In many countries in Europe, how do they manage to give employers 4 to 5 weeks of holidays and many other benefits that in America don't exst?

许多欧洲国家为什么能给员工提供4-5周的假期和许多美国不存在的福利？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Peter Batty

Ever heard the phrase “Smarter not harder”?

In Europe, like Australia and New Zealand the Economic system is run so that people actually have decent working hours and Recreation time-outs (weekends and holidays), whilst still allowing businesses to operate at a profit.

听说过“做事拼脑子，不拼体力”这句话吗？

欧洲和澳大利亚和新西兰一样，经济体系的运行让人们拥有工作时间和娱乐时间(周末和假期)，企业还能正常盈利经营。

Dawn Hunt

In my opinion this is another victim of our healthcare system. In those countries, the employer is not having to pay many thousands of dollars a year for the employees’ healthcare premiums. My former job was paying $1200 a month towards the $1475 premium for my healthy teenager and myself (my share was $275). So US companies pay a huge percent of their bottom line profit for each employee to be insured. Take that expense away and they could easily afford 10% more staff which would enable everyone an extra 2–4 weeks. Not to mention refreshed, happy employees are more productive.

在我看来，这是我们医疗体系造成的又一个弊端。在欧洲国家，雇主每年不必为雇员支付数千美元的医疗保险费。我的上一份工作是每月支付1200美元，而我和十来岁孩子的保费为1475美元(我的份额为275美元)。所以，美国公司耗费了企业利润的大头为每位员工投保。除去这笔费用，他们可以轻轻松松地多雇佣10%的员工，让员工能多休假2-4周。精神焕发、快乐上班的员工，工作效率会更高。

Anil

This is from my personal observation of living in Scandinavia, and working in an intellectually demanding field for a decade.

On an average scale (and in comparison with an average US employee), most of the employees in Europe:

我在斯堪的纳维亚半岛生活生活，并在一个对智力要求较高的领域工作了十年，以下是我的个人观察。

在平均规模上(与美国员工的平均水平相比)，大多数欧洲员工：

Feel secure and happy in general.

Happy about - their work, role in the society, and quality of life.

Secure about - their livelihood, healthcare, and wellbeing.

Tend to think they are valued, cared for, and guaranteed to get their due share of appreciation.

Go to work with a hint of excitement and enthusiasm

总体上感到安稳和快乐。

对自己的工作、社会角色和生活质量感到满意。

对自己的生计、医疗保健和社会福利有信心。

认为自己受到重视和关心，能得到应有的赞赏。

带着兴奋和热情去上班

These factors create significantly high productivity at work place. Thus having longer vacations and shorter working days is feasible. In fact, such down time is what recharges them and improves productivity.

Most importantly, European society (or at least Scandinavian society) tends to be socialistic and constantly strives to be fundamentally equal. That is, fulfilling basic human needs is certainly more important than squeezing the last inch of productivity from the employees. This is what drives the benefits and policies such as paid parental leaves, vacation for mental wellbeing etc.

这些因素为工作场所创造了显著的工作效率。因此，他们可以获得更长的假期和更短的工作时间。事实上，这些休息时间可以为他们充电，提高工作效率。

最重要的是，欧洲社会(或至少斯堪的纳维亚社会)偏向 社会主义，并不断努力实现基本平等。也就是说，满足员工作为人的基本需求肯定比压榨员工的最后一点生产力更加重要。这就是他们推动诸如带薪育儿假、精神健康假期等福利和政策的原因。

However, it is practically impossible to generalize. There certainly are happy employees in the US and unhappy employees in the EU, sometimes even irrespective of how the employers treat them.

但这种事不可能一概而论。美国肯定也有快乐的员工，欧洲也会有不快乐的员工，有时压根与雇主如何对待员工无关。

Iain TheCrack

Because in Europe there are laws governing inhumane treatment of employees by employers. American companies could afford to do it as well, but just don't want to. Making obscene profits off the hard work if their employees is not only striven after in USA, but it is regarded ‘good policy’. Health benefits are less common, because the health services are either free or very nearly so. Retirement pensions in many eec countries are not a ‘bonus’, but a legal requirement . So the answer to this question is simply to send the question right back…. WHY THE F@€K DONT US WORKERS DO MORE TO DEMAND THE SAME? three jobs and still relying on charity is really a third world way of doing things. Poverty in US is HUGE AND OBSCENE

因为欧洲有法律监管雇主对雇员的不人道行为。美国公司也有能力这样做，只是不愿意。美国企业不仅迫切希望通过员工的努力工作赚取巨额利润，而且还认为这才是“正道”。医疗福利不太普及，因为医疗服务要么免费，要么非常接近免费。在许多欧洲国家，退休养老金不是“奖金”，而是法定要求。所以这个问题的答案就是把问题反问回去....为什么美国员工不采取更多行动来要求相同的福利待遇？如果打三份工还要依靠慈善赈济过活，那就真的跟第三世界没差别了。美国的贫困问题十分严峻、骇人听闻。

Robert Newall

You could try asking the correct question. I presume you do know the difference beween an Employer and an Employee. Or maybe you are yet another poorly educated American.

