Holidays Differ from Country to Country

By Zhang Yue

“God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

Resting on the Sabbath day originated in the Western notion of the seven-day week, which was subsequently popularized to the world.

On the international front, holiday and vacation policies involve two things besides the standard two-day weekend.One is public holidays like Christmas, New Year's Days and National Days.The other is annual leave, which is part of an employee's benefits package.At a glance it seems to be the same as those in China, but one will easily notice many major differences if taking a closer look.

Mandatory Fun

When thinking of which country has the most holidays, France might pop up first.Not only are the French very “romantique” but they really know how to enjoy their time off.New Year, Easter, Christmas, Bastille Day, WWI Victory Day and WWII Victory Day are all important holidays in France, not to mention the two-day weekend, paid vacation and other holidays.All of those can take up to a total of 150 days off, which is more than one-third of the year, for average French workers.They work merely 35 hours per week, and anything beyond that can be converted into time off.

Actually, there are even more holidays in Germany.The collective bargaining agreement in the country stipulates that all employees, regardless of seniority, are entitled to 30 working days off every year.Couple that with weekends off, New Year's Eve, Labor Day, German Unity Day and various religious holidays, average Germans work almost only half the days out of the year.

“第七日，神造物完畢，歇了一切的工，安息了。神賜福給第七日，定為圣日。”第七天休息，這是西方星期制的起源，之后推廣至世界各國。

國外的休假制度除了周末，還包括兩部分：一是公共假日，比如西方傳統的圣誕節、新年、國慶節等；二是員工年假，是福利的一部分。這些粗看與中國類似，但細看會發現大有不同。

逼你休假

要說哪個國家休假多，可能很多人都會想到法國。法國人不僅浪漫，還懂得享清閑。新年、復活節、圣誕節、國慶節、一戰勝利日、二戰勝利日都是法國的重要節假日，再加上周末雙休、帶薪年假及其他假日，一個法國人一年最多有150 天的假期，超過一年的1/3。他們每周工作時間僅35 個小時，超出的部分都可以轉換成假期。

其實，德國國民的假期比法國還要多。德國的勞資協定都規定，雇員不分資歷深淺，每年可有30 個工作日的假期。加上周末雙休、元旦、五一、國慶以及其他宗教假日，德國人幾乎一年有一半的時間在休假。

有的國家甚至“逼”著員工休假。

瑞典政府為鼓勵國民休假，可說是無所不用其極。

自2002年起，瑞典試行自愿休長假制度，自愿脫離工作連休12 個月的員工，可以在休假期間領取85%的失業保險金。根據政府的解釋，這一措施是為了安排長期失業人員上崗，為他們最終獲得一份穩定工作提供便利。

There are countries that actually “force” their workers to take the day off.

In Sweden, the government will do whatever it takes to encourage its citizens to take leave.

Starting from 2002, Sweden has been trying out an extended leave system in which those who voluntarily leave work for 12 continuous months can enjoy employment compensation for 85 percent of their salary while they are on leave.According to the Swedish government, this measure is set up to make it convenient for unemployed workers to go back to work and get a stable, remunerative job.

Sweden stipulates that the salary employees earn while they are on paid vacation be 0.8 percent higher than normal.Should they be unable to take leave due to work demands, the employer must pay time and a half, or thereabouts.The policy says that workers on paid vacation can use that time to do anything they want, like travel, study, take care of their kids or even run a company, but they can't earn a single cent from working a salaried job.

Vacation Stacking

There is a certain pattern to the way that many workers in China take their vacations, which follows a “stack up” and “party down” logic.For instance, if Wednesday is a statutory holiday, workers might take Monday to Wednesday off, and then make the extra two-day vacation up on the weekend.

瑞典政府還規定，人們帶薪休假期間的工資要比平常高出0.8%。要是實在因工作需要而無法休假，雇主須付給雇員高出其正常收入近50%的工資。政策規定，帶薪休假人員可以利用假期做任何自己想做的事情，如旅游、學習、照料子女，甚至可以開辦公司，但不能打工再掙一份工資。

合理拼假

中國員工有一種休假模式，就是“挪假”或者“拼假”，比如周三是法定假日，上班族們可能從周一休到周三，而平白多出來的兩天則用周末上班補回來。

比如2013年的五一假期，上班族從4月29日開始就可以一連休假三天。這多出來的兩天假期是用4月27日和28日工作換來的。有網友調侃：“果然是勞動節，不多勞動就不讓你過節。”

