Why am I not allowed to work part-time?

[Mempho]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand this about American society. Why can't I take a job doing something in my degree field (accountancy) that pays a comparable hourly rate (notice I didn't say that it paid the same....just that it is comparable on a per hour worked basis)? I could get the same volume of work done in 60% of the time anyway because of all the bs. Why is it unacceptable for someone to work in an "educated field" and work less time? I don't understand this...everywhere else in the industrialized world, this is excepted...just not in America.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah. I read this twice and have no idea what you're talking about.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm basically saying that "face time" is a lot of what constitutes work in America. Cutting out at least some (not all) of the garbage time would be nice.

[Gunny Highway]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand this about American society. Why can't I take a job doing something in my degree field (accountancy) that pays a comparable hourly rate (notice I didn't say that it paid the same....just that it is comparable on a per hour worked basis)? I could get the same volume of work done in 60% of the time anyway because of all the bs. Why is it unacceptable for someone to work in an "educated field" and work less time? I don't understand this...everywhere else in the industrialized world, this is excepted...just not in America.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah. I read this twice and have no idea what you're talking about.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm basically saying that "face time" is a lot of what constitutes work in America. Cutting out at least some (not all) of the garbage time would be nice.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's slowly changing, but the standard of being paid by the hour is not uniquely American.

[WDC]

I know tons of people who job share in the accounting field as well as the legal field. I also know a lot that work part time but as independent contractors so the company is not paying benefits. It is done quite a bit, even in America.

[MadMat]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Serious question here is 2 weeks paid holiday the norm for you US guys? that really sucks!

No wonder you all want to be poker pros!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes....unskilled laborers may even have to work a period of time just to get that.

[/ QUOTE ]

That sucks big time! standard over here is between 4 and 5 weeks paid leave per year, and pro-rata for the first year

The company I work for has a standard contract of a 37 hour week, with 23 days leave, rising to 25 after 3 years service, plus an option to "buy" 5 more days each year (efectively 5 days unpaid, but the "cost" of this is spread over all 12 salary payments for that calander year)

Mat

[lehighguy]

I was a finance major. I'm currently a pricing analyst (determining the rates and such) for Hertz.

So similair enough. Accountemps does nearly all kinds of business, and has a brother company called Robert Half Finance.

[punkass]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Serious question here is 2 weeks paid holiday the norm for you US guys? that really sucks!

No wonder you all want to be poker pros!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes....unskilled laborers may even have to work a period of time just to get that.

[/ QUOTE ]

This obviously is company-dependent, but from my experience, if you are a new employee, you start off with 10 days vacation, with approx. 10 sick days, and approx. 8 paid holidays.

Most companies will increase your vacation days with tenure. After 5 years, you get 15 vacation days; after 10 years, you get 20.

[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand this about American society. Why can't I take a job doing something in my degree field (accountancy) that pays a comparable hourly rate (notice I didn't say that it paid the same....just that it is comparable on a per hour worked basis)? I could get the same volume of work done in 60% of the time anyway because of all the bs. Why is it unacceptable for someone to work in an "educated field" and work less time? I don't understand this...everywhere else in the industrialized world, this is excepted...just not in America.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can- it's called "indepedent contracting" or "self-employment"

[Mempho]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Serious question here is 2 weeks paid holiday the norm for you US guys? that really sucks!

No wonder you all want to be poker pros!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes....unskilled laborers may even have to work a period of time just to get that.

[/ QUOTE ]

This obviously is company-dependent, but from my experience, if you are a new employee, you start off with 10 days vacation, with approx. 10 sick days, and approx. 8 paid holidays.

Most companies will increase your vacation days with tenure. After 5 years, you get 15 vacation days; after 10 years, you get 20.

[/ QUOTE ]

The standard around here seems to be 10 vacation/5 sick or just 15 PTO (paid time off). I wasn't aware that anyone was getting 10 sick days.

[ColdCaller]

[ QUOTE ]
Most Western European Countries have: 4 week paid vacation guranteed by law, many more paid holidays than the U.S. workers, and most families can get by on only one income.

We have close to the same level of productivity/hour as them; why can't we have this as well!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Because that drives up unemployment.

[moorobot]

Not true. It actually decreases it, because less hours per job means more jobs total, given the same level of work available in the society.

But, even if you were right other policies can counter this: see my post in this thread with stats.