14 Weeks of Holidays and Vacation - Plus the Most Civil Perk of All - How the Dutch Treat Their Workers

I was working with a team of nanotechnologists in the Netherlands a few years ago. We were defining their project calendar.

"How many weeks of vacation a year," I asked.
"8."
"Wow. Very cool." So I blocked out 8 weeks. Then I clarified, "So that includes both vacation time and holidays?"
"Oh no. We also get 6 weeks of holidays."

I was impressed but there was more.

Every March employees get 8% of their annual pay to fund vacations. They can use it for plane tickets, scuba lessons, whatever it is people buy for vacations. And you need special permission to NOT take a vacation of four continuous weeks at some point in the summer.

The Dutch pay about 39% of their GDP in taxes (compared to 24% in the US). One of the guys on my team could trace his family tree back to a Dutch king from 800. I asked him, "Do you have any political parties that push for tax rates more like we have in the States? You have half a dozen parties with seats in parliament; do any of them push for big tax cuts?"
"Uh, no," he said in his delightfully lilting Dutch accent.
"No political push for that at all," I repeated.
"Well," he said, "we know that better things always cost more. The best is not cheap. And in all the studies of the happiest countries in the world, we come out in the top 5. So, we pay a little more and we get a little better. It's worth it to be happy."