“拼假”的本意可能是給員工一個連貫的假期，但休完假之后的“補假”讓很多人叫苦不迭。這意味著接下來工作日和周末都要連軸轉。

國外也有類似的“拼假”，但由于設計更合理，沒有給上班族造成更大的負擔。有的國家，法定節日大部分安排在周一，這樣就與前一個周末形成一個“小長假”。

美國1968年批準、1971年正式實施的《統一星期一節日法案》，將一些法定節日，如陣亡將士紀念日、哥倫布節、退伍軍人紀念日等，都從固定日期調整為當月與其相距最近的星期一。元旦、圣誕節和國慶節則是少有的固定日期。

這樣“拼假”的好處在于，不會給雇員造成更多的負擔，不需要擔心休完假回來可能面臨的高強度工作，又能讓雇員形成一個較長的休息周期，從而更好地調節工作造成的身心疲憊。

國外黃金周

中國每年固定的“黃金周”都是對城市基礎設施和交通運輸能力的考驗。國外也有類似的問題。

比如日本，每年8月和新年前后是國民重要的連休期，于是出現類似中國春運的“民族大移動”。連休期間，移動人口多達數億人次，地海空交通工具運力幾乎超飽和運轉，高速公路上頻頻堵車，車輛長龍甚至達上百公里。

歐洲國家習慣季節性休假，一般都將年假安排在7、8、9 這三個月里。不過由于歐洲國家人口基數不大，加上出行地點和休假方式的多元化，所以很少出現哪兒都擠的“一鍋粥”現象。

大部分基督教國家每年都有兩次“黃金周”，一個是復活節前后，一個是圣誕到新年的這段時間。這兩個假期都是商場的打折季，很多人趁著這個假期搶購各種商品，各大商場都是人滿為患。

（摘自《環球》2014年第2 期）

For example, the May Day holiday in 2013 when many office workers took three days of vacation in a row that started on April 29.They robbed Peter to pay Paul by exchanging two vacation days with work-days on April 27 and 28, leading some netizens to gibe, “If you don't labor long enough before Labor Day, you'd be barred from celebrating the labor holiday.”

The original idea behind, “stacking vacation days” may be to give workers a more reasonable time for vacation, but working these “make-up days” after the long vacation is over makes many people feel the work-week is an endlessly grueling marathon, as the following weekdays and weekend will be strung together into one extra-long workweek.

Other countries are similar, but because they have a more reasonable set-up, it does not thrust that hefty work-load on the backs of workers.In some countries, most of the national holidays are arranged on Mondays, forming a “short holiday” when it is attached with the previous weekend.

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act, ratified by the United States in 1968 and officially implemented in 1971, sets the dates of some national holidays, such as Memorial Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day, to the first Monday of the current month.New Year's Day, Christmas Day and Independence Day have rare fixed dates.

The advantage of this “holiday fixing” is that it will not overburden employees, and there will be no need to worry about being slammed with work the first day back at work after the holiday, while at the same time allowing employees to have a longer time to rest and recuperate, in an effort to better manage physical and mental fatigue.

Golden Weeks

The “Golden Week” that happens in China every year is a test of the sheer capacity of urban infrastructure and transportation, but as it turns out it's not wholly unique to this country.

Take Japan for instance, where important national holidays occur in August and around the New Year, which is characterized by a “national migration” that is eerily similar to the Chinese New Year stampede home.During the extended break, hundreds of millions of people take to the streets, literally supersaturating all ground, sea and air transportation systems.Traffic jams and bumper-to-bumper traffic clog the highways and byways with vehicles stretching even 100 kilometers.

European countries are accustomed to seasonal vacations, which center around the months of July, August, and September.However, due to the small population of European countries and their diversity of travel destinations and vacation ideas, there is rarely the “clogged arteries” phenomenon that happens in China where vehicles crowd the roads.

Most Christian nations have their own “Golden Week” twice a year, once around Easter and once between Christmas and New Year.These two holidays are the genesis of the discount shopping season in malls and shopping centers.Many people take advantage of this holiday time to get their mittens on those winter-season discounts and unbeatable in-store bargains that only come around once a year, so overcrowding brick-and-mortar shopping outlets is something of a yearly tradition in these countries.

(FromGlobe, Feburary 2014.Translation: Chase Coulson)