Infographic: US Vacation Policy Sucks

Did you know some countries require you to take a vacation?

From Visually.

Here in the States, a lot of folks are lucky to get a vacation from work, let alone paid vacation. In 2012, Americans took an average of 12 days off work during the whole year, and according to the Labor Department, only 59 percent of US workers have access to any paid time off. In fact, the United States is the only major developed country that doesn’t require companies to provide employees with a minimum number of vacation days. Sucks to be us, I guess.

Now imagine a world where you’re actually required to take vacation — or better yet, required to take five whole weeks each year. How fucking sweet would that be, right? Well, believe it or not, a lot of our global neighbors have it just that good. According to Mercer, 60 countries, as well as Hong Kong, require vacation time for all workers.

How awesome would it be to work in Austria and get 42 days of paid vacation every year? And the boss can’t tell you ‘no’? Hellz to the yeah. Of course, there’s probably not enough jobs in the nation for all of us here in the US, but never fear, Brazil and France each require 30 days of vacation for workers, and the United Kingdom mandates its workers take 29 days of holiday each year.

Of the 25 countries rated by EmploymentLawHQ.com, the US rated the worst in terms of required vacation with, unfortunately, zero. Hell, even communist China and Vietnam require workers receive five and 12 vacation days, respectively, each year. No wonder Americans are such stressed-out assholes.