In Scandinavian countries, the minimum (by law) is 20 to 25 days of paid time off per year. That's on top of public holidays. I must say my vacations feel highly realistic

That's true for the entire EU too. The minimum is 20, or slightly above that.

Pretty common in Germany are 30 days.

Yep. The minimum is 20 days (for a five day work week) but most people get 25 to 30 days. That's on top of 10-13 public holidays, and sick days.

Moreover, taking sick days is normalised and you will not be punished for it unless you abuse it. If you take below 30 sick days a year, you're likely safe.

My job is to help people settle in Germany. I struggle to communicate how chill German work culture is.

Switzerland is 25-30 (at a certain seniority).

Glanced at the model and didn't see holidays broken out separately.

Most tech companies give most Federal holidays off, maybe 10 paid Federal holidays which means that 4.5 weeks of "vacation" is actually 2.5 weeks of PTO. 2-3 weeks of PTO is common in tech and across most professional roles after a few years with a company.

I assume from 10d changing 2.5->4.5 that whenever you say 'weeks' you mean 5-day working weeks? So 2-3 weeks = 10-15 days and that's 'after a few years with a company'?!

A “week of PTO” generally means “however much time you’d usually work in a week”. If you typically work 40 hours per week, 40 hours of PTO is a week of PTO.

I think that around 10 company-selected holidays plus 15 employee-selected days is a fairly typical starting point for tech in the US, with some having more and some having less.

We start at 9 company plus 18 employee chosen days and you get 1 additional employee chosen day per year per year of service up to 5. (So, I’m at 9+23 or 32 days or 6.4 weeks per year now.) We also have half-day Fridays in the summer, so if you take 12 half-days of PTO, you can have 12 summer Fridays off plus 26 other days for 38 or almost 8 weeks off.

Wow. I think the UK's on the worse end of Europe, and here the statutory minimum is 28 days (pro-rated for part time employees) including bank holidays if given (i.e. you can not give bank holidays automatically, but the minimum's still 28). I would say 25+BHs (=33 in England & Wales, 34 in Scotland, 35 in NI) is pretty typical/unremarkable (from day 1) for white collar jobs at least, more is certainly available and some increase with service as you describe.

I'm surprised this doesn't come up in US/Europe salary discussions more (at least, I haven't seen it that I recall) - I've known and see it be a benefit (that people do use) to purchase extra holiday from their already higher than typical US starting point. Wouldn't make that much difference to the comparison if it was offered of course, but perhaps indicates Europeans would be choosier (or unhappier) with their hypothetical US job than they realise.

It might not show up on blind, but as an employer, I assure you it comes up on our side.

When we contemplate opening a new location (now, enabling remote work from a new jurisdiction), we have a standard way to capture the legal requirements and common practices in tech with regards to PTO, hours, on-call, market pay, etc.

I would say it's fairly common at tech companies. Right now I've got 22 days + 11 holidays + ~6 additional company wide days off. So almost 8 weeks off not counting sick days. One startup had unlimited PTO and I was taking around 6 weeks off a year not counting holidays.

Depends on the company and on what you negotiate.

It should be standard.

I figure that every one of my reports is going to be out for five weeks over the year and and plan accordingly.

I so very much hope the US moves away from the model of two weeks off a year and towards the European model of more like eight. I’m in a Scandinavian country and everyone (including my very senior boss who is incredibly busy) takes eight weeks off and it does allow for everyone to have pretty good mental health and also just enjoy their lives and families without guilt

That's roughly how many people get in my team. The base is 4, then we have 10 emergency days that people take at their discretion (either when sick or when they need a break) (or when they don't have any more vacation)

I thought the US had very little vacation, so sounds reasonable.

Standard in professional jobs in the UK would be about 7 weeks including public holidays (25 days plus 9 public holidays), maybe 8 or 9 weeks, especially after a few years tenure.