Brits flabbergasted to find out Americans 'don't get time off work' – The Mirror
After filming a jokey video depicting colleagues in Britain and America, one woman has gone viral, with some saying that she’s nailed the likeness of working in both countries
Ah, annual leave – there never seems to be enough of it does there?
But it turns out that Brits seem to get more of it than our US counterparts. One woman has gone viral after depicting two American colleagues talking to one another, alongside two British colleagues speaking in a meeting, after they've taken some annual leave.
Andrea Celeste took to TikTok to share her video, and it started off with "working hours in the US." The colleagues greeted one another, and the colleague asked 'Becky' how she was, and she replied "Swamped as usual, but I can't complain", as the video zoomed in on the hand holding her mug shaking.
"Didn't you just come back from vacation?", the colleague asked Becky, and she responded that it was the "best two days ever", and that she even managed to get some work done as the "internet was really fast", so she wouldn't have to do loads to catch up.
This was then compared to colleagues catching up in the UK after annual leave, where it's not widely expected that you'll work when your out of office is on. One woman said she was "refreshed" after the two-week holiday she'd been on, saying it was "nice to just do nothing." At the end of the skit, the pair decided to hold off on the meeting until tomorrow, saying that they'd meet in the pub in around an hour.
In America, workers are not legally entitled to any time off, but many companies do offer paid annual leave. The number of days varies from employer to employer, but on average, US workers receive around ten days of paid holiday each year. In the UK, workers who work a five-day week must receive at least 28 days' paid annual leave a year. This is the equivalent of 5.6 weeks of holiday.
In the comments, people discussed whether this "is actually normal in the US", and someone wrote: "It really really really really realllllllly is…I can't emphasise enough that this TikTok is not an exaggeration." An American man penned: "I'm on vacation. I check my work email twice a day so I don't come back stressed", and a woman said: "*cries in American*."
Someone else in America said they felt "So burnt out", another fumed: "If that's your reality in the US, get a new boss or go to a different company. Healthy work boundaries do exist here too!" A TikToker replied: "I'm moving to England."
Do you have a story to share? Email: danielle.wroe@mirror.co.uk
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