Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 20:22:23 +0100 From: Mark Ovens <marko@freebsd.org> To: "Bruce A. Mah" <bmah@freebsd.org> Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Holidays and other perks of the job [Was: Question about voting] Message-ID: <20000913202222.F264@parish> In-Reply-To: <200009131855.e8DItrM56191@bmah-freebsd-0.cisco.com>; from bmah@freebsd.org on Wed, Sep 13, 2000 at 11:55:53AM -0700 References: <20000913074150.V11227@radon.gryphonsoft.com> <62550.968809979@winston.osd.bsdi.com> <200009130541.e8D5fHG91697@netplex.com.au> <20000913074150.V11227@radon.gryphonsoft.com> <200009131641.KAA88617@harmony.village.org> <20000913191538.B264@parish> <200009131822.e8DIM6e28777@bmah-freebsd-0.cisco.com> <20000913194054.E264@parish> <200009131855.e8DItrM56191@bmah-freebsd-0.cisco.com>
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On Wed, Sep 13, 2000 at 11:55:53AM -0700, Bruce A. Mah wrote: > If memory serves me right, Mark Ovens wrote: > > [moved to -chat] > > Yeah. Thought it was already moved. > > > On Wed, Sep 13, 2000 at 11:22:06AM -0700, Bruce A. Mah wrote: > > > If memory serves me right, Mark Ovens wrote: > > > > On Wed, Sep 13, 2000 at 10:41:03AM -0600, Warner Losh wrote: > > > > > The reason that I changed it from 1 week to 4 weeks was at the request > > > > > of many Europeans. They are lucky enough to get 3-4 week vacations > > > > > which they tend to take off all at once. > > > > > > > > So how many weeks do you get in the States? > > > > > > Some 'Merikan companies lump vacation and sick leave time together. > > > Here at Cisco it's called "Paid Time Off" (PTO). We get four weeks of > > > PTO total...if you're healthy, you can treat it all like vacation time. > > > > Jeez, you're joking. The company I work for has what is regarded as > > low holiday entitlements but I still get 22 days + 8 statutory > > (Easter, Xmas, New Year and Bank Holidays) and 6 weeks paid sick > > leave. If you are in a company pension scheme that (sick leave) > > usually rises to 6 months on full pay followed by 6 months on half > > pay. > > I neglected to mention paid holidays, I forget how many of them there > are. > What's the difference between "paid holidays" and PTO? Do you mean "public holidays" like Labour Day, Thanksgiving etc? > > No wonder that when we set up a subsidiary in the US the people who > > moved out there wanted UK style employment terms (holiday/sick pay and > > company cars). > > Company cars?!? > Oh yeah, it's something that is pretty much unique to the UK. Even (relatively) lowly positions on the company ladder get a car as part of their remuneration package. It all started in the early-mid '70's when Ted Heath's govt. implemented strict wage controls (to try and control inflation) and companies were severely penalized (I forget exactly how) if they gave pay rises above the stated maximum. this meant that employers couldn't give large pay rises to encourage staff to stay, or offer bigger pay rates to attract better staff. A loophole was discovered in that these limits only applied to pay (cash) and not other benefits so very quickly companies started offering company cars in lieu of (bigger) pay rises (previously only people whose jobs involved lots of travelling, i.e. salesmen, and the MD got company cars) and, as so often happens, it just snowballed with lower and lower "ranks" getting company cars (some companies, even today, also pay for fuel used for private mileage). Today though things are going the other way. Since well over half the new cars sold in the UK are company cars the govt. has realized it is a "cash cow" and tax them to the hilt (you pay a lot more income tax) so only people who do a serious number of business miles a year actually benefit. Many companies "buy back" the cars from employees in return for higher (a few thousand £'s higher) salaries (often giving them the equivalent of one years pay rise as a lump sum to enable them to buy their own car) > Bruce. > > > -- 4.4 - The number of the Beastie ________________________________________________________________ 51.44°N FreeBSD - The Power To Serve http://www.freebsd.org 2.057°W My Webpage http://ukug.uk.freebsd.org/~mark mailto:marko@freebsd.org http://www.radan.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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