Vacation, holidays; : How much do you get and when can you take them ?

[Former Member]

Hi everybody,

These SAP forums are a worldwide community and because I am curious, I would like to compare the differences between countries about a very important subject : vacation !

So, if you are interested, please, share with us :

The country where you are employed.

The number of work days per week.

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

The number of vacation days per year that you get

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

When you can take your days off ?

The official number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Of course, I begin :

The country where you are employed : France

The number of work days per week :

5, monday to friday

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

The legal number of work hours per week is 35 but we are supposed to work 39 hrs/week and we get more days off in compensation.

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Depending on my workload, I effectively work from 40 to 45 hours per week. Of course, in case of a big problem (production system down) we don't stop until it is repaired. My record : 26 hours non stop

The number of vacation days per year that you get

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

By law, I get 25 standard days.

Because of my numbers of years in the same company, I get 3 days more.

For compensation between the 35 hrs/week and the theoretical 39hrs/week, I get 18 days more

That makes a big total of 46 days per year plus a few bank holidays

When you can take your days off

When I want but this has to be validated by my manager and I have to make sure with my colleagues that we don't leave all together.

August is the traditional month where most people are on vacation.

In conclusion, I feel very lucky to have so much free time to enjoy the non SAP related aspects of life !

[Former Member]

The country where you are employed.

UK

The number of work days per week.

5 Mon-Fri

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

No idea.

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

7 hours a day (9am-5pm) = 35 hours a week

The number of vacation days per year that you get

25 days annual leave plus 8 bank (public) holidays (but we got an extra one for Kate and Will's wedding this year and an extra one for Queen's Jubilee next year - yay!)

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

Company specific.

When you can take your days off ?

Whenever I like within reason, 2 weeks max at a time.

[Former Member]

Vacation? what does vacation mean?

5 years working

In my country, by law I should have one month off every year, but I only had 15 days off in 2008. And perhaps 15 days off last year (2010).

[former_member415002]

The country where you are employed.

Currently in INDIA

The number of work days per week.

6 days a week

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

50 hours / week

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Depends on work

The number of vacation days per year that you get

10 public holidays

20 (sick leaves etc)

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

Company specific

When you can take your days off ?

mostly a 6 to 8 days off some where in mid may , to travel to hill station in india , or a beach , summer are unbearable in some parts of india(ahmedabad)

Darshit maheshwari

[Former Member]

Oh god here comes the painful topic to be discussed over coffee .... Leaves and holidays ( Mouth watering ) ......

The country where you are employed : India

The number of work days per week :

6 Days during the week , cant expect you may have surprise on saturday evening ( Man you have to come )

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Usually its 8 1/2 hrs each day ( In black and white)

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Well its around 9-12 hours a day ........ (1/2 hours for lunch )

The number of vacation days per year that you get

12 public holidays ( Not even compensated even it is on sunday )......

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

Well pubilc holidays are legal rest depends ....

When you can take your days off

when you are really really sick ( Physical illness ) .... you can take leave .... else depends on the so called " Management discretion " whether to set you free for a couple of days or not !!!!

Regards ,

Dewang

Starving of Vacation / Holidays ..... ( May be i can imagine that in a fariy tale ) .....

:-((((((((((( Aaaarrrrrggggggg ........

[Former Member]

hi

The country where you are employed.

Currently in US

The number of work days per week.

4 days week

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

40 hours / week

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Depends on work

The number of vacation days per year that you get

21

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

Specific to company I think

When you can take your days off ?

Diwali 2010

Vishal

[ruben_romo3]

It may not be a recent poste but I just see it and I found it very interesting, so this is about Mexico. The numbers can vary from company to company, however the figures shown below give us an overview of the situation

The country where you are employed : Mexico

The number of work days per week :

5, monday to Friday. Usually from 8 am to 17pm including from 30 to 60 min to have lunch.

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

The legal number of work hours per week is 40

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

I effectively work from 45 to 50 hours per week but depending on my workload I could spent some weekends working, Of course, in case of a big problem (production system down) we don't stop until it is repaired. My record : 34 hours non stop

The number of vacation days per year that you get

By law, we get 6 days the first year worked, 8 the second, 10 the third and 12 the fourth. We have some holydays extra such as easter week, national celebrations, etc. adding maybe 5 or six days off.

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

It is legal, bur some Companies offers more than that.

When you can take your days off

When I want but this has to be validated by my manager and usually we should schedule it when the year begins.

Best regards!

