Today lots of Danes start 2 weeks off – hardly denting their 6+ weeks p a entitlement. Yes, it’s true – paid leave, I mean. And since Fridays are ‘short days’, they go off today to their ‘summer’ cabins or to the sun.
And that’s what socialist gubmints, egged on by powerful unions want. Of course in the private sector employers don’t always play ball; but that leaves more than half of workers here encouraged to milk the system – so it grinds to a halt now until mid-January, with some people taking ‘days owed’ from 2015.
I laughed out loud today, reading that, per Forbes, Dk is the best country to start a business. Yeah right! And die of frustration in half an hour!
Boadicea's Chariot 
A local cop I know did not take advantage of part of his paternity leave 4 years ago, so he’s taking an extra 2 weeks now. Madness.
Janus: Read the same Forbes article, I saw that the US has dropped half a dozen spots to 22nd overall. Not sure of the criteria used for the survey.
I was required to start two Delaware LLC’s during 2015, the whole process took less than two hours total including registering the articles of incorporation and getting two Federal identification numbers. No legal help was needed.
Regarding paid holidays, the US is also an outlier, 10 days p.a. for vacation and no requirement to pay maternity or (God help us) paternity leave.
LW, see Forbes Best Countries for Business: Behind the Numbers.
I won’t whinge. I am far too fond of going on holiday! Still, this is somewhat excessive and it can’t be cheap for employers. Denmark is by all accounts a bureaucratic hell. I’d say “nightmare”, but I’d have to get a chit for that first! Sweden supposedly has more flexible business laws, especially small business laws despite having a rigid labour market.
LW: it really depends on the state. Some such as Idaho, Texas and Delaware are simply terrific. In Idaho it takes less than a day to start a new business, in Texas things are usually sorted out within a day or two. In California it can take 6 months to a year, if not longer. What harms the US is its blatant mendacity and dishonesty. In countries such as Japan or Denmark there are a number of regulations that must be followed but they’re relatively straightforward and explicit. In the US things change constantly and regulations are unpredictable. A bit like the tax rate, really. Americans pretend that they pay a lower rate of taxes but when all federal, state, local, GST, hidden taxes, etc. are paid the US ranks near the top. Sweden’s top tax rate is only about 2-3pc higher than the USA’s.
Most people round here work till the 23rd December.
When I had the restaurants I always served Christmas lunch but only one sitting so that staff could get away by 5 pm. No problem getting staff I always paid them triple time and the tips were huge.
CO, you old softy? 😊
No tipping here in the enlightened Nordic region. 😁 Which explains the piss awful service and ridiculous prices.
Janus: customer service in Japan is ace and they consider tips to be an insult.They pay their staff well and they take their jobs seriously.
Everything here stops on 23rd December for several weeks – but there is a fairly reasonable excuse in that it is summer and people take their summer holidays at this time.
There was no tipping here in Oz when I came here – I was amazed when cabbies gave me my ‘tip’ back! Even now tipping is optional – ‘no service’ – ‘no tip’ is still the accepted way.
So Janus, will there be sufficient customs officers or policemen on duty to seize the cash and property from immigrants, which is what is apparently proposed in Denmark?
Sheona, nobody here seems to know, including the Cabinet! 😱