Workers leaving vacation time behind
Are you in this boat?
You get two weeks of paid vacation and you still have a few days left to take by the end of the year, but you probably won’t get to use them.
Those days you leave behind will be among 226 million unused vacation days – or $34.3 billion worth of time – American workers will forfeit this year, according to a CNN Money report.
Expedia found that on average American workers leave about 2 days of unused paid vacation behind, the same number of vacation days they gave up last year. Earlier this month, Hotwire found that U.S. workers leave even more days, 6.2, of unused vacation.
Most say they can’t afford to travel so why take the time? Others don’t take the time because they haven’t planned for it, Expedia’s survey found.
There is also the fear losing a job. “People feel that they need face time in the office,” Stuart Rubinstein, managing director at TD Ameritrade, told CNN. “They worry that being out of the office might make them next on the list.”
Are you leaving valuable paid vacation time on the table?
Christopher Seward
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68 comments Add your comment
Coach Paul Johnson , GA Tech
November 30th, 2011
5:01 pm
Are they RETARDED !
Do they work at WalMart !
Take your vacation, retard !
wrestler
November 30th, 2011
5:03 pm
Ed, what you suppossed to do when management denies your vacation?? Whent the end of the year comes, then they want you to take it because they got HR breathing down there necks becuase their people are losing vacation time.
wrestler
November 30th, 2011
5:05 pm
Coach Paul Johnson, GA Tech…good screen name there brotha.
I'joni
November 30th, 2011
5:06 pm
My problem is the exact opposite. I never have enough time! But as a single mom, I use a lot of my vacation time for my son’s events/breaks (last day of school ceremonies, band concerts, his spring, summer, & winter breaks, teacher work days, etc.). My job allows employees to carry over 360 vacation hours. Any more than that and its “Use it or lose it!” Unfortunately my supervisor is exactly the type of person that the article speaks of. She thinks the office would fall apart without her (it won’t). She hardly ever takes vacation, so by the end of the year she’s got 2-3 weeks of vacation time she needs to use up or lose out on. I agree with Tina @1:24. Using vacation time helps recharge your batteries. It helps to rest your body and mind from the stresses of work.
Why Bother
November 30th, 2011
5:23 pm
With the technology of today taking time off isn’t enjoyable. My company requires that even when you take time off you need to check your company emails and even remote in to fix any problems. So why bother?
KDawg
November 30th, 2011
5:25 pm
The best thing about working at my company is the nearly six weeks of paid vacation a year. I could probably earn more at other companies but is it worth it?
wrestler
November 30th, 2011
5:28 pm
Why bother is another IKON employee..
Barry Obama, community organizer
November 30th, 2011
5:55 pm
We should be like Europe where they get 2-3 months paid vacation a year, and get all sorts of groovy government-sponsored healthcare, and free marijuana at the local pharmacy …
bev
November 30th, 2011
6:26 pm
Take your vacation days for crying out loud!! You’ve earned them after all. Taking care of yourself leads to doing a better job, don’t you know?
Corporate High Priest
November 30th, 2011
6:37 pm
Burn’em and churn’em !
These lazy slackers don’t deserve a vacation !
@ wrestler
November 30th, 2011
6:48 pm
@ Wrestler your writing skills are on vacation. You’re not funny or to the point you’re pretty dumb. The proof is in your writing. Damn . . .
OldTImer
November 30th, 2011
7:34 pm
This year I couldn’t afford to go anywhere on vacation. I still took the days though and used them to finish my basement.
DK
November 30th, 2011
7:46 pm
Is 68 hours too many? LOL! Forty can be rolled-over to next year, but the other 28, lost.
Love My Job!!!
November 30th, 2011
8:28 pm
SOOOOO GLAD I work for a place that ENCOURAGES us to take time off to spend with our family/rest or whatever… they know it makes for a better employee!!! CHOA ROCKS!!!!
Richard Wiener
November 30th, 2011
8:32 pm
I take all my vacation but I do not take sick days unless I am really too ill to work. Some co-workers treat their sick leave like vacation…which causes resentment among those of us who are honest. I will soon be in a position to fire them
Kavariontae
November 30th, 2011
11:24 pm
The reason people don’t use as much vacation time is teleworking. When my employer started allowing people to work from home years ago we noticed an almost immediate falloff in leave time taken. You can connect those dots any way you wish.
Rock Gaines
December 1st, 2011
9:10 am
Jim in Buckhead
November 30th, 2011
4:32 pm
leave some every year…. dont understand people that use it all dump work on your co-workers
Sorry, guy. It’s not the worker’s responsibilty to manage work. That’s management not doing what they supposed to do – manage the work. If management says you can go on vacation, then they’re supposed to have some one to take up the slack. A good manager will schedule vacation in advance, say in November of the prior year. That same manager will hire a temp if need be to take up the slack.
Rock Gaines
December 1st, 2011
9:13 am
By the way, I get 5 weeks vacation, 4 paid excused days, 2 floating holidays, and 1 unpaid day. I can carry over into the next year, but have to use the carry over by end of the 1st quarter. My company rocks!