Ruben

[Former Member]

Interesting thread - another US.

The country where you are employed : US

The number of work days per week :

5, monday to Friday. Usually from 6 - 3:30 - with .5 hr for lunch. It can be a lot longer depending on the project. And I don't count the time I spend on SCN. That's fun tim.

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

There isn't any that I know of.

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

I usually work around 9 hours a day. 45 hours per week.

The number of vacation days per year that you get

It varies based upon the time you have worked here. I don't believe anyone who is salaried gets less than 2 weeks. We have 5 "floating holidays" this year. Basically those are vacation days that you can take whenever you want.

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

Specific to the company - the time employeed and hourly vs. salaried.

When you can take your days off

Anytime - but it depends on projects and of course, management approval.

Great thread!

Michelle

[Former Member]

This message was moderated.

[Jelena_Perfiljeva]

Wow, I thought better of Switzerland...

Suresh already wrote about the USA. I'll just add that I have 27 days of "paid time off" (PTO) per year, in addition to the official holidays (9 per year). PTO can be taken for any reason: vacation, minor illness, moving, etc. For more serious health problems there are short- and long-term disability benefits.

PTO may be taken any time, subject to manager's approval. We try to keep the IT covered, so that not everyone is on vacation at the same time, but so far I haven't had any problem with PTO approval.

What I like here is that if a holiday is on Saturday or Sunday we still get a day off on Friday or Monday. In my country of birth (Latvia) it was like in Switzerland. In some years 2-3 holidays would fall on the weekend. Everyone hated that.

Question - what are the "bank holidays" and how are they different from others?

[matt]

Bank holidays were days when the banking system and banks were closed to allow the employees to play cricket. Now known as public holidays. Good Friday and Christmas days were not bank holidays, but are now. The two terms - bank/public holidays - are interchangeable.

matt

[Former Member]

The country where you are employed : Australia

The number of work days per week :

5, monday to friday

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

40 but you really do around 45-50 hours a week

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Depending on workload, customer expectations, I effectively work from 40 to 45 hours per week. In the past customers expected long working hours because you work for the software provider.

The number of vacation days per year that you get

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

By law, you must get 20 standard days + public holidays and 10 sick days

When you can take your days off

Whenever I plan for a holiday or my wife tells me we are having a holiday! I recently took 9 months off to travel the world which is one of the most incredible experience of my life. Next holiday is not for another year at least now though.

I am now a contractor so vacation time means not earning money but at the end of the day its up to the individual. I believe in the theory that you "work to live not live to work" so vacation time is very important as there are so many amazing places to visit in the world.

[Former Member]

Thanks for all the interesting answers so far !

Anyomore people from other countries ? What about Asia ? Eastern Europe ? Scandinavia ? Africa ? South America ?

[stefan_koehler]

Hey,

here i go ...

The country where you are employed.

Germany

The number of work days per week.

Paid for 5 days

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

40 hours per week ..

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Less/More than 40 hours .. it completely depends on the work load

The number of vacation days per year that you get

30 days

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

Company specific

When you can take your days off ?

Whenever i want .. the only thing i have to check is that enough of my other colleagues are in-house.

Mostly i take a big vacation (like 4 to 5 weeks) and the rest is used day by day.

In our company there is a time model called "trusted flexitime". You work like it is needed to get the work done. So you don't have a normal 8 hours office job. Sometimes you went home earlier, because of you have to do some stuff in the evening, etc.

I really like that concept, because you are very flexible and the time management is by your own.

Regards

Stefan

[matt]

>

> In our company there is a time model called "trusted flexitime". You work like it is needed to get the work done. So you don't have a normal 8 hours office job. Sometimes you went home earlier, because of you have to do some stuff in the evening, etc. 

That sounds like a great system. One thing I really hate is "presenteeism".

[Former Member]

Very interesting post for personal knowledge.

The country where you are employed : Venezuela

The number of work days per week :

5 monday to friday

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

8 hours a day

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Around 9 to 10 hours each day plus some weekends with no compensation for the extra time .

The number of vacation days per year that you get

15 days + 10 hollydays.

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

This is legal, some companies gives much more than this depending on years in the company or contract.

When you can take your days off

When the Manager wants but even on vacations they keep calling me to ask stupid questions :- |

[Lakshmipathi]

These are specific to my company

The country where you are employed : India

The number of work days per week :

6 Days during 1st and last week and 5 days during intervening weeks

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Usually its 8 1/2 hrs each day. Varies from organization to organization.

