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There's also the holiday, or rather lack of it - there are many things about the UK I could grumble about, but every other Anglosphere country seems to have worse annual leave.

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3 weeks is common for USA tech companies now. What is it in the uk?

the statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks paid holiday/year

and it's for every employee, including those not working for tech giants (e.g. people stacking shelves in supermarkets)

if you normally work 5 days/week that's 5.6*5 == 28 days paid holiday/year

(and this is the minimum, so most jobs give you more)

How much does a tech company in Cambridge or London usually give?

I had around 4 weeks at Microsoft (3 weeks + 5 seniority days).

I've had tech jobs in Cambridge and London, and they've all been 25 + 8 public/bank holidays

so 33 total (6.6 weeks)

If we are including bank holidays, then I got around 4 weeks + 10 days off in the states.

they're not included, but employment contracts tend to be written as X days off + all bank/public holidays (as employers generally close their offices on bank/public holidays)

the guarantee of 5.6 weeks paid holiday doesn't guarantee when they are taken, as long as you receive at least 5.6

I've always received 6.6 weeks, some of which my employers request I take on bank/public holidays.

the other big difference is in the UK I've never even heard of anyone even feeling remotely pressured into not taking their full entitlement (in fear of being labelled a slacker)

If vacation carries and you can cash out the days on leaving the company, the company has no incentive to label you a slacker.

We give our staff anything between 25 days to 30 days paid holiday. In addition they receive 8 paid bank (aka public) holidays a year. So that's a total of between 33 and 38 paid days off.

The USA has bank/federal holidays also (around 10/year).

Public holidays (federal or state) in the US are not obligatory for (and many are often not observed by) private employers.

Sure, but most tech companies will give you them anyways. If we are talking about what we get for half the pay in the uk, vacation isn’t it.

> Sure, but most tech companies will give you them anyways

I've yet to see any private employer in the US that gives employees every public holiday applicable in their jurisdiction; heck even public employers often don't, as federal government doesn't give state holidays in the location and state and local agencies often don't give all federal holidays.

There are only ten federal holidays. If you are working in the states, you get most of not all of them.

> There are only ten federal holidays. If you are working in the states, you get most of not all of them.

MLK, Washington's Birthday, Labor Day, and Columbus Day are particularly frequently not granted by private employers. Columbus Day and MLK are each not given by some nonfederal public employers (to my knowledge, a non-overlapping set.)

I know from previously working there that Microsoft gives all public holidays. When I started you had floating holidays you could take for some (MLK, Columbus etc) but now all are given. Wouldn't be surprised to learn it's the same at Google, FB et al.

Labor Day is most definitely granted, as is MLK, at the big techs.

I’m sure most full time employees get Labor Day off actually. That’s the whole point of it actually.

See:

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-12-paid-holidays-at-Googl...

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-paid-holidays-at-Microsof...

https://www.glassdoor.com/Benefits/Facebook-Paid-Holidays-US...

25 plus public holidays is normal though can be more I started on 30 at part of Relex - you also in start ups you often get an extra day on your holiday.

Civil servants also get a privilege day - it used to be two half days Queens Birthday and Maundy Thursday

15 is the bare minimum for USA tech companies. I've seen a few not so stellar places offer 10.

Maybe in the right subsections. But 10 days for the first 2-3 years is very common and many companies argue they need consistency across staff.. then others offer you more or infinite vacation then give you a manager from hell with absurd deadlines to make sure you don't take any.

It's much nicer to live in a country with clear employment laws. (Particularly since not everyone around you will work in tech.)

Tech companies have to compete on 15. They can’t just offer fewer than Facebook google Microsoft Apple etc....

Some companies BS on unlimited vacation, but I ignore those unless I trust them alot.

If you've seen places that offer 10, then 15 is by definition not the bare minimum. In my experience, most places offer 10 days, and often it's PTO (combined vacation + sick leave).

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