好好看看你的问题，起码问题不要出错吧。我想你应该知道雇主和雇员之间的区别吧。难不成你也是个没有受过良好教育的美国人？

Jarzombek Wacław

It’s simple as 2+2.

To simplify even more let’s assume the law forces you to give exactly one full month of paid vacation.

You estimate value of your employee for $10.000 per month.

Now you simply offer them $110.000 yearly, evenly distributed over 12 months.

If you are smart enough you can even benefit from the situation. You have to actively plan your employees vacation and disallow to disappear at work on top season months.

这就像2+2一样简单。

为了进一步简化问题，我们假设法律强制提供整整一个月的带薪假期。

你的员工大约每月收入1万美元。

现在你只需每年给他们发放11万美元，分成12个月平均发放。

只要你足够聪明，甚至可以从中获益。但你必须积极规划员工的假期安排，不能让他们在旺季离开工作岗位。

Thomas L

In part because the employees in those countries are paid less (for example, France’s average income is around $45k per year vs US average >$70k. So it could be viewed as a trade off, in which employees in those countries prioritize vacation over greater earnings.

I also know first hand that contractor roles are very prevalent in Europe as a result of employment laws and practices. It is more difficult to get full time salaried employment, but once you do, it’s very stable.

部分原因是这些国家的员工收入较低(例如，法国的平均收入约为每年4.5万美元，而美国的平均收入超过7万美元)。所以这些福利可以视为一种权衡，这些国家的员工优先考虑休假而不是更高的收入。

我还亲身了解到，由于劳动法和社会惯例，承包人的角色在欧洲非常普遍。想找一份全职的带薪工作比较困难，但一旦找到了，就会非常稳定。

Tom Overton

Basic

Human

Decency

And the fact that it’s the law. Because they know that people are not machines to be exploited for every possible financial gain. They legislate to oppose the inevitability of corporate greed. Companies manage to give these benefits because they can afford to. They all can. Even the ones in America. But if they weren’t also required to by law, they wouldn’t.

这是

人类

基本的

体面

事实是，这是法律规定的。因为他们知道，人不是为了一切可能的经济收益而甘愿受尽剥削的机器。他们立法反对不可避免的企业贪欲。企业之所以能够提供这些福利，是因为它们负担得起。他们都可以。美国企业也不例外。但如果法律没有要求他们这么做，他们就不会这么做了。

Diane Morris

I don’t know the answer to this but would suggest that it has something to do with productivity, as is being played out in companies who are moving to a four day week without reducing employee earnings and not suffering decreased productivity.

But can I just say how amazing it was to move to the UK back in 1987 to join a company that FROM OUTSET provided FIVE WEEKS annual vacation time in addition to the usual public holidays. Oh, and did I mention unlimited sick time?

Funnily enough, it seems that the UK was one of the least generous countries in Europe in terms of employee benefits.

我不知道这个问题的答案，但我认为这和生产力有关，就像那些开始执行四天工作制的公司，既没有降低员工的收入，也没有受到生产力下降的影响。

1987年我搬到英国，进入了一家入职就提供五周年假的公司（除公共假期外），我能说我有多惊讶吗？哦，我说没说过我们还有无限病假？

而且有意思的是，在员工福利方面，英国似乎已经是欧洲最抠门的国家之一了。

George Wilson

European here. “Benefits"? Ahahahahaha no. That's not how it works. All these “benefits" and “European utopias" are just imaginary constructs made-up by left-wing propaganda artists in the US. They have intented fairy tales about the supposed European utopia, and they talk about free healthcare as if free healthcare is the greatest thing in the universe.

I live in Bulgaria, an European country. The situation is so bad here... Literally every single region in Bulgaria is in a state of demographic crisis and aging population, with waves of bankruptcies and deindustrialization. Healthcare isn't free, but very expensive. If you don't have a lot of money, and you get a health condition, you will be sent to a state-run hospital, where the conditions are terrible. Privately-run hospitals are simply too expensive.

