With busy work schedules, daily life stress, and endless responsibilities, it is normal for any American to simply say, "I need a vacation." However, according to studies, most working Americans aren't using their allotted vacation time, giving America the name, the "no vacation nation."
According to a study performed by Harris Interactive for JetBlue, about 57% of Americans had unused vacation time at the end of 2011, leaving an average of 11 unused days which is nearly 70% of their available vacation time.
There are several reasons why workers are choosing their jobs over vacations. Many feel too nervous, guilty, or stressed to ask for time off. According to a survey conducted by Kelton Research, most workers turn down vacation time because they have too much work to do. Employees are afraid that they would come back from their relaxing vacation only to find a large pile of extra work waiting for them because there aren't other employees available to pick up the slack while they're cruising, flying, lounging by the pool, or just taking a break during their vacations days. For many, this work build-up and stress that comes along with it isn't worth taking a few days off.
Another reason for choosing work over vacation is a lack of money. A fifth of survey respondents said they simply couldn't afford to travel anywhere. They could use the travel time, but they wouldn't be able to afford to go on a trip, so a stay-at-home break wouldn't really be worth the built-up duties that would occur at work.
About 9% of respondents were afraid to take a vacation during an unstable job market. With the unemployment rate being above 8%, workers are scared to lose the jobs that they do have and they don't want to take any risks.
While employees let their vacation days slip by, employers seem to benefitting from employees' extra work hours. According to Sageworks, company profits-per-employee are at a 10-year high.
The U.S. is already behind most other countries when it comes to the amount of allotted vacation days, but with Americans leaving most of their vacation time on the table, it doesn't seem to matter.
Unlike in most other developed countries, U.S. companies are not required by law to offer paid vacation time to their employees. In the United Kingdom, employers are required to give their employees 28 vacation days. In Finland, France and Greece must offer 25 days. In Germany and Japan, it's 20.
With summer coming, summer travel is expected to pick up. Perhaps hard-working Americans will decide to utilize a few more vacation days this summer, but for now, work is a higher priority than travel.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
