Canada lagging behind on paid annual leave

Canada is not winning any medals when it comes to paid annual leaves for workers.

Currently, 38 countries around the world have more paid days for workers, according to a report from Compare the Market.

Canada ranks ninth on the best countries for annual leave list, in a tie with Japan and Costa Rica. That is a far cry from the 30 days offered in France, Austria, Spain and Finland, which all tied for first on the list.

Canada ranks just better than Mexico and the United States, which have six and zero days of paid annual leave, respectively, according to the study that looked into eight factors relating to work-life balance, including paid annual leave and paid sick leave.

Across Canada, provincial employment standards legislation sets out the minimum vacation employees are entitled to, and how vacation is earned.

But people don’t take their full allotted time off, according to a previous report.

Mental health boost

Annual leave is vital to promote good physical and mental health in the workplace and will improve employees’ work-life balance, according to HR consultancy Employment Law Solutions in England.

“It allows individuals to take time to rest and re-energize which can result in stress reduction and improve mood, benefiting staff morale. Employees who take regular annual leave holidays can perform more efficiently and have higher motivation compared to those who do not,” it says.

And when they don’t take annual leaves, employees are at high risk of burnout, according to the consultancy.

With the start of December, the much-anticipated 10 days of paid sick leave for private sector workers in Canada’s federally regulated sector became a reality.

All these countries have more annual leaves compared with Canada: