By the Numbers: 13
San Jose lives to work rather than the other way around. That’s the takeaway from a survey of 3,000 gainfully employed adults by British Airways, which begins service to San Jose in May. San Jose workers take just 13 days off a year compared to 14 days enjoyed by their counterparts in Los Angeles and 17 in New York City. Part of the reasons cited stem from workload, which appears a tad more burdensome for folks in the purported capital of Silicon Valley. Half of San Jose’s respondents said they had too much to do to even think about using up their vacation days. Only 40 percent said as much in L.A. and the Big Apple. Of those San Jose workaholics who did take time off, roughly half admitted they still contact coworkers on vacation compared to 39 percent of San Franciscans. The airline released the survey results to promote round-trip package deals to London, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Dublin, Madrid, Paris and Rome. But one reason San Jose has no life, collectively speaking, may have something to do with the region’s cost of living. When it takes a six-figure income to afford even a modest abode, vacation seems like wishful thinking.
The City closes down for the entire Xmas and New Years Holiday and that does not require using your personal vacation time. Second you get 1 1/2 hours compensatory overtime for every overtime hour worked with no supervision or time clock confirmation of said overtime (the honor system). That’s an oxymoron at City Hall. So with your overtime and Xmas free vacation you can save your real vacation and sick leave for that big $200,000.00-$300,000.00 retirement buy out. Check out what your Recently retired Chief skimmed when he retired after 30+ years.
The furlough over the Christmas/News Years period is not free time off. One has three possible choices of how to handle it. The City would like one to take no pay time off (one still accrues retirement, sick leave and vacation credit as if those were paid hours). One can use vacation time or executive leave which are paid hours. One can also demand to work that time for pay avoiding the use of leave time. When I was employed, I never used option one but rather a combination of options two and three. The Holidays are still paid Holiday Leave, Christmas and Christmas Eve and New Years and New Years Eve.
I love it when people respond and completely ignore the elephant in the room “Bogus Overtime Compensatory Time Off” That’s the con no one will mention and they think you don’t know what the word “IS” “IS”.
The big elephant is the pathetic time off in the USA compared to almost all MATURE (excluding Asian) developed countries. Western Europe, Australia, Canada, UK. Do some homework. California is so depraved as to have failed a state ballot measure for a 3 week vacation minimum for employees with good on the job record! But yes, the San Jose Firefighters have had a sick leave scam system that results in an annual sick leave taken at the end of their career near zero.
But how this comment string got started was by a Mr. Slade ranting without the facts about the City’s Christmas to New Year closure.
What has all this technology gotten us? One would THINK it would mean more work in less time, duh.
Must be a very slow news day.
Jack, the City does require employees to take vacation during the holiday furlough.
To all commentators, this survey is not of public workers for those respective cities, but rather an average of all workers public and private in those areas.
Oh I see it is about TOMATOES and not TOMATOS. Oh yea, I really take serious comments made by people who are afraid to step up and use their real names.