This week I decided to look in to how people spend their time away from the office.
For many people, the thought of a long awaited holiday and choosing where to go opens up so many prospects; Shall we go to a beach? Shall we travel a bit? Shall we see a bit of culture? But not all annual leave is used up sunning ourselves on the beach. Many working families need to use their annual leave to spend time with their children during the school holidays and cover child care while there is no school or family they can call on.
So you have used your annual leave on taking time off for personal appointments, moving house or your best friend's wedding and you have one precious week left? So where do people go?
A new survey by the European Commission found that EU residents generally stay in their home country during their time off—57% of people in the EU last year took a trip within their own country. More than 80% of Greeks, Croatians and Italians took time off close to home in 2013, while Maltese, Belgians, and Luxembourgers were much more keen to go abroad, with fewer than 30% reporting that they took a domestic holiday last year.
The image below shows where most people in Europe choice to go on holiday. Interestingly it shows that people tend to go to the next closest country to them.
During my research I discovered that 36% of Americans do not own a passport! But when you think that the USA is the size of a continent you can see why! If you want sun and sand you go to Florida or California, if you want snow, Colorado or Utah! They have every different type of terrain and climate so, practically speaking at least, there is less need to travel abroad.
So has all this got you thinking about what you will be doing with your annual leave this year? Let us know your thoughts!
We all enjoy taking time off to
spend time with our family and friends for the odd day or a couple of weeks at a
time, but how does the holiday entitlement vary between countries and how does it
affect how people use their holiday?
Finland, Brazil, France and Germany are at the top, guaranteeing six weeks of time off including some bank holidays, with most other European countries enjoying 4-5 weeks holiday off a year.
In Hong Kong the entitlement is only 7 days for your first 2 years of service and India and Japan the entitlement on average is 10-12 days a year!
What I found most surprising was America have 0 yes that's ZERO days statutory minimum! It is left to the employers to offer paid holiday as part of the benefits package. Larger companies will typically offer between 10 and 20 working days, depending on the company and years of service. In addition to this some may offer a number of paid public holidays, typically 6-8, although smaller employers may offer no holiday at all! The average number of paid holiday days offered by private employers is 10 days after 1 year of service, 14 days after 5 years, 17 days after 10 years, and 19 days after 20 years!
So how does this affect how people take their holiday entitlement?
Some U.S. companies don't like employees taking off more than one week at a time. Others expect them to be on call or check their e-mail even when they're lounging on the beach or taking a hike in the mountains. In Europe its common for people to take off 3 consecutive weeks during the summer. Having said that some companies in Europe still have the summer shut down during the hot months and employees are told when to take time off.
The way America views annual leave and the way Europe sees it poses lots of questions. Is it healthier for staff to take a break and relax for a couple of weeks and come back refreshed, or is it better to take odd days here and there and avoid the build up in work (and therefore stress) that awaits you when you arrive back in the office after 2 weeks away?
The other question that springs to mind when thinking about the way people take holiday, is that if you are constantly thinking about work and not taking genuine time off, does your home life suffer? Or are you more likely to burn out quickly professionally?
In part 2 of my blog I will be investigating how different people across the world choose to spend that precious annual leave.
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