Now I have settled into the work routine I would like to explore more of America and take a long weekend to go to a surrounding state. However, I have noticed a very prevalent difference in holiday/ vacation allocation in the US workplace.
I originally thought that it was just Northeastern that had rigid holiday allowance and due to my intern title I was given less days. My holiday allowance at Northeastern in 10 days paid holiday per academic year. However, according to a paper written by the center for economic and policy research “United States law offers no guarantees of paid leave. The only exceptions are for government contractors and subcontractors covered under the Davis-Bacon Act.” (See Figure 2) (Ray, Sanes, & Schmitt, 2013) Whereas, “In the United Kingdom, all full-time and part-time employees are guaranteed at 28 days annual leave. For part-time workers, their entitlement is 5.6 times the number of days a week they work.” (Ray, Sanes, & Schmitt, 2013). Through looking at this paper the evidence clearly supports what I had assumed was just a personal opinion on Northeastern University is actually due to the fact there is no legal requirement for paid holidays in the USA.
UK employees whether part or full time are in fact entitled to more holidays than the USA according to law. This experience has made me feel that I have taken advantage of holiday entitlement in previous jobs in the UK calling in “sick” or just taking a day off to do nothing particularly productive.
After further research into vacation/ holiday requirements and benefits I found, according to Business insider “Several studies have found that taking time away from work can improve productivity, increase happiness, and spark creativity” (Reid, 2018). There are many benefits to allowing or allocating more holiday/ vacation days than the minimum (see Figure 3 below).
Learning about the legal holiday/ vacation allowance in the USA compared to the UK helps me gain a greater understanding of the USA’s culture and therefore linking to one of my learning contract goals “My goal is to acquire cultural competency through working in a different country”. Throughout this month and a half I have been in the USA I feel every day I am learning something new that can contribute towards this goal.
Figure 2
https://www.dol.gov/whd/govcontracts/dbra.htm
Figure 3 – SWOT Analysis
| Strengths Employees will be present in the workplace more | Weakness Productivity reduction due to overwork and reduced motivation |
| Opportunities A chance to reward employees with extra holidays as an incentive | Threats Employees may seek employment elsewhere that offers more vacation/holiday days |
Bibliography
Ray, R., Sanes, M., & Schmitt, J. (2013). No Vacation Nation. Center for economic and policy reasearch, 18 & 19.
Reid, L. (2018, April 13th). I’m British, and I experienced the biggest culture shock when I started working in the US. Retrieved from Business Insider : https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-and-us-compared-biggest-cultural-work-difference-2018-4#work-smarter-to-work-harder-3
Abby Duncan 