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Comment by macrael | Hacker News Reader

I've found this is something that really surprises Europeans. But, once, when I was comparing notes with some travelers in a hostel in New Zealand, we asked a South Korean among us for his perspective. He said that he and everyone he knows gets maybe 2 days paid vacation a year. They work most weekends and get maybe 1 holiday. He said if you want to travel, you have to quit your job to do it, with no guarantee you will get another when you get back.

This changed my perspective. The difference between that and the States' 10ish days off is much greater than the difference between us and Europe. It is hard for me to imagine. Can anyone else with knowledge of East Asia chime in? Was this guy's experience representative? If so, it is a bit silly to call America the "no vacation nation." We do get vacation.

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I'm not sure how common this is but "vacation" for the few Japanese and Chinese tourists I've met is usually done as a work retreat. For example, your division has met or exceeded its objectives for the year? Congratulations! you're all going to Hawaii for a week. I assume this is how compensation is done there.

While vacationing in Hawaii I read an article about the massive logistics it took to host about 10 million Amway sales reps from China. The visa and hotel backlog was insane so it took about 2 years from when they were promised to when they were actually delivered that company paid vacation.

I work in South Korea as a software developer for an RnD startup. The legal requirement for paid holidays in (most) contracts is 10 paid days plus public holidays. Public holidays are not really considered holidays by many as there is a very strong compulsion to spend it with your extended family instead of "going anywhere". They don't carry over unused days from what I can grasp from the laws (in Korean).

That said, people are discouraged from taking holidays in many companies, especially large Chaebol-style companies. I know a few people who work 6 days a week, 10 hours a day with two holidays a year and one of them must be a Sunday. Competition, for everything, is far more intense here than it was in Australia or the US.

According to this source, the average number of paid vacation days in Korea (presumably South Korea) is 25 days:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0922052.html

I'm actually kind of surprised at how good the Canadian number is compared to the US (I'm in Canada). But now that I think about it, I do get 3 weeks plus stat holidays (about 1 week) and a December company shutdown (another 4 days or so). I haven't been shy about asking for unpaid days off either.

This is pretty common. A lot of places in Chinatown in Toronto are open on holidays. My parents (who are Asian) also don't take vacation unless it's a federal holiday.

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