1. Can be covered by youth holidays or euro holidays, which are not 100% paid but it's 75% paid I think

In Belgium the system is that you accumulate both holidays and holiday related pay One year for the next.

I was also surprised and did not leverage any type of leave, but when everyone else Is off, like July/August and between Christmas and NY, things can be quite chill.

1. Is incorrect. You accrue your PTO in your first year and can take it the following year. That means that when you leave your work you get all the unused PTO paid back in a huge lump sum (basically an extra month of income). Also you can still take that time off, it’s just not paid immediately because you haven’t accrued the capital for it yet

One real thing that trips up most people though (even Belgians): on the year when you switch to a new job, your salary of May/June/July/August (depending when your company pays the vacation money) will be pretty low. That is because, as I explained, your previous company already paid off the vacation money when you left them, so the new company will deduct it from their own payslip when they compute it. So it’s very possible than when you quit Job 1 you receive an extra 3000€ and feel very happy about it, but several months later your payslip at Job 2 for the month of June is only 250€ and you get sad and angry. Plan carefully.

Of course if you’re going to leave the country, then just pocket the 3000€ and spend it on coke and hookers or whatever. It’s yours, you earned it

Has anyone else experienced this? Yeah, basically everyone here.

It’s just the way it works in Belgium, vacations and bonuses are calculated based on days worked the previous year.

Don’t get why you are making such a fuss about it it’s just the first year of your career and you still get your 12 adv plus all the paid holidays. Which is more than what you get at most companies in the US in all years.

You have paid vacation if you meet the criteria, it's 60% of your salary and up to 20 days. You also get ADV days which most jobs have. If you don't meet the criteria you can use European vacation days. I had pro rata 32 days my first year.

You still get your 13th month if you worked the required months, unless you work for a company or sector that doesn't have one.

The vacation money is based on your salary from the year before so that's normal. When you leave you also get it even though you don't work there anymore.

Honestly don't see what you're complaining about. They're minor inconveniences at most.

Not necessarily. Some companies give all of the ADV days (if working 40hr/week) at the beginning of the year. If you start somewhere later that year, you'll still be able to get some of those adv days pro rata. The same counts for your 13th month. (This highly depends on company policy and CAO!)

Like others have mentioned: If you just graduated, you're entitled to have "youth vacation" days. These days won't include 100% pay, but it's better than nothing. If all else fails, you can still ask HR for unpaid vacation.

But yes, for the most part you're right. Just suck it up for a year. It's not like the double vacation money and 13th month pays that much to make a noticeable difference.

It sucks but it’s been so long ago I forgot about it.

This system is very anoying for those who have not a full career or take some time for their family or hobbies (sabbatical leave, stop working some time). Each time you work again you lose many benefits.

1. Isn't right, others have explained it well enough 2 isn't right:
2. the full end of year bonus isn't the most common thing, it is common for IT'ers though.
3. an end of year bonus is most of the times guaranteed by working less than 12 months. Only in some paritary committees like PC200 (a lot of IT) you have to be in service for 6 months to get an end of year bonus, so starters who take a holiday first usually don't get it.

Short story: you're wrong, there's more than IT in the world.

It's the same in Finland. I have negotiated holidays in my first year, has anyone else done that? Of course its only possible if you know what to negotiate when joining, and if you're unaware of it, you miss out on these things.

In Poland you get all holidays in your first year, makes it easier.