我就是欧洲人。“福利”？啊哈，不。这都不是事实。这些“福利”和“欧洲乌托邦”都是美国左翼宣传艺术家虚构出来的。他们编造了关于所谓欧洲乌托邦的童话，他们谈论免费医疗，好像免费医疗是全宇宙最棒的事情。

我住在保加利亚，一个欧洲国家。这里的情况太糟糕了……实际上，保加利亚的所有地区都处于人口危机和人口老龄化状态，伴随着破产和去工业化浪潮。医疗保健非但并不免费，而且还非常昂贵。如果你没有很多钱，你的健康状况不好，你会被送到公立医院，但公立医院条件很糟糕。私立医院的费用实在是太贵了。

Wages are so low and people many people have to work 2 jobs or even more... “but, hey, you have 4 weeks holiday per year, bro!!! You must be happy, bro!!! You have benefits, bro!!!! Europe is better than the US, bro!!!”

The US is much more powerful, better organized, wealthier, and beautiful than the EU will ever be.

Comparing Europe to the US is like comparing Nokia 3310 to Apple's newest iPhone.

这里的工资太低了，很多人不得不打两份工，甚至更多…“但是，嘿，你每年有四周的假期，兄弟！！你们一定很开心，兄弟！！你们有福利，兄弟！！欧洲比美国好啊，兄弟！！”

美国比欧盟更强大、更有序、更富裕、更美丽。

把欧洲和美国进行比较，就像把诺基亚3310与苹果最新款iPhone进行比较一样。

Asillynert Asillynert

Made to do it either with collective bargaining or by law. And often times at no cost to consumer. For example big mac is cheaper in swedan than some parts of america.

要么通过集体谈判，要么通过法律。而且通常对消费者来说，并没有增加成本。例如，巨无霸在瑞典的价格就比美国的有些地方便宜。

Which is why they have less locations wont see 3 mcdonalds within a mile of each other like is common in usa. They will consolidate locations and have fewer better performing locations. And they will have to accept lower profit margins in order to be competitive due to healthier economy.

这就是他们的门店比较少的原因，不会像美国那样一英里内开三家麦当劳。他们会整合位置，保留更少、更好的位置。由于经济更加健康，为了保持竞争力，他们不得不接受较低的利润率。

Lyssa Ryan

To be fair, many if not most US companies provide at least that much paid vacation. Sometimes more. I had nearly 6 weeks a year with my old company in the US. Now I only get 4. I had a really high income, taxes were low, health insurance amazing, and everything was cheaper. We got 6 weeks paid paternity leave on top of 1 year of maternity leave (only half paid, but paid at 100% for 6 months) You won’t get that in Europe pretty much with any company.

公平地说，虽然不是绝大多数美国公司，但也有不少美国公司提供这么长的带薪假期。有的甚至更长。我在美国工作时的老东家一年有近6周的假期，但现在我只有4周假期。我之前的收入很高，个税很低，医疗保险很棒，而且物价也更便宜。除了一年的产假，我们还有6周的带薪陪产假(工资减半，但其中6个月的工资是100%发放的)，你在欧洲的任何公司都找不到这样的待遇。

Steve Starkey

In simple terms. employers of other countries are not as greedy.

I worked for a small business. I was the ship and receiving department, and the computer support department. It was my job to receive the merchandise, enter it in the computer, and put the price tag on it. The markup was 100%. The owner claimed after discounts and after paying all the costs, the store profit was only 3%.

Of course I could not ask him to prove that.

简单来说，其他国家的雇主没有那么贪婪。

我在一家小公司工作。我负责发货和收货部门，以及电脑支持部门。我的工作是接收商品，录入电脑，然后在商品上面标上价格标签。公司按100%的加价幅度来定价。但老板说去掉折扣和所有成本支出，利润只有3%。

当然，我无法要求他证明这一点。

Anthony Atkielski

In many European countries, a mandatory period of vacation must be given to employees by law. Thus employers are forced to do it, otherwise they wouldn’t. It’s not difficult to do, but greed prevents companies from doing it if the government doesn’t force them to. No law compels American employers to provide vacation, so greed rules.

在很多欧洲国家，法律规定企业必须为员工提供强制性假期。所以雇主只能照做，不然他们也不会这么自觉的。这并非难事，但如果政府不强迫企业这么做，人性的贪婪就会阻挠它们这么做。美国没有法律强制雇主提供假期，所以贪婪占了上风。