How Does Your Vacation Time Stack Up?

You may be thrilled that your new boss is willing to give you two weeks of paid vacation. But workers in other parts of the world would be sorely disappointed if that were all the time off their new boss had to offer.

A recent study by the management consulting firm of Hewitt Associates [1] produced a vacation chart [2] that shows a representative listing of countries from around the world and the amount of vacation time offered to first year employees (Note: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader [3] to view the chart).

Mexico was at the bottom of the list, showing only an average of six paid vacation days for the typical first year employee. The United States was close behind, as were Canada and Japan, offering two weeks for the first year of vacation.

At the other end of the spectrum are Austria, Denmark, and Finland, all of which provide an average of six weeks paid vacation to first year employees. Four to five weeks seemed to be the norm in most countries surveyed, including Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, all of which provide an average of four weeks time off.