As President's Day approaches, here is a study published by the Department of Labor in August 2013 (with 2012 data) about 'paid leave in private industry in the past 20 years': Seventy-two percent of workers received both paid holidays and paid vacations. On average employees had 8 to 10 paid holidays. As you know, since it was announced on August 5, 2015, Microsoft now offers 12 such paid holidays to its 'direct' employees. Why?
"we’re responding to additional employee feedback by making enhancements in two key areas, effective Jan. 1, 2016:
- Additional paid holidays: Beginning in 2016, we’ll add Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day to our list of Microsoft holidays in the U.S. This creates two new company-wide breaks that align to the federal calendar and create time for us to pause in the lengthy period between New Year’s Day and Memorial Day. We now offer 12 paid holidays (which includes two floating holidays), in addition to paid vacation time that employees accrue. We believe this will provide employees with more opportunity to take time to recharge and invest that time in ways that are meaningful to them, while honoring Dr. King and U.S. presidents.
How long are we going to wait until we are also allowed such paid "time to pause' and have "more opportunity to recharge and invest time in ways that are meaningful" ?
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