I'd say 3 weeks or more if possible. Where do they cap it to 1 week? In Sweden the employer has to allow you 4 weeks of uninterrupted vacation during the summer months.
Heh, one time I asked for vacation 6 months in advance. My girlfriend had planned everything, booked all the hotels etc. And one week before the vacation they said I couldn't go because everyone who wasn't fired had quit and I was the only developer they had. In the end they agreed that I could go if I brought my work laptop and had my phone on 24/7. This was about 2 weeks after I had been on my first stress related sick leave. I got a panic attack at work and ended up at the psychiatric emergency where they told me to stay home 2 weeks and that I needed antidepressants (to which my response was "I don't need any f*cking pills, I need more consultants!!" but they couldn't help me with that. I stayed home 1 week staring into the ceiling before going back to work. I was going on vacation soon anyways so I thought I could endure 1 week more.
Had a hard time disconnecting during that vacation.
One doctor recommended me a 4 month vacation and told me "go to India or Peru and do something completely different" and I quit my job and did just that. Should have done that earlier.
(Sorry for the late response, I hadn't checked my replies all week)
Companies in the US can put limits on consecutive vacation days. Both jobs I've had in the financial industry had a limit of 7 business days. While not impossible to go beyond that, it ends up needing approval that goes higher up than your manager.
I'm sure some industries provide more flexibility on consecutive days off, but if they do it's likely because workers don't even have enough days to take much more than that off. According to Forbes[1] the average number of vacation days an employee in the US gets is 11. That average moves to 15 after working at the same place for 5 years. Even though 15 days is enough to take 3 weeks straight, it would be a terrible idea to use all vacation days in one shot. A year is a long time. You're certainly going to be needing another break before a full 12 months has elapsed.
Heh, one time I asked for vacation 6 months in advance. My girlfriend had planned everything, booked all the hotels etc. And one week before the vacation they said I couldn't go because everyone who wasn't fired had quit and I was the only developer they had. In the end they agreed that I could go if I brought my work laptop and had my phone on 24/7. This was about 2 weeks after I had been on my first stress related sick leave. I got a panic attack at work and ended up at the psychiatric emergency where they told me to stay home 2 weeks and that I needed antidepressants (to which my response was "I don't need any f*cking pills, I need more consultants!!" but they couldn't help me with that. I stayed home 1 week staring into the ceiling before going back to work. I was going on vacation soon anyways so I thought I could endure 1 week more.
Had a hard time disconnecting during that vacation.
One doctor recommended me a 4 month vacation and told me "go to India or Peru and do something completely different" and I quit my job and did just that. Should have done that earlier.