Can More Vacation Time Boost Productivity? An Analysis Across 30 Countries

Japan has been in the spotlight for considering a law that would mandate its hard-working citizens to take vacations. This move is seen as an attempt to rejuvenate its economy after years of little to no growth, showcasing the various factors pushing towards such a significant policy shift.

But does granting more vacation days truly lead to greater productivity?

The internet is rife with articles (including one from our own website) advocating that less work leads to more productivity. However, these claims often lack comprehensive data or focus too narrowly on a single country. To provide a broader perspective, we decided to delve deeper into this topic.

Our Research Approach

Amidst discussions on productivity, Switzerland is frequently cited as the pinnacle of efficiency according to the Global Competitiveness Report. This report relies on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), described as “an appropriate estimate of the level of productivity and competitiveness of an economy.”

Thus, a country’s position on this index is indicative of its productivity levels.

We selected the top 30 countries from the Global Competitiveness Report for our analysis, comparing the following data points:

  • average working hours per week
  • minimum annual leave mandated by law
  • days of parental leave allocated for each country
  • parental leave mandated by law

Working Hours and Leaves By Countries

Country Working hrs per Week Minimum Mandated Annual Leave (days) Paid Public Holidays Paid Vacation Days Parental leave
(1) Switzerland 30 hrs* 20 days N/A 20 days 14 weeks
(2) Singapore 40 hrs 8-14 days 11 days 7 days 16 weeks
(3) United States 34 hrs* 0 days; 6-20 days (doe) 0 days 0 days 0 days
(4) Finland 32 hrs* 30 days 9 days 25 days 15 weeks
(5) Germany 27 hrs* 24 days 10-14 days (depending on state) 20 days 14 weeks
(6) Japan 33 hrs* 10 days; +1 day off for each yos (max: 20 days) N/A 10 days 14 weeks
(7) Hong Kong 40 hrs 7-14 days (depending yos) N/A 7 days 10 weeks
(8) Netherlands 27 hrs* 20 days 10 days 20 days 16 weeks
(9) United Kingdom 32 hrs* 28 days 8 days (9 for Scotland) 28 days 39 weeks
(10) Sweden 31 hrs* 25 days N/A 25 days 480 days
(11) Norway 27 hrs* 25 days 2 days 21 days 56 or 46 weeks
(12) United Arab Emirates 40 hrs 2 days/month for 1st year; 30 days for > 1 yos 10 days 25 days 45 days
(13) Denmark 27 hrs* 30 days 9 days 25 days 52 weeks
(14) Taiwan 40 hrs 7-30 days (dependent on yos) 25 days 7 days 8 weeks
(15) Canada 33 hrs* 10 days 5-10 days (depending on province) 10 days 50 weeks
(16) Qatar 40 hrs 15-20 days 10 days 15 days 50 days
(17) New Zealand 34 hrs* 20 days 11 days 20 days 14 weeks
(18) Belgium 30 hrs* 20-24 days (dependent on working days a week) 10 days 20 days 15 weeks
(19) Luxembourg 32 hrs* 25 days (extra 6 days of for workers with disabilities) 10 days 25 days 16 weeks
(20) Malaysia 40 hrs 8-16 days (depending on yos) 19 days 7 days 60 days
(21) Austria 31 hrs* 30-36 days (dependent on yos) 13 days 30/35 days 16 weeks
(22) Australia 32 hrs* 20 days (25 days for shiftworkers) 9-11 days 20 days 18 weeks
(23) France 29 hrs* 30 days (extra 22 days for > 35 working hrs/week) 1 day 25 days 16 weeks; 26 weeks for third child.
(24) Saudi Arabia 48 hrs 21-30 days (dependent on yos) 10 days 15 days 10 weeks
(25) Ireland 35 hrs* 20 days 9 days 20 days 26 weeks
(26) South Korea 42 hrs* 15-25 days (dependent on yos) N/A 15 days 90 days
(27) Israel 36 hrs* 10-28 days (dependent on yos) N/A 10 days 14 weeks
(28) China 44 hrs 5-15 days (dependent on yos) 11 days 5 days 98 days
(29) Estonia 36 hrs* 28 days (dependent on contract) N/A 20 days 140 days (extra 2 wks for medical complications)
(30) Iceland 33 hrs* 24 days 12 days 24 days 90 days
  • *doe – depending on employer
  • *yos – year of service
Sources:
  1. Top 30 Most Competitive Countries, Global Competitive Report
  2. List of statutory minimum employment leave by country, Wikipedia
  3. *Average annual hrs actually worked per worker, OECD
  4. Workweek and weekend, Wikipedia
  5. Parental leave, Wikipedia

