To the typical American employee work is not just one's job; the popular t-shirt slogan from the mid-1990's may have said it better as work is life. In America, there are no specific declarations that mention economic growth and greater social cohesion in the same document. It certainly isn't the case that America has already achieved an ideal level of social cohesion, far from it. It is simply a different mind-set, which more often than not for Americans is a feeling of individualism, a kind of faith in the individual. Across the Atlantic, fifteen countries (soon to be twenty-five) and their cultures, bound together by the charter of the European Union, hold their faith in something almost completely antithetical and more socialistic in nature. In this paper, I will show that Europe may be more productive per capita without or with less government regulations dictating Human Resources Management practices on minimum number of paid holidays per year that they may have, but may not be necessary with Europe's current growth.
The employment market will create a more natural' number of holidays resulting in an increase in productivity throughout the EU. This deregulation would likely lead to a slow decline in average number of vacation days given to each employee per year, which in turn would lead to an increase in production because the employer is no longer paying for a employee that is not producing. Effectively, countries with a relatively high number of required holidays, more of the work to live' type, most likely will begin to see an increase in their GDP per capita. One might argue that vacation time is directly linked with productivity because the employee feels more refreshed and ready to work. The more rested the worker is, the more productive he/she is going to be in the workplace is a theory that has been researched, but is inconclusive1. .
"American workers enjoy much less vacation time than nearly all other industrialized countries.
