We are the country with the most vacation days in the world

Brazil is the only country in the world that allows 30 days rest, according to a survey conducted by Hotels.com (yes, the site!). The purpose of this survey is to serve as the basis for a petition to the White House and the US Congress. Amazingly, the US does not have legislation that requires companies to give paid employees vacations.

All this effort is, in part, a cheap way to advertise and maybe get a huge list of emails that will be used for spamming promotions sent through the site. However, it is interesting to note that this is a different way of lobbying, without the need to spend large sums of money to raise a debate in government. Big companies do this to defend their business interests.

In this case, Hotels.com is defending a speech that interests much of the workforce. But behind all this good intent, the company really wants to leverage its own business - vacations mean travel, which in turn requires accommodation at "buddy" prices. From this basic logic (at least from the company's point of view), nothing is fairer than making a comparison with other nations.

Campaigns aside, this petition raises an interesting question, in which the Brazilian emerges victorious in the list with the most days to rest, and not only that! According to a global survey by consulting firm Robert Half, which interviewed Brazilian Human Resources directors, 29% said that it takes professionals three to four days to return to their usual post-vacation work pattern and 11% of employees need up to one week!

Compared to the world average, Brazilians are the longest to readjust work routines. However, research does not show whether this is a result of the longer period of worker downtime. In any case, and given Brazil's position in the world economy, it is important to Hotels.com that the US government does not get its hands on the result of this research.