[PDLM]

And only if you were on holiday in a place where you can't buy Blackberry chargers.

[Sleuth]

And the hotel didn't have something they could offer you.

[pin]

guys, guys, boss was just being tongue in cheek. you guys are way way too serious.

[Sleuth]

Oops. Just figured you had one of those "do as I say, not as I do" guys over you.

[bargnonions]

Wow, a minimum double of holidays after 9 years?! Imagine working 9 years for the same company, and only have 14 days off. Hope there arent cases like that.

Another good question would be, what do employees get for vacation days they couldn't take off as compensation? I know there can be adding the remainder to next year or financial compensation.

Originally Posted by PDLM

The Hong Kong legal minimum starts at 7 days but increases with length of service to 14 days at nine years or above. ( http://www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/...seGuide/04.pdf )

The only holidays which must be given by law are one day per week, and the 12 Statutory Holidays. Many employers (particularly in companies of the sort that employ expats) work 5 day weeks and give the General Holidays (15-17 extra days, depending on which fall on a Saturday). European countries have somewhere between 9 (UK) and 17 (Germany) public holidays.

20+ days is really not a lot for those from a European background. Germans with 10+ years service might expect 50+ working days off per year including public holidays (but excluding weekends, so 150+ in total).

I had never had less than 25 days before I came to HKG, had 25 in my first company here (European), but then only managed to negotiate 20 when I moved to my second (American). Both are in telecoms, not finance.

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by bargnonions

Wow, a minimum double of holidays after 9 years?! Imagine working 9 years for the same company, and only have 14 days off. Hope there arent cases like that.

Another good question would be, what do employees get for vacation days they couldn't take off as compensation?

I suspect that the vast majority of people working in Hong Kong simply get the legal minimum holidays. If you change employers after those 9 years then you go back to 7 days after your first year with the new one.

The second question is answered in the link I gave above, but my experience with local employees is that it is extremely hard to persuade them to take the few days to which they are entitled.

[bargnonions]

Originally Posted by PDLM

I suspect that the vast majority of people working in Hong Kong simply get the legal minimum holidays. If you change employers after those 9 years then you go back to 7 days after your first year with the new one.

The second question is answered in the link I gave above, but my experience with local employees is that it is extremely hard to persuade them to take the few days to which they are entitled.

That's what I've been hearing. Most local HK might give you 7-14 vacation days, but usually things are so busy that you can't take all of them.

It is required by the law that in some form the remaining holidays are compensated, I think: whether carry over to next year or financial.

[Claire ex-ax]

Originally Posted by PDLM

... had less than 25 days before I came to HKG...

[pedant]... had fewer than 25 days... [/pedant]

[PDLM]

Although I might argue, were I in the mood, that it is perfectly possibly to be granted 24.5 days of leave, so "days of leave" could be regarded as a continuous variable rather than a set of discrete values.

[HKNewBi]

20 days off a year working for an American finance company.

We also get 2 days off a month paid if we are ill - which can be rolled month on month. Some employees appear to treat these as days off as well.