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，神造物完毕，歇了一切的工，安息了。神赐福给第七日，定为圣日。”第七天休息，这是西方星期制的起源，之后推广至世界各国。

国外的休假制度除了周末，还包括两部分：一是公共假日，比如西方传统的圣诞节、新年、国庆节等；二是员工年假，是福利的一部分。这些粗看与中国类似，但细看会发现大有不同。

逼你休假

要说哪个国家休假多，可能很多人都会想到法国。法国人不仅浪漫，还懂得享清闲。新年、复活节、圣诞节、国庆节、一战胜利日、二战胜利日都是法国的重要节假日，再加上周末双休、带薪年假及其他假日，一个法国人一年最多有150 天的假期，超过一年的1/3。他们每周工作时间仅35 个小时，超出的部分都可以转换成假期。

其实，德国国民的假期比法国还要多。德国的劳资协定都规定，雇员不分资历深浅，每年可有30 个工作日的假期。加上周末双休、元旦、五一、国庆以及其他宗教假日，德国人几乎一年有一半的时间在休假。

有的国家甚至“逼”着员工休假。

瑞典政府为鼓励国民休假，可说是无所不用其极。

自2002年起，瑞典试行自愿休长假制度，自愿脱离工作连休12 个月的员工，可以在休假期间领取85%的失业保险金。根据政府的解释，这一措施是为了安排长期失业人员上岗，为他们最终获得一份稳定工作提供便利。

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.

瑞典政府还规定，人们带薪休假期间的工资要比平常高出0.8%。要是实在因工作需要而无法休假，雇主须付给雇员高出其正常收入近50%的工资。政策规定，带薪休假人员可以利用假期做任何自己想做的事情，如旅游、学习、照料子女，甚至可以开办公司，但不能打工再挣一份工资。

合理拼假

中国员工有一种休假模式，就是“挪假”或者“拼假”，比如周三是法定假日，上班族们可能从周一休到周三，而平白多出来的两天则用周末上班补回来。

比如2013年的五一假期，上班族从4月29日开始就可以一连休假三天。这多出来的两天假期是用4月27日和28日工作换来的。有网友调侃：“果然是劳动节，不多劳动就不让你过节。”

“拼假”的本意可能是给员工一个连贯的假期，但休完假之后的“补假”让很多人叫苦不迭。这意味着接下来工作日和周末都要连轴转。

国外也有类似的“拼假”，但由于设计更合理，没有给上班族造成更大的负担。有的国家，法定节日大部分安排在周一，这样就与前一个周末形成一个“小长假”。

美国1968年批准、1971年正式实施的《统一星期一节日法案》，将一些法定节日，如阵亡将士纪念日、哥伦布节、退伍军人纪念日等，都从固定日期调整为当月与其相距最近的星期一。元旦、圣诞节和国庆节则是少有的固定日期。

这样“拼假”的好处在于，不会给雇员造成更多的负担，不需要担心休完假回来可能面临的高强度工作，又能让雇员形成一个较长的休息周期，从而更好地调节工作造成的身心疲惫。

国外黄金周

中国每年固定的“黄金周”都是对城市基础设施和交通运输能力的考验。国外也有类似的问题。

比如日本，每年8月和新年前后是国民重要的连休期，于是出现类似中国春运的“民族大移动”。连休期间，移动人口多达数亿人次，地海空交通工具运力几乎超饱和运转，高速公路上频频堵车，车辆长龙甚至达上百公里。

欧洲国家习惯季节性休假，一般都将年假安排在7、8、9 这三个月里。不过由于欧洲国家人口基数不大，加上出行地点和休假方式的多元化，所以很少出现哪儿都挤的“一锅粥”现象。

大部分基督教国家每年都有两次“黄金周”，一个是复活节前后，一个是圣诞到新年的这段时间。这两个假期都是商场的打折季，很多人趁着这个假期抢购各种商品，各大商场都是人满为患。

（摘自《环球》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)