- Public Holidays: 13 days per annum Though at least 3 of these PH falls on a Sunday (Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday & Whit Sunday), there is no replacement days for those days
- Long weekends: about 5 times this year Easter holidays, Labour Day & National Day, Pentecost holidays, Christmas. Though Labour Day & National Day were on Thursdays, most folks took a day's holiday on Friday.
- Paid leave: 25 days. How about that?
- So in a way, one has about 35 days, excluding weekends, to dispose in a year. Plus, in some companies, like ours and depending on contract type, we are able to choose to take avspasere so that the Mister & I could whizz off to some place :p
From the websites, as you can tell, it is official that one is expected to take three weeks' continuous leave during/around summer time. Combine that with the above mentioned long weekends and, more often than not, a week's break for CNY & Christmas, doesn't it just makes you smile? I think it is one of the long list of reasons why Norway is constantly rated as a happy country in studies. Of course, you don't have to take the three weeks' continuously in summer, you could plan with your boss and take off some other time.
I truly believe that if by law, you are expected to go on leave every year, it will affect how the society views taking holidays, to a certain degree. Here - it is a norm, back home - it is a luxury. Sometimes, even frowned upon.
That's on a personal level but on a national level, as folks enjoy their leisure time, it may begin to have an undesired impact as stated here. Yes, sometimes it IS frustrating when project deadline looms and the key person takes off for two weeks, but honestly, aside from that, folks, in general, seem genuinely happy with the arrangement.
AND, so are Mister & I.. for now :p
Holidayssssss,
ABE