If your dream job is in Japan but you also place great importance on your social life and time off, you might have to consider another destination. Different work cultures dictate not only the holiday count across countries but also suggest if the employees are expected to stay overtime or to take up all of their vacation days.

Vacay or not Vacay? Holiday count across countries

Whereas in most of the Western countries paid holiday count is regulated by law and staying after hours is not widely practiced (depends on the sector and position), the same could not be said about the Asian region. For example, on top of country specific public holidays, all European Union member states enjoy 4 weeks of frolicking around in the beach, skiing or – more realistically – getting soaked on a campsite. The Chinese, on the other hand, only have 5 precious paid vacation days: even though the country has 11 public holidays, it is not common to get them all off*…

[blockquote align=”left”]It’s essential to research the work (and off-work!) culture before making the big move.[/blockquote] The work-hard-play-hard Asian culture is also reflected in the fact that the extremely long hours, business nights out and even sleeping in the office are the only ways to move up in an extremely competitive environment. Country’s hierarchical system can be also to blame for over-hours – employees in Japan would not dream of leaving their office until their boss does. Interestingly enough, the North American countries are also notorious for their lunch breaks spent answering emails, and they score low on the holiday count, too.

Made by getvoip.com using data from the OECD, Center for Economy and Policy Research, and International Labour Organization, the below infographic lends a helpful hand comparing the holiday count across 40 countries. The dark blue bar represents paid vacation days, light blue – public holidays. Bottom line is: if you don’t want to get strange looks from your colleagues for either being a workoholic for staying long hours or uncommitted when you go on a well-deserved holiday, it’s essential to research the work (and off-work!) culture before making the big move. When all is said and done, though, the infographic provides a strong temptation to stay in Brazil after the Summer Olympics 2016…

Veronika Norvaisaite,
ELM team

*Source: getvoip.com

© Expertise in Labour Mobility B.V. All rights reserved.