Jennie did a wonderful job of describing the Midsummer tradition here in Sweden.  The longest day of the year is celebrated (albeit not always on the actual day but still…) with relish in a country that is enveloped in darkness for much of the winter.

But once Midsummer comes and goes, the nights start getting a little bit longer, the days a little bit shorter.  Cracking the “it’s all downhill from here” jokes are pretty common after Midsummer, luckily there is plenty of sun still to enjoy.  And more importantly, plenty of vacation days to use in order to enjoy that sun.

Sweden is known to be very worker friendly.  We wrote earlier about the number of official Swedish public holidays (12 for those of you scoring at home).  There are also plenty of unofficial days which result in time off.  But maybe most important is the number of vacation days.

Most salaried employees start with about 25 work day’s worth of vacation.  The idea is that working people need the opportunity to spend time with their families, to get away from the office, to re-load their batteries if you will.

With 25 days being offered, people take full advantage.  That’s five full work weeks.  Enough time to take an entire month off during the summer.  And many people do.  Having moved here from the US during the summer months, I became increasingly frustrated when trying to get things done (bank accounts, job interviews, etc.).  It dawned on me that following summer what had happened, most offices were working with skeleton staffs because so many people were using their vacation days.

Coming from the US where two weeks of vacation for salaried employees tends to be pretty common, the five weeks was a welcome addition to my work life.  Let’s just say that it didn’t take me long to get into a similar habit.

What are the vacation policies like in your home country?

To learn more about working in Sweden and your rights, click here for the Swedish Work Environment Authority.