There were several media reports toward the end of 2011 that listed these facts:
1. The average American worker earns 14 vacation days.
2. The average American worker only takes 12 vacation days.
3. Doing the math: 226 million unused vacation days = 1.8 billion hours.
4. If you use the average American worker salary of $39,416 a year, that would calculate to $34.3 billion worth of unused vacation time.
A sample of other countries include:
Japanese get 11 vacation days and use only 5 of them.
Singapore get the same 14 days as Americans and take all 14 days.
Germans have 30 days vacations, but they do let 2 days go to waste.
The French have 30 days and use 30 days.
And you have to remember people don't always take vacation when they use vacation days. It may be to move to another apartment, attend a non-relative funeral, stay home due to weather conditions, attend Boy Scout camp as an adult volunteer, etc.
John Schmitt, an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research: "If you look at all of the other rich countries that have about the same standard of living that we have, it's pretty standard to have 20 or 25 days of paid vacation per year." I add this because it is relevant to the overall discussion of vacation and to the point I want to make later on about stress.
And let's face it, many workers can't afford vacations, or are afraid to take a vacation. Mr. Schmitt also said, "... it (the recovering economy) completely intensifies the pressure on workers to buckle down and work as hard as they possibly can, so that if the boss has to make a decision about letting 10 percent of people go, that you're not on that list." Also, the workload is so heavy now that we know what awaits us when we return from vacation. And how many of us while on vacation take our laptop, check our e-mail through our smart phones, etc., that we never get away from the office.
Truly, this is a complex issue. But I am concerned about the amount of stress American workers are dealing with due to the economy. Vacation is one way to relieve that stress. You are the only one to decide when and how much and where, but take it. And take it completely mentally: be sure to leave the office at the office. Put the cell phone on "silent", the lap top at home, and only concentrate on what is at hand with the people you are with. In the end, it is your health and what you have in your own control, in other words your "sphere of influence". Take care of yourself.
I think its so interesting how others around the world handle work. Ive read somewhere too, it actually takes several days on a true vacation to unwind and mentally relax. so unless you are taking two weeks at a time, its almost impossible to truly decompress. which means we just stay in this perpetual swinging door of working too much and small catch and release games....not sure what the solution is but there needs to be one if we are all going to make it to 65
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