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Why would you say this? Are people not able to keep jobs for a long period of time in Europe if they do a good job? Do you really have to renegotiate to keep your job every X number of years?
In America, fixed-length contracts are pretty uncommon. In most industries, once you're hired, you work there until you leave the job, retire or get fired. I work with many people who have been with the company for 20 or more years. At other locations, employees who started at a young age have reached 50+ years, although I think more than 30 years is pretty uncommon since people get old and retire eventually.
20 or 30 years ago, it was possible to stay with one company until retirement. My parents are examples of this. But today is not so common, as there are various downsizing and a lot of companies do not exist for 20 or 30 years, their lifetime is shorter. Public sector is one exception, in normal situation, they have a great job security, won´t be fired and will stay until retirement.
There is no 'minimum' "paid time off", the government does not force companies to pay people to not work.
PTO (vacation/holidays/sick days/personal days) are a negotiable 'benefit' that companies may use to attract workers.
If one does not like the PTO policy of a company, one has the option to not work there.
This is still a [somewhat] free country, employers and employees are free to negotiate salary and working conditions that are mutually agreeable. If one is not motivated to obtain skills and education to advance one's position, salary and benefits, that is a personal problem. If one is not happy with that freedom, then one is free to move to a country with a more Communist/Socialist atmosphere, if such a country is willing to accept more slackers.
There is no 'minimum' "paid time off", the government does not force companies to pay people to not work.
PTO (vacation/holidays/sick days/personal days) are a negotiable 'benefit' that companies may use to attract workers.
If one does not like the PTO policy of a company, one has the option to not work there.
This is still a [somewhat] free country, employers and employees are free to negotiate salary and working conditions that are mutually agreeable. If one is not motivated to obtain skills and education to advance one's position, salary and benefits, that is a personal problem. If one is not happy with that freedom, then one is free to move to a country with a more Communist/Socialist atmosphere, if such a country is willing to accept more slackers.
Yes, theoretically employers and employees are free to negotiate. But in today´s economy, it´s employer who has stronger position. And as others said in this forum, Americans have usually only two weeks as an annual leave and would like to have more. So why don´t they negotiate? It is probably not possible. What freedom is it when you live only to work. No time for family. As U.S. is a very big country, I suppose it is common that family members do not live in the same state, so they meet once a year during this one or two-weeks´s holiday? Why are you speaking about communist or socialist atmosphere here in Europe? I think there is a better balance between work and private life. What life is it when you spend the most of it at work, can´t be with your kids, family, can´t travel and have to hope that you reach the retirement age to have more free time at last and to compensate for all the years spent at work. But you can be proud that you live in capitalims and not socialism. When there are not enough arguments concerning the difference in social security between U.S. and Europe, someone always comes with "communisms".
20 or 30 years ago, it was possible to stay with one company until retirement. My parents are examples of this. But today is not so common, as there are various downsizing and a lot of companies do not exist for 20 or 30 years, their lifetime is shorter. Public sector is one exception, in normal situation, they have a great job security, won´t be fired and will stay until retirement.
I think the more specialized your skills are, the more likely you can still have a "career" at a company. It is still fairly common in America, but not as common as sixty years ago.
If it is better or more reasonable for a company to keep you than to try to train a new person, then they will be happy to keep decent employees forever. Therefore, generally the more training they have to invest in new employees, or the harder qualified employees are to find, the more likely they will be happy to keep you around forever.
It also helps if there are barriers to entry in the economic sector whereby there are only a limited number of companies participating and so you have a better assurance your company will still exist in 20 years. That sort of competition is more predictable rather than being a low-barrier-to-entry free-for-all where jobs are cut and added constantly. That said, here in America it is still possible for lower-wage workers to have long careers if they pursue certain career paths. Grocery stores, for example, offer long-term career longevity, at least in America. I see many employees at the store I go to that have been there 10, 15 or more years.
There is no 'minimum' "paid time off", the government does not force companies to pay people to not work.
PTO (vacation/holidays/sick days/personal days) are a negotiable 'benefit' that companies may use to attract workers.
If one does not like the PTO policy of a company, one has the option to not work there.
This is still a [somewhat] free country, employers and employees are free to negotiate salary and working conditions that are mutually agreeable. If one is not motivated to obtain skills and education to advance one's position, salary and benefits, that is a personal problem. If one is not happy with that freedom, then one is free to move to a country with a more Communist/Socialist atmosphere, if such a country is willing to accept more slackers.
It's not really a fair negotiation.
Employers can choose from the entire world and technology.
Job seekers are generally limited to choosing among human employers in their country only.
I'm in the U.S. and I take more than 5 weeks off per year. In the U.S. your total package is extremely variable. If you want more leave, you simply find a job with more leave. If you want to work from home, you simply find a job that allows you to work from home. If you want free lunch, you simply find a job that offers free lunch. It's all over the place.
That is because you are an attorney, I presume, from your name. Typically you can get more time off if you are in the mid to upper echelon of workers - with more education and hence, a higher paying and more desirable job. 5 weeks off per year is uncommon here among typical "workers."
Many employers offer you 2 weeks of vacation, with perhaps 5-7 days for sick or personal leave per year. Some companies offer 15 to 20 days of paid time off, which means that if you are sick and use up all the days during your bout with pneumonia, you are in trouble if you think you're having vacation that year or might have to take it without pay.
Often you can earn more days off the longer you work for that employer... at 5 years of employment, you might receive an additional week of PTO.
5+ weeks of vacation at a job would mean that you are a higher paid worker or you have been at your place of employment a long time (or perhaps have worked at your government job a long time). Not the norm for "regular" people. By "regular" people I mean shop or store workers, clerical, industrial, those with less education and lower incomes.
Store workers, clerical workers and auto mechanics... difficult for them to work from home... and many other job categories as well -- do not offer that flexibility.
'Minimum time off'? Hah! No such thing in the USA. What kind of commie/socialist notion is that!? Get to work, peasant. It's your duty to work as much as possible to line the pockets of your CEO. One cannot do so while taking vacation.
What do you think about the difference in the minimum annual leave in the USA and in Europe? Firstly, I have to say that I live in Europe and have never visited USA. I have the information only from friends and from Internet.
In Europe, the minimum annual leave is usually 4 or 5 weeks and there are also public holidays.
I can´t imagine having only 2 weeks of holiday a year, especially with small kids. How do you cope with it?
We don't. There is no minimum here. Lots of people never get/take any time off.
We don't. There is no minimum here. Lots of people never get/take any time off.
I'm probably one of those people...being part-time, I don't get any sort of paid leave. So when I do take vacation days, I have to plan for losing the money out of my paycheck.
Our wise and caring over-see'rs have determined that China is what they want for us. If they had their way, the chinese/prison labor system is what we would be using everywhere. .50 an hour, 12 hours a day. Where you drop over and die is your vacation/retirement. They will only stop when we are finally called the United States of China and all of our cities look like Calcutta. My Brother asked a waiter in Rome about how they get anything done with so many people in cafes and stores shut down for lunch, etc . . . The Waiter said in broken english "in USA, you work, in Italy, we live". Truer words were never spoken.
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