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Comment by diverse41 | Hacker News Reader

The 35 hours law was implemented very differently for blue collar vs white collar workers.

For white collar workers (including software/it people), the law was implemented with a certain number of extra days/weeks of vacation per year, above the standard 5. And each company had it different.

So if one talks about the 35 hours law in France about software/it workers, please do not start counting weekly hours. Ask about how many weeks of vacation instead.

Accordingly, when I moved from France to the US, for the same company, i lost a few weeks of vacation, but boy, the days were WAY shorter.

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> a certain number of extra days/weeks of vacation per year, above the standard 5.

No doubt you mean "standard 5 [weeks]" and not "days", but note that won't be obvious to many of us in less enlightened countries like US and Japan.

Correct, 5 weeks. I got up to 4 weeks in the US eventually.

The strangest thing for me in the US is how many people are convinced they cannot take 2 weeks at a time, and how many are leaving days on the table each year.

Could you elaborate about the fr/us move causing shorter days? Most u.s. software companies seem obsessed with long hours.

Context: worked in a high-tech company, no longer a start-up, but still growing very well. In the US, almost everybody had left at 6.30, most people at 6.00 pm. In France, as a white collar, you are expected to work until 7.30 pm minimum, often 8.00 pm, and I was.

Still today, my friends in France say that when they try to leave at 6.00 pm for whatever reason, they get jokes like "you're taking half a day off today?"

Start time was about 9.00 am on both sides. Lunch break was outside the office in France, at usually 45 minutes long. Usually a bit longer on Fridays, maybe 1:15/1:30 when no pressure. Shorter in the US, at my desk. Maybe just a company thing. The longer lunch with colleagues in France was much more efficient at fixing issues than the 20 minutes at my desk, since we talked shop a lot even though we relaxed.

Bullshit work, unnecessary meetings was about the same both sides.

Bullshit work, unnecessary meetings was about the same both sides.

Ding ding ding I think we found the culprit!

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