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Comment by albert_e | Hacker News Reader

one of the big companies recently replaced "sick leave" (only you can be sick to avail this, not a family member you care for) with "wellbeing leave" (you dont feel up to a day at work, take the day off - no questions asked) and doubled them from 5 days a year to 10 days a year.

I am usually cynical about big corporates and their people policies, but this is one I can applaud.

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5 vs 10 days is still ridiculous imho. I've just read an overview about the us system [0], and it does seem rather absurd, when you're looking at it from a German perspective.

[0]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_leave

I’m in Australia and get 10 days. However, at my company, I could use all 10 at once without having to see a doctor. Can you do that in your company in Germany?

No, you need to see a doctor if it's more than 3 days, though I don't find that much of a problem in practice, even for mental health stuff.

I'm waiting patiently for the day when I encounter the first European on an American website who understands that Europe sees the American work standard as absurdly high, that on the other hand Americans see the European wealth standard as absurdly low, and uses this information to not derail working conditions discussions with suggestions that violate the premise of sacrificing a third of their income for the last deminishing returns of the European system [0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_c...

Americans need that extra money to cover higher out-of-pocket healthcare costs. That's not necessarily a reliable indicator of wealth.

If you had read the data before commenting you would have noticed that it is all PPP-adjusted.

In Europe, you don't generally get "sick days" - you're entitled to stay at home or in hospital for as long as it takes for you to get better (even for years, if necessary). In the meantime, your salary is paid by the state, so you're not an unproductive burden for your employer. At least that's how it works in Poland.

True, but that also means you cannot take a day off because you're not feeling it. You need at a doctor to attest that you're physically incapable of working. And in Germany, the employer has the right to demand a doctor's note from day one.

You can take a day off when you're not feeling it and don't want to go to the doctor, but it will be subtracted from your paid vacations. You can do that for up to four days a year. It's not that much different than the sick days in the US, which are often bundled together with vacation days into PTO (Paid Time Off).

Are you talking about Germany? Because if you want to take a vacation day, it is subject to approval by the employer. They can deny if they have a good reason. And in many cases, like in my case, a short term absence would ruin a customer project and would thus certainly not be approved.

I don't know about German law, I was talking about Poland. In Poland, the employer cannot refuse to give you a day off (even if your request it on the very day), four times a year.

In salaried (I don't recall the proper Polish term) jobs in Poland, I understand that employees must take at least two consecutive weeks off per year. This intel is about ten years out of date though, so don't know what the situation is now.

My understanding of Germany's rules is hat a policy about needing notes from day 1 has to be in the contract, otherwise the requirement kicks in on day 3 or 4 (I forget which). And the doctor's note doesn't have to claim that you're "physically" incapable - mental health problems also qualify.

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