I'll start by admitting I'm totally guilty of this. Last year I left quite a few vacation days on the table. It's terrible but I was just so busy I had no idea where to use them. It would have been more stressful for me to try to use up my vacation days that it was for me to just work and lose them. I'm hoping that never happens again but it turns out I'm not alone. Priceline's 2019 work-life balance report found that 53% of working Americans say they usually have unused vacations days when the year comes to and end. Nearly 44 million working Americans will leave over seven or more vacation days this year. This is so sad! Especially because of how it important it is to unplug and get away from your job. Stepping away and getting a little reboot is necessary for our mental health.
So why in the world are we wasting vacation days?
- Almost 18% of people say it's because they feel guilty taking days off.
- Now this is just sad. Don't feel guilty. You've earned those vacation days!
- About the same amount said they're too busy to go on vacation.
- This is my problem a lot of the time. It's so hard preparing to go and then you have so much catch up when you're back!
- 25% didn't take a vacation because they felt it was too expensive
- No need to actually go somewhere. Use your vacation days to just hang at home and get caught up on life or just relax!
When we do finally take those vacation days, most of the time we're actually still working too. The article from Business Wire touches on that issue as well which you can read more about here.
Photo: Getty