Leaderboard

Now, we understand that the table above is contains a truckload of data and who has the vacation time to go through the data cell by cell, right? In this section we will just give you the summary for each category, in what we will call the leaderboards.

Let’s start with the working hours in a week.

Countries With The Most Working Hours:
  • 48 hrs – Saudi Arabia
  • 44 hrs – China
  • 42 hrs – South Korea
  • 40 hrs – Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates,
  • 36 hrs – Israel, Estonia
Countries With The Least Working Hours:
  • 27 hrs – Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark
  • 29 hrs – France
  • 30 hrs – Switzerland, Belgium
  • 31 hrs – Sweden, Austria
  • 32 hrs – Luxembourg, Australia

If you are looking for the country that tops the chart in highest number of mandated annual leave, check this out:

Countries With The Most Annual Leave (days):
  • 30 days – Finland, France, Denmark, Austria
  • 28 days – United Kingdom, Estonia
  • 24 days – Germany, Iceland
  • 25 days – Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg
  • 21 days – Saudi Arabia
Countries With The Least Annual Leave (days):
  • 0 days – United States
  • 5 days – China
  • 7 days – Taiwan, Hong Kong
  • 8 days – Singapore, Malaysia
  • 10 days – Israel, Canada, Japan

If you wonder if vacation days actually have the influence on productivity in the workplace, then these are the leaderboards you want to see.

Countries With The Most Paid Vacation Days:
  • 30 days – Austria
  • 28 days – United Kingdom
  • 25 days – Finland, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Luxembourg, France
  • 24 days – Iceland
  • 21 days – Norway
Countries With The Least Paid Vacation Days:
  • 0 days – United States
  • 5 days – China
  • 7 days – Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia
  • 10 days – Japan, Canada, Israel
  • 15 days – Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea

Parental leave, a controversial topic for many countries including the United States. Here are the countries that give parents a whole lot of time off, and those that didn’t.

Countries With The Longest Parental Leave:
  • 480 days – Sweden
  • 56 weeks – Norway
  • 52 weeks – Denmark
  • 50 weeks – Canada
  • 26 weeks – Ireland
Countries With The Shortest Parental Leave:
  • 45 days – United Arab Emirates
  • 50 days – Qatar
  • 8 weeks – Taiwan
  • 60 days – Malaysia
  • 10 weeks – Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia

Lastly, here are the leaderboards on paid public holidays, also known as holidays that you get to take a break while still on a payroll.

Countries With The Most Paid Public Holidays:
  • 25 days – Taiwan
  • 19 days – Malaysia
  • 13 days – Austria
  • 12 days – Iceland
  • 11 days – Singapore
Countries With The Least Paid Public Holidays:
  • 0 days – United States
  • 1 day – France
  • 2 days – Norway
  • 5 days – Canada
  • 8 days – United Kingdom

Visual Aid

For those who prefer a quick summary, we’ve created an infographic with the help of Piktochart to visually present the data discussed in this post.

Vacation Time vs Productivity Infographic

Editor’s note: You can find and use this infographic for free at Piktochart.

Conclusion

Although our approach may not be strictly scientific, the data doesn’t clearly show that more vacation days lead to increased productivity or competitiveness across countries. However, all the information is presented for you to examine and draw your own conclusions.

Note: This post was originally published on May 18, 2015.

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