The American Vacation
The Wit and Tenets of Brad P. Scobey

As I watch the news, I see the CEO of the largest corporation in the world is enjoying a 34 day "break" at his Texas ranch.  Albeit a "working" vacation, he sure seems to be there a lot.  That has caused me to pause and wonder why the average American citizen finds it acceptable to have one, two or, for those rare few whose employer hasn't laid them off before they get it, 3 weeks a year away from our job.

Now I don't begrudge anyone from their time off, especially in a highly stressful job, but in corporate America, where the bottom line is money, don't most of us have a stressful job?  That stress may come from the tasks at hand or the fear of being replaced by automation or jobs that can be done for 1/10th of our income in a foreign country.

In most of the civilized world, the average vacation is a total of four weeks.  Even as I type this in August, you would find very few Canadians at work.  Why is it that Germany, France, Canada, Belguim, Sweden (you get the idea) can allow their citizens the time to repair their nervous systems and we can't?  No reason I have been able to come up with, except for the demands of the shareholders and their bottom line.

I write this as the owner of a company, with employees.  I know that I am able to make the decision as to vacation policy in my own work place, and I give my employees 2 weeks off their first year and three weeks their second.  Let me tell you what that has caused; loyalty, appreciation, and a better work ethic.  Now there's a novel concept!

Brad

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