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Nothing specific. Just 9 hrs a day for the usual week shcedule. Of course, if its month end, I have to forget my home

The number of vacation days per year that you get

12 public holidays and about 25 vacation holidays a year. Again company specific.

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

Not legal and even if I do not take leave, it will neither be compensated with cash nor compensatory off nor it will be carry forward to next year :-((

When you can take your days off

During 2008 TechEd I took leave. After that, I am continuously working !!!!!!!

thanks

G. Lakshmipathi

[Former Member]

Hi,

Thanks for answering.

>The number of work days per week :

>6 Days during 1st and last week and 5 days during intervening weeks

What do you mean ? 1st and last week of what ? (month ? year ?)

Up to now we've had answers from France, India, Switzerland..

Any other countries ?

What about USA, UK, China ?

Regards,

Olivier

[Lakshmipathi]

1st and last week

Sorry forget to mention that it is for the month

thanks

G. Lakshmipathi

[suresh_datti]

The country where you are employed : USA

The number of work days per week : 5

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week: 40

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week. 40

The number of vacation days per year that you get: 15 + 2(floating) + 5(sick(sic!)) + (Comp. Off)

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ? Company Specific & (Manager's discretion)

When you can take your days off : anytime(&subject to (Manager's discretion)

~Suresh

[Former Member]

Hi Suresh,

>The number of vacation days per year that you get: 15 + 2(floating) + 5(sick(sic!)) + (Comp. Off)

What do you mean by 5 sick days ?

Do you take them even if you are not ill for a full year ?

Or does it mean that, in case of illness, you are paid only for 5 days ? What is going on if you are sick and unable to work for 2 months ?

Olivier

[matt]

Could be 5 self-certified sick days. In the UK, for example, you normally don't need a doctor's note until you've been off 3 days. ( which is the requirement for statutory sick pay ).

[Former Member]

>In the UK, for example, you normally don't need a doctor's note until you've been off 3 days.

And are people serious enough to NOT be sick at least 3 days every year ?

[Former Member]

>

> least 3 days every year ?

I think 3 consecutive days..

[suresh_datti]

self-certified. like Matt mentioned. they can be taken any time during the year. for sickness beyond 5 days the Short Term Disability & Long Term Disability Benefits kick in.

~Suresh

[Former Member]

A company I once audited had a vacation "policy" which was completely at the discretion of the line managers. There wasn't a time stamping system either. The manager's discretionary guideline of about 22 days vacation per year could also carry over into the next year, but only one year. Some tracked the vacation in Excel spreadsheets, but I think this made them unpopular...

The external financial auditors were arguing that a full vacation accrual for all employees (about 3k of them) should be made as they could at anytime all resign and claim to have 44 days vacation outstanding.

The cost of implementing time management for all employees was about 1 million USD, they said.

There was a nice atmosphere in the company. The place had a hum about it as folks went about their work. People were happy and friendly (even to auditors) though they did seem to come and go as they pleased, and at 17h00 there wasn't a synchron "click" as everyone downed their pencils.

Take a guess how many scheduled background jobs they had running in their system and how popular LSMW was?

Cheers,

Julius

[ThomasZloch]

I'm also self-employed, so here are the German figures that I remember from way back:

5 day week, hours/week depending on industry (Tarifverträge...), probably from 36 to 40 or something, 30 paid holidays, 11 to 14 public holidays on top of that (three or four more in catholic Bavaria compared to protestant Berlin), not rolling over if on a Saturday/Sunday. Not so bad...

As a freelancer I also value the billable days. However I got over the "losing money feeling" quite a while ago. Time with the family is priceless. Took a day off to finally be able pick up my daughter from the Kindergarten recently (not just bring her in the morning in a hurry). I'm trying to spent four to six weeks holidays per year, as my (long term) client permits.

Of course I will still come to the office when employed folks are staying home due to sore throat or a little headache, and efficiently booking holidays is a must as well (always weekend to weekend rather than middle of week to middle of week).

Cheers

Thomas

[jurjen_heeck]

The country where you are employed :

The Netherlands

The number of work days per week :

5, monday to friday

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

The Dutch working week varies between 36 and 40 hours.

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

For me that's 40. Overtime is compensated with free hours as soon as possible.

The number of vacation days per year that you get

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

In our company it's 27, the legal minimum is 20 (I believe). This does not include bank holidays like easter, christmas etc.

Because of my numbers of years in the same company, I get 3 days more

Same as Olivier. This number (30 now) will increase for me over the coming years to a maximum of 37. This a loyalty scheme, not age-related.

