U.S. employers least likely to offer PTO

To take a sick day or not to take a sick day – that is the question for many American workers who are getting little help from their employers. Reuters reports on the results of an eight-year study from Harvard University and Canada’s McGill University that found of the 15 most economically-competitive nations (as determined by the World Economic Forum over the last 10 years), all but one don’t just offer but mandate paid sick leave. Care to guess who the PTO miser is? The United States is the leader in not offering paid time off for just about everything.

The 15 countries included in the study were Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain and the United States. Of those, 13 guarantee paid maternity leave, and 12 provide paid paternal leave. Eleven provide time off to care for sick kids, and eight extend that benefit to care for sick adults. The United States doesn’t mandate any of these benefits.