Regardless of your job title or responsibilities, there are sure to be times when you need to take a step away from work. Even if it’s only one day, time off gives you time to recharge so that you can continue to work at peak performance. And you can guarantee the same holds true for all of your employees.
As you read through our time off by country data, you’ll realize that time off requirements vary greatly from one location and employer to the next.
Vacation days per country
Before we dive into the list, there’s something you need to know: Each country has a unique number of required vacation days. As an HR professional, it’s important to understand the laws in your country, as well as those in other countries in which employees live.
Argentina
10–25 working days based on the number of years at the company.
Australia
For each year with an employer, an employee is entitled to a minimum of four weeks of paid annual leave.
Austria
Employees with fewer than 25 years of service receive 25 days of annual leave. Employees with 25 or more years at the same employer are entitled to 30 days of annual leave.
The Bahamas
14 days after one year of employment and 21 days after seven years of employment.
Brazil
Paid time off is based on the number of days absent from work.
- 22 working days if the worker was absent five times or less.
- 18 working days if the worker was absent between 6 and 14 days.
- 14 working days if the worker was absent between 15 and 23 days.
- 10 working days if the worker was absent between 24 and 32 days.
Canada
With the exception of federal employees and employees of federally-regulated industries, vacation time is set by the individual provinces and territories.
Chile
15 working days of paid annual leave.
China
Five days for employees with 1–10 years of experience, 10 days for employees with 10–20 years of service, and 15 days for employees with 20+ years.
Colombia
15 consecutive working days of paid annual leave.
Denmark
25 days of paid annual leave.
Ecuador
15 consecutive days of paid annual leave, which includes non-working days.
Finland
5 days of paid annual leave.
France
5 weeks plus up to 22 days of reduction of working time for employees that work more than 35 hours per week.
Germany
24 days of paid annual leave.
Honduras
Paid annual leave varies by years of service:
- 10 consecutive working days after one year of service.
- 12 consecutive working days after two years of consecutive service.
- 15 consecutive working days after three years of consecutive service.
- 20 consecutive working days after four or more years of consecutive service.
Iceland
24 days of paid annual leave.
India
In India, paid time off varies by industry and age. For example, adult workers in plantations, mines, and factories receive roughly 12 days of paid time off per year. Minors are entitled to 15 years of paid annual leave.
Italy
A minimum of 20 working days with the potential for more with the reduction of working time (Riduzione Orario di Lavoro).
Japan
Paid time off starts at 10 days of leave for each employee. From there, workers who have been employed for a minimum of 1.5 years will receive one additional day for each year of service. There is a maximum of 20 days of paid leave per year.
Luxembourg
26 working days for private sector employees and 32 working days for public sector employees.
Mexico
A minimum of six working days after one year of service with the same company.
New Zealand
A minimum of four weeks of annual paid time off.
Norway
After one year of full employment, an employee is entitled to 25 working days of paid vacation.
Philippines
5 days of annual paid service incentive leave.
Poland
A minimum of 26 days of annual paid time off.
South Africa
21 consecutive days of annual paid time off.
South Korea
15 days for employees who have worked three years, plus one additional day for every two years of continuous work up to a maximum of 25 days.
Sweden
A minimum of 25 days of annual paid time off.
Switzerland
4 weeks for employees aged 20 or older, and five weeks for employees under the age of 20.
United Kingdom
A minimum of 28 working days of annual paid time off.
United States
There are no federal or state statutory laws that govern paid vacation. Employers make this decision at their own discretion. On average, full-time employees get 10 days of paid vacation per year.
Summary
Now that you know how time off by country works, it’s time to review your PTO plan to ensure that it meets all legal requirements while also keeping your employees happy.
It doesn’t matter if you’re hiring a new employee or managing the ones you already have, it’s critical to have a firm grasp of vacation day regulations. If you need help managing vacation days, sick days, and related types of time off, learn more about the Oyster platform and what it can do for you.
About Oyster
Oyster is a distributed HR platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, hire, pay, manage, develop, and take care of a thriving distributed workforce. Oyster lets growing companies give valued international team members the experience they deserve, without the usual headaches and expense.
Oyster enables hiring anywhere in the world—with reliable, compliant payroll, and great local benefits and perks.
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