Korean Job Discussion Forums

[redeye]

Ok, so I know it can vary according to job/company of course; however, in general most countries have set labor laws and workplaces follow general expectations according to the norm for that country.

For example, in the US, your average desk job would get about 8 days of national holidays plus two weeks paid vacation which you can take whenever you like. (Similar to the average Korean hagwon, except that you don�t have much say in when your vacation weeks are here.) However, if you�re higher up on the rung in the USA, vacation expands to 3 to 4 weeks paid. Maternity leave in the USA legally must be allowed six weeks for both parents (that�s UNPAID unless you work for an awesome company).

When my husband was in Germany a number of years back, he said it was standard for German companies to give 3 months of vacation. In fact, there�s supposedly some law stating 3 months or something close as a minimum requirement. Anyone want to move to Germany?

On the flip side, I was talking to some Korean corporates the other day and they said they get 4-5 days maximum for their wedding/honeymoon leave. Therefore, their honeymoons are typically only 2-3 days long. I wouldn�t call that a honeymoon, but that�s beside the point. They have to leave the other 2-3 days for the wedding day and for visiting/paying respect to in-laws after the honeymoon. Now that sucks. They were shocked when I said the average American honeymoon is at least one to two weeks. That doesn�t include wedding/prep. I rarely hear of a Korean going for a week long vacation on anything other than national holidays . . . granted, they get props for being hard workers, but you�ve got to take a break sometime. I�ve also heard the maternity leave in Korea is something like two weeks or less, but I don�t know that for sure. In Canada I hear it is required that maternity leave is paid--not sure how long.

I know we�ve got people on Dave�s who are from and have been all over the world. What�s your experience/opinion? Which countries tend to have the best/worst vacation policies? Let�s hear it. Then I can decide where I�m moving next.

[blade]

Irish people receive about 20 paid days of leave per year and about 9 days of public holidays per year.

[Fishead soup]

I get two weeks paid vacation every year. That which I give back to my company.

[Toon Army]

[cj1976]

In England, I think 20+ days (on top of national holidays) is the standard. Also, once you throw in sick pay, you get more than 30 days off per year.

[poet13]

In Korea, maternity leave is 90 days, but only the first 60 days are paid. Men do not get maternity leave.

[Fishead soup]

[poet13]

I want pictures.

[Ilsanman]

It's called paternity leave. Yes, Korea doesn't offer it.

[sojourner1]

Some European countries like Denmark and Finland got it really good, but if you're in the EPIK program in the rural province, then you're getting some of the highest amounts of vacation time in the world and deserve it for making the sacrifices of living in Korea for long periods of time. I believe Korea should offer many weeks of vacation time to teachers and other foreign workers who stay for a year or longer. It's like if you work on oil rigs in the ocean, you can get half the year off on vacation if you want due to the sacrifices made by the special worker so there are exceptions to laws and statistics. It's typically 6 weeks on; 6 weeks off for them.

France, Finland, and United Emirates are also said to have 30 vacation days a year, but none reads the good number of 35. Thailand and the Phillipines get the least amount of time off. Many Americans also get the least amount of time off and never have the chance to travel and do cool stuff. Here's a link showing many countries number of vacation and public holidays with 10 years of tenure.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/12/pf/vacation_days_worldwide/

Really, it's your profession and employer that determines how good or bad you got it in terms of time off.

[redeye]

[Sleepy in Seoul]

I used to have 6 weeks of paid holidays a year in Australia with 60 days of sick leave on full pay, although that depended on the situation. I once had eight months on sick leave and was on full pay the entire time.

[blackjack]

In Nz it is four weeks plus 11 stats (all Mondayised if they fall on a weekend). This normally increases the longer you are working at the same company

5 days sick leave (but I have worked for a few companies with unlimited sick leave). If your sick leave is due to an accident the government will give you 80% of your income (after the five days is up) until a doctor says you are fit for work.

14 weeks paid (not sure by government or employer) of maternity leave (includes adoptions). The mother can transfer part of it to the partner (including same sex couples)

[Temporary]

In Korea I usually get 6-7 weeks paid vacation

[schwa]

In Canada, youre legally entitled to zero weeks vacation in your first year of employment & 2 weeks the following year. Depending on your province, it goes up to 3 weeks after either 5 or 8 years employment.