxed approach towards life and work. Considering that we're not getting better results and individual burn-out is more prevalent here, I don't think our work culture is an ideal one. It's hard to avoid the pressure of collective attitudes, but I really feel that we need some tweaking here. I mean companies should start encouraging people to take their vacations and to take one should not be in any way construed as slacking on the job. Your work life shouldn't be your entire life. That also means working during your vacation should absolutely not be allowed. These are just some of the thoughts that popped up when I started reading this article:
http://www.wisebread.com/america-is-the-no-vacation-nation
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