As the vacationing season approaches, many of the U.S workers are reporting to be not going on vacations due to high expenditure. According to a study conducted by Eagle Hill Consulting, 47% say the expense of taking a vacation is the biggest impediment to taking time off.
The study further revealed that about half 49% of American employees say that they are feeling burnout at work.
Commenting on the findings, Melissa Jezior, president and chief executive officer of Eagle Hill Consulting said, "Employees really need time to disconnect from work, especially as we continue to see high burnout levels across the U.S. workforce. And ideally, employees should fully disengage from work rather than constantly checking email and responding to messages."
Other key findings are:
- 42% of workers have not taken time off in the last 12 months, highest among younger workers (50%) and lower income employees (56%).
- Workers say the impediments to taking a fully unplugged vacation include the expense of taking a vacation (47%), self-imposed pressure to stay on top of work (31%), a heavy workload (27%), no paid time off (25%), and no colleagues available to cover their workload (25%).
- Many employees are not fully unplugging during time off. While 54 % say they fully disconnect from work during vacation, 28 % say they check work email and messages. 6% say they continue to work during vacation.
"It's not just employees who benefit from taking time off. When there is time to rest and take a break from job pressures, employers are far