When you can take your days off

Basically whenever I like. Since my wife and I do not have kids we tend to work through the school holidays and have holidays when everyone else is working ;-). I love to work in the traffic-jam-free periods. June is our favourite holiday month.

[Former Member]

Hi Jurjen,

>Since my wife and I do not have kids we tend to work through the school holidays and have holidays when everyone else is >working ;-). I love to work in the traffic-jam-free periods. June is our favourite holiday month.

I totally agree. That's why I'm working now in august : The only month of the year when I commute by car instead of motorcycle...

[matt]

I'm also working for my own, so I'll answer according to my last employment.

The country where you are employed.

Switzerland

The number of work days per week.

5

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Legally, 42 hours per week, spread over the year, less statutory days.

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Flexi-time, so any extra hours taken off in lieu. 40 hour week.

The number of vacation days per year that you get

25 + the public holidays. If a holiday falls on Saturday or Sunday, no compensation.

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

Company

When you can take your days off ?

Usually it was project ends for project workers, and for operational workers, it's as and when. Three weeks in the summer is not the least bit unusual.

[gaurav_kothari]

The country where you are employed : India

The number of work days per week :

5 , Monday to Friday

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

8 hrs a day.

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Anywhere between 9 to 12 hrs a day. And ofcourse when critical no limits. My record is 21 Hrs.

The number of vacation days per year that you get

10 public holidays and 25 days off apart from them.

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

Company specific.

When you can take your days off

Anytime depending on the consent from your manager.

Regards,

Gaurav

[former_member184657]

The country where you are employed : India

The number of work days per week :

5 and a half, monday to half-saturday (specific to my company, but usually in India its 5 working days)

The legal number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Usually its 9 hrs (a must) each day. Depends from organization to organization.

The effective number of work hours per day and/or per week.

Nothing specific. Just 8 hrs a day for the usual week shcedule. Of course, if its production-critical, sky is the limit.

The number of vacation days per year that you get

12 public holidays and about 30 vacation holidays a year. Again company specific.

Is this number legal or is it specific to your company or job ?

Nothing legal as far as I know.

When you can take your days off

Nothing rigid about this one too. October is the holiday season in India, with some major Hindu and Muslim festivals.

pk

[Former Member]

I am self-employed and work in just about any country.

This means I can take vacation whenever and wherever I want to or have to... as "vacation" is about one click north of not having work at times (such as during summer school holidays)...

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member]

Hi Julius,

That is nice but I guess it means also that the vacation is also self-financed.

The problem is, in that case, to get not too much "vacation" !

Cheers,

Olivier

[pokrakam]

>

> That is nice but I guess it means also that the vacation is also self-financed.
> The problem is, in that case, to get not too much "vacation" !

Indeed, being self-employed throws a lot of 'conventional' wisdom on it's head and holidays is no exception:

A cheap planned holiday when there is work to do is more expensive than an unplanned last-minute holiday when there are days without work. In fact, I apply the same logic to planned holidays: If I consider two weeks off during a project, I often rather take one week off and use the extra money to upgrade my holiday. Quality over quantity (and the client is usually happy too).

We also don't like bank holidays, because they result in a 20% pay cut for the week (and in the UK, weekend Bank Holidays are rolled over to the following Monday).

As far as my actual time off goes that also varies. This year I had two weeks holiday booked in May because work was thin but ended up taking one day due to new client demands. Towards the end of last year, work went a bit quiet due to the credit crunch. Instead of taking holidays I decided to work with a bunch of great people [on a book|https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/15276] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken]; . There were many occasions when I thought I should have taken holidays instead, but the end result was worth it (not in money terms), and I'm humbled that it seems to have been [well received|https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/14810] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken]; so far (thanks Marilyn).

Cheers,

Mike

[matt]

>

> We also don't like bank holidays, because they result in a 20% pay cut for the week (and in the UK, weekend Bank Holidays are rolled over to the following Monday). 

otoh, we love leap years - an extra billable day!

re: holidays. I plan for a certain income, and 200 days a year. If I make my financial target in, say, 190 days, I still aim to work an additional 10 days. After that, if I take the rest as vacation, I don't consider it "lost". if I don't make my financial target, then I keep working until I do.

All of this, of course, is flexible for the needs of the client. If the client has work for me, I'm not going to let them down because I've met all my targets for the year. I just use my system to get over the "losing money" feeling when I'm on vacation - or at TechEd!

matt