See how to occupy children's time on vacation Many Brazilian workers do not fully use the rest period guaranteed by law. Only 33% take advantage of all 30 days of vacation to which they are entitled — that is, only 1 in every 3 employees. The median number of days actually used is 20 days, even though legislation guarantees 30. The survey by Deel, a global HR and payroll platform, in partnership with Andreessen Horowitz, was carried out based on real records of vacation and leave requests involving more than 1.5 million workers in 150 countries. In Brazil, 993 vacation requests from companies were analyzed, mainly from the technology sectors, startups and organizations with a remote or hybrid work model. With 30 days of annual vacation guaranteed by legislation, Brazil has the second largest concession among the countries analyzed, behind only France, where the average is 34 days. However, the use of the benefit is lower: while Brazilians use 72% of the available days, the French reach 88%. The difference draws attention because both countries have broad rest policies. Even with a similar number of guaranteed days, Brazil records a usage rate 16 percentage points lower than France. Brazilians are among the workers who take longer vacations Although some professionals do not use all available days, Brazil stands out for the size of its rest periods. According to the survey, 62% of Brazilian workers take at least one period of 11 consecutive days or more of vacation per year - one of the highest rates in the global sample. The percentage exceeds that recorded in countries known for policies aimed at work-life balance, such as Sweden (55%) and Denmark (51%). The man had gone on vacation with his wife and two children to Kos, Greece Getty Images via BBC Sick leave reveals significant difference between men and women The survey also identified a relevant difference in the use of sick leave between men and women in Brazil. During the period analyzed, 41% of female workers registered at least one sick leave, compared to 21% of men, a difference of 20 percentage points. The highest rate appears among women aged 35 to 39: 54% of them had at least one registered sick leave in the period, making this the group with the highest frequency of absences in the entire Brazilian sample. Half-day vacations are still little used in Brazil. Another behavior identified by the research is the low use of vacations in shorter periods, such as half a day off. In Brazil, only 3% of the requests analyzed corresponded to this format, a percentage much lower than that observed in countries such as France (11.5%), United Kingdom (11.3%) and Germany (9.4%). While in these markets flexible working hours are already part of the work culture, in Brazil a more traditional model still predominates, the professional is either working or is officially away.