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More Than Half of US Workers Didn't Use Up Their Time Off Last Year (qz.com)
An anonymous reader shares an article: Americans, famously, take far less vacation time than their European counterparts: less than 17 days, on average, compared to 30 days in France, for example. But for many Americans, that's apparently all the time they need. More than half of all US employees (54%) didn't use all their days off last year, working a combined total of 662 million more days than required. Of those days, 206 million couldn't be rolled over or cashed out, meaning they were forfeited, costing the equivalent of $66 billion, according to a report (PDF) from Project: Time Off, a group funded by the travel industry. While it's a group with a strong interest in promoting more vacations, their findings are still revealing about America's unhealthy reluctance to take time off. Almost 60% of US workers who don't take their allotted vacation say they fear the amount of work they'll have to return to, according to the survey of 7,331 working Americans. Others (47%) say they stay put because they believe no one else can do their job, or because they want to impress their bosses with their dedication (36%).
Word. I get a lot of time off, but when I try to use it my boss is always "oh, we don't have coverage (BS), or "you are using it too fast/often" (also BS). Of course it doesn't roll over or get paid out at the end of the year, either.
I work for a company that offers unlimited vacation. I use it, extensively and, as a leader, I encourage my entire team to use it extensively as well. Last year I took more than 8 weeks of vacation and I'm already expecting 7 this year.
From the article:
You know what impresses me? People who are refreshed and excited at work, not those who are so self-righteous to believe no one else can do their job (that's total and unadulterated bullshit) or who think I'd be impressed by slogging through half-awake at work.