Ever feel short-changed by the amount of time you’re allowed to take off work?
In some cases, individual employers are more generous than ever in looking after the well-being of their employees. But for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners the idea of taking off anything more than the occasional weekend is more fraught with panic than with the prospect of taking it easy.
Time off is important though. It can be counter-productive to work too much, as stress levels and tired mistakes cancel out the extra hours you put in. Plus, while it’s important to make a living, you soon lose sight of your professional goals and your work/life balance when you fail to get away from it all. Incredibly, around half of all Americans neglect to take their entire annual paid leave each year, and around two-thirds continue to work even when they are on holiday.
Sick leave is also a valuable commodity. Taking time off work while ill is both considerate and wise, since it protects your colleagues and promotes a fuller recovery – meaning you can get back to full pace as soon as possible instead of operating at half-speed for the next month while your body attempts to fight off the remains of your illness. And even when you do go back to work, it’s best to ease your way back into the rhythm of things:
“When you’re ready to return,” says Dr Megan Arroll, “be realistic in what you can achieve in the first few days and don’t try to fit too much in or work long hours as this may tip you back into bed. If you’ve been off for a lengthy period of time, speak to your manager to make sure that your workload is appropriately paced.”
Parenting leave is even tougher to navigate successfully. It seems mothers and fathers both suffer from gender expectations: mums who freelance often keep their pregnant/post-natal status a secret so as not to frighten off clients. They’re not used to it being ‘okay’ to turn down work – and worry that clients will consider their skills compromised by the new demands on their energy. Keeping such a big secret from clients is a calculated gamble, since you never know how tough it will be physically and emotionally to recover from giving birth.
Men suffer the opposite problem. It is assumed that the birth of your child is just a hiccup in your annual schedule and that once you’ve completed the business of getting your partner and child home, you’ll be ready to jump straight back into work. Yet one in twenty men suffer from post-partum depression, and far more have a serious desire to bond with their child and participate in the parenting process around the clock for as long as they can afford to do so.
As this latter case illustrates, the concept of work leave is not just political or economic: it’s cultural. So it’s no surprise that the amount of paid and unpaid leave you’re allowed to take differs depending on the country where you work. (And of course, how much vacation you’re expected to take – regardless of what’s allowed – is another issue).
The good people at resume.io decided to see how much leave you’re officially allowed to take in 196 countries around the world. You might be surprised what they found – for example, that employees in Andora, China, Iran, Monaco, Mongolia, Russia, Slovenia and Tunisia can take virtually unlimited paid sick leave, or that Latvia is the capital of paid paternity leave.
Check out where your location comes out for these different types of leave, and make sure you’re getting what you deserve. It’s not always possible to claim more leave than the system allows, but it’s an important conversation that needs to be kept alive.
John Cole is a freelance writer at NeoMam Studios. A digital nomad specializing in leadership, digital media, and personal growth topics, his passions include world cinema and biscuits. A native Englishman, he is always on the move, but can most commonly be spotted in the UK, Norway, and the Balkans.
Image: Pexels