"Vacation All I Ever Wanted …"

In April 2008, as summer approached, the travel site Expedia released its eighth annual International Vacation Deprivation Survey, which looked at workers in the United States, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and Austria.

For Americans, the good news is, on average, employees reported having 13 to 14 vacation days, which is up from 12 in 2005! However, 31% of Americans usually do not use all their vacation days, with an average of three vacation days per year remaining unused. Expedia calculated that this amounts to 460 million unused vacation days in 2008 – worth approximately $65.52 billion! Expedia says that one in three American workers, or 47.5 million people, are "vacation deprived."

Canadians, meanwhile, had an average of 17 days – two fewer than they had in 2007! On average, Canadians didn't use one of these days.

But what about the European nations? North Americans can read 'em and weep: France, 37; Italy, 33; Spain, 31; the Netherlands and Austria, 28; Germany 27; the UK, 26. Only 20% of the French didn't use all their 37 days … and they only left, on average, two days unused! Meanwhile, Italy, which has the second-highest number of vacation days among the polled countries, sees 47% of workers not using all their days, leaving an average of six days unused. On average, workers in the Netherlands, Austria, and Spain skipped four days; those in the UK skipped three; and those in Germany skipped two.

So why don't we North Americans take every one of our few vacation days?

Money

For most, money is the strongest incentive to remain shackled to the job and to forgo some fun at home or abroad, especially since more and more employers are offering compensation in lieu of vacation time. And for those who are hourly employees, grabbing a few extra shifts means more money, often at overtime rates.

Work

Work, on the other hand, seems like a less reasonable excuse for skipping a vacation. However, the poll found that some of the work-related reasons that hinder vacations are heavy workloads, a corporate culture that does not support employees using vacation time, and employees' belief that taking vacation time would be perceived negatively.

With staffing cutbacks across industries, some people feel obligated to continue working when they'd really rather be on vacation, because the pile of work waiting for them when they return makes them think twice about leaving in the first place. This may also be related to the poll's finding that 29% of American respondents had trouble coping with stress from work at some time during their vacation!

Not Being Forced to Go On Vacation

Sadly, the least reasonable excuse for skipping a vacation – not being forced to – is more widespread than you'd expect. Proof of this can be found in the fact that some companies have begun to use ingenious methods to get their employees to take a break. For example, companies with employees unwilling to leave the comfortable confines of the workplace during the summer months will sometimes set deadlines (usually, in March) for them to pick their days off. If that doesn't work, rumor has that some companies will even force their employees to take a vacation.

Also …

There are several other possibilities, whether reasonable or not, that may also explain the unused days: some may feel guilty about taking vacation (the Expedia survey found that 28% of men and 38% of women reported feeling guilty about taking time off); some may be thoroughly in love with their jobs and not want to leave them (9% of American respondents said "Work is life and it's too hard to get away"!); some may feel (or be) indispensable (e.g., "I'm the only one in the office who knows how to run the thingamajig"); some may not trust their coworkers to do their job – or do their own jobs – when they're away.

Or consider this finding from the poll: Only 39% of American respondents say that they feel more productive and better about their job after their vacation. This means that 61% don't feel more productive and better about their job after vacation. Certainly the 61% could argue, "What's the point of using vacation time?"

The Real Answer?

In a world filled with cell phones, email, voicemail, and PDAs, it has become very difficult to make the distinction between being at work and not being at work. After all, when you're on vacation and the workplace can still reach you – or you can reach them – are you really on vacation? In the 2008 Expedia survey, 29% of men and 19% of women reported checking work email or voicemail while on vacation. Similarly, an Associated Press article from June 3, 2007 quoted polls which reported that one in five people take their laptops with them on vacation and 80% take their cell phones. These numbers make the other findings cited unsurprising: one in five did some work while vacationing, one in five checked voice messages, 15% called in to the office, and two in five checked email.

But there may be another reason why Americans are skipping their vacations: They don't know how to occupy themselves when they have nothing "official" to do. After all, few people would consider just doing nothing … but maybe they should!

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