It can honestly be annoying, if you're not privvy to it.

I remember years ago needing urgent support for some bespoke European hardware we were developing software for. When we called support, we were greeted with a phone message stating the company was closed for the entire month due to vacation. This was not a one-man operation; the whole office closed for a summer holiday. We thought it was a joke.

Needless to say we started to look for a new vendor shortly thereafter...

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my-next-account 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm surprised, typically we don't all take vacation at the same time, but stagger it.

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prmoustache 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It really depends on the areas. On white collar jobs yes. It is more frequent in blue collars workers because it is easier to close completely or partially (several lines) in a factory than having to manage different vacations schedules. Constructions companies also do stop because you usually need most workers available + hot weather makes it harder anyway. Small/familiar companies also do it frequently because it doesn't make sense to work if you have dependencies on a number or unavailable persons.

	▲	knollimar 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I've seen construction companies use all their vacatiom in December in America (since it sucks to work in in the cold)

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calessian 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's not entirely uncommon, even companies like Volkswagen have 3 weeks of summer vacation. Strictly speaking, some people still work there for maintenance, etc. that can't be done while making cars, but the majority is on vacation.

I know a handful of companies with a week of mandatory Christmas vacation as well (but there's typically not too many working days between Christmas and New Years' either way).

	▲	Symbiote 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		In England, I had summer jobs in factories when I was a teenager, since they needed extra hands to help with cleaning / maintenance during the annual shutdown. I don't know if this work would have been offered to staff who turned it down, or if they preferred to have their staff on holiday at the same time.

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teruakohatu 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My advice is don’t ever buy anything that might need support from New Zealand between 24 Dec and 5 Jan. The entire country is just about closed (other than non-niche consumer stores).

Many companies force staff to take vacation days during this time, and there are four (yes four!) public holidays during this period.

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breakingcups 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I mean, that's not usual at all in Europe either.