Monday, April 05, 2010

Annual Leaves & Public Holidays

My aunt, who has been living in the Netherlands for many years, returned to Malaysia recently. Accompanying her was her husband.

Out of curiosity, I asked her husband, “How many days of annual leaves do you have?” The answer was: 25 days each year.

Many Malaysian politicians and business people have complained that there are too many public holidays in this country, so much so that it affects productivity. It is true that Malaysia probably has the second highest number of public holidays among Asian nations, just behind Thailand. But we don’t enjoy as many paid holidays as our counterparts in Europe (generally less than 20 days), so that pretty much evens out.

Also, bear it mind that if a public holidays falls on Saturday, it is not replaced. The next Labor Day, Christmas and New Year Day of 2011 all fall on Saturday, so essentially we ‘lose’ three holidays.

Ultimately, the more important issue is how we make use of our free time. If we do charity works or take part in self-improvement class during our days off, we are not being unproductive. I am sure many people have second occupation.

As for myself: I have been doing MBA in the last few years. And it has been ages since I last joined a week-long meditation class. C’mon, give us more holidays!

15 comments:

  1. Wow...so those working in the European countries are having more annual holidays. :D

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  2. Aye to more holidays! :)

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  3. You have been doing MBA in the last few years? You mean Major Blogging Activities? Hahaha!!!

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  4. I hope we can have 3 days work / 4 days rest. That'll be cool!!! : )

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  5. but for me, i m working on saturdays so holidays on saturdays would be great!

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  6. tekkaus
    Yeah, I envy Europeans.

    Mei Teng
    Absolutely!

    foongpc
    If you resign, you can have 7 day rest, LOL...

    wenn
    Oh, so you are different from me.

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  7. Canada has quite a few Public Holidays but I think only about 10 days are paid holidays. Other than that, most people only get 2 weeks paid holidays a year... which isn't much.

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  8. I second your opinion! So sad that holidays on Saturdays will not be replaced! :(

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  9. pls send me yr address. i will send u a postcard of 101 taipei.

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  10. 公共假期越多越好,大马人全部赞成。呵呵呵。。

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  11. we might have more public holidays, but little annual leaves.. if compare with other countries, they have maybe more annual leaves than the sum of our holidays + leaves..

    btw, my company gives us replacement for holidays on saturdays.. hahahaha!!

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  12. Zhu
    So Canadians work as hard as Americans?

    Witch
    Haha... more holidays!

    wenn
    Noted and thanks!

    花木兰
    雇主不赞成哩。

    SK
    Oh how lucky you are!

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  13. Some of us do have more than 20 days of paid leave. Some companies base entitlement on years of service and Saturday public hols are replaced with an annual leave credit. And I would still like more holidays and a shorter workweek. hehe...

    I like it when a PH falls on a Wed. That way, it's like work two days (Mon & Tues), rest one, and then two more and then the weekend is here again.

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  14. I envy Europeans too, but Europeans also have strong unions and strict employment laws that actually hinder productivity.

    Proud to be Asian, but sometimes I wished I could gain some European exposure and enjoy their lax lifestyle.

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  15. i wish we had more holidays too!!

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