[nickd2001]

Handful of thoughts. :) The best of the 3 above is having a specific skill set. Anything medical - e:g nursing (good one 'cos less time to retrain) is in short supply worldwide and you can get a local job with visa sponsorship many places. As for experimenting with fascism, USA is sadly by no means the only country going that direction, and the USA's political system may be more resilient to such take-overs, guess we will find out... :( Other countries do have the advantage of not having healthcare tied to employer, people work less hours a lot of countries. The USA's mere 2 weeks a year vacation is brutal, no wonder so many people are burned out, but there are ways to get more e:g work for better employers such as public sector, or do short-term contracts.

[b3ing]

The US requires 0 days off nationally, not sure where you got 2 weeks. I had a job once where we only got 5 days off but had to be there a year first. It was the best IT job I could get at the time.

[nickd2001]

Wow that's even worse :( I got the impression at the time I worked there that 2 weeks was standard, at least in tech. Which didn't seem at all generous...

[0xEF]

Not a requirement, no, but certainly a selling point when shopping for a new job.

Personally, I am not a fan of the whole PTO system we have here, mostly because it is used against us. We are expected to be at work unless we request PTO, and we end up having to use PTO for things like doctor appointments and seeing our kid graduate, or whatever. It's an absurd joke.

I don't want PTO, and I realize that's an unpopular opinion, but it comes from years of seeing its abuse by employers who think they command our time (and the employees who allow them to).

What I want is simple; if I am at work, pay me, if I am not at work, do not pay me. That's it. That would keep both sides honest. I need to plan/budget for days off and can't game a system. Employers can't hold me hostage and need to look for better ways to incentivize employees to choose to be at work.