Why Aren’t People Taking Vacation?

Have you gotten away from the office lately? If the answer is yes, were you really unplugged? What about your staff – do they take vacation? A recent study gives some insight into workers’ vacation habits.

Around 40% of workers checked in with the office at least once or twice a week during vacation, and this is especially true of employees under 35.

About one-third are worried about their coworkers absorbing their workload. In addition, over half of employees under 35 have taken a shorter vacation or skipped it altogether because they worried about the workload they would have when they returned.

Some workers said they don’t have enough vacation time: this was reported by 40% of women and 26% of men. Often, workers feel they have to ration paid time off for family needs or emergencies that may arise throughout the year, and don’t feel they should burn through a chunk of that time in July.

The benefits of taking time off work have been validated in one study after another, so of course you know the value of offering paid time off to your team. You might need to be the one to encourage your employees to take vacation. The study suggests you create a culture where employees feel comfortable and encouraged to take time off work. One way to accomplish this is to take vacation time yourself! As difficult as it may be, try to really unplug. If you have to be available, set boundaries about the times you will be reachable and limit work to those times.

What do you think? Are you taking vacation this year?

Read the full article from Accounting Web here.