Are you a juillettiste or an aoûtien ?
As you may know, holidays are a very serious matter in France, mainly because of the amount of holidays allocated. Most French employees have five weeks of paid holiday a year, even when they have just started working - which most North Americans find utterly astounding! In most industries, more time off is also provided as employees work more than the legal 35 hour week that came into effect in 1998. So, in my personal experience, in a management position in the Asset Management industry, I actually had eight weeks of holiday a year….
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking ‘these French people, they’re so spoiled, they get soooo much holiday!’. And I absolutely agree with you! But we do wholeheartedly support the tourism industry, both in France and in other countries!
The three consecutive weeks that people take off are generally in the summer, for a family holiday. I remember being slightly dumbfounded when asked ‘Et toi, Antonia, es-tu un juillettiste ou une aoûtienne ?’. I looked at my colleague blankly for a few seconds, then smiled and asked what he meant. It turns out that he was asking me whether I was taking my holidays in July or in August.
Now there are three schools of thought about when it is best to take your holidays in France:
If you are a juilletiste, you believe that taking your holidays ‘early’, in the month of July, means that you will have a quiet month of August, when most people are away, so that you can finally concentrate on les dossiers de fond, or subjects which require in-depth analysis.
If you are an aoûtien, you know from experience that for your role, you won’t be able to get anything done in the month of August because most people are on holiday, so you may as well take your leave then too. And actually, the month of August is rarely the quiet month that the juillettistes think it is…
Then there are the people who actually take four weeks holidays, in a three then one or a one then three combination. So it could be three weeks in July then one week in August, or the other way around. These colleagues tell everyone else that this way makes it feel like they are on holiday for two whole months. But this does mean that you have one fewer week of holidays for the rest of the year.
Anyway, now you’re probably wondering what my answer was to my colleague’s question. I’m definitely and definitively an aoûtienne! When I was a management consultant, there was no point in working in August because all the decision makers were on holiday. And now, as an Interior Designer, I definitely take my holidays in August. Why? Any good contractors take holiday then and, speaking from experience, if there is anyone left on site, they are generally the least experienced people and they aren’t properly supervised. On top of that, in France factories shut in August, and, for example, the tile factories in Italy are also closed. So no matter how organised you are about planning and receiving all the supplies that are necessary, any changes or problems necessitating reordering result in a three week wait instead of three days. On the off-chance that the factory isn’t shut, often there are delivery problems, as the transport companies have fewer staff due to the holidays.
So all in all, I make sure to plan my chantiers (building work projects) so that they finish at the end of July, or so that there is a pause in August. July is always a rush to get everything finished in time, but then we are all rewarded with a lovely rest! This August I’ll be in the sud-ouest on the coast near Arcachon, then we’ll be spending 10 days in the Spanish Basque Country between Bilbao and San Sebastian.
And you, are you a juillettiste or an aoûtien ?!
View of the Pyrenees taken on holiday in August 2021 near Saint Lary Soulan
