Re:Consultants vs. Employees: The Real Costs
by Silhouette on Monday October 21, 2013 @06:01PM
(#6588515)
I think it should be noted that all of those things are very US-centric, and workers in the US generally get a very bad deal compared to almost any other first world country.
For example, for a full-time employee in Europe, dropping below those levels wouldn't just be unambitious, it would probably be illegal. In many European countries, the counts for both bank holidays and vacation days are usually somewhat higher. Also, if you're sick then for many salaried positions you would still get paid as normal, though would you probably have to get an official statement from your doctor for anything non-trivial and different rules might apply if you needed to take long-term sick leave.
A typical reckoning in Europe is that there are 365 days in the year, but only a little over 200 working days. Put another way, the fully loaded cost of a "full-time" employee here is probably 150-200% of their salary, and a significant chunk of the overhead is paying them for Monday-Friday days when they won't actually be at work for one reason or another.
For example, for a full-time employee in Europe, dropping below those levels wouldn't just be unambitious, it would probably be illegal. In many European countries, the counts for both bank holidays and vacation days are usually somewhat higher. Also, if you're sick then for many salaried positions you would still get paid as normal, though would you probably have to get an official statement from your doctor for anything non-trivial and different rules might apply if you needed to take long-term sick leave.
A typical reckoning in Europe is that there are 365 days in the year, but only a little over 200 working days. Put another way, the fully loaded cost of a "full-time" employee here is probably 150-200% of their salary, and a significant chunk of the overhead is paying them for Monday-Friday days when they won't actually be at work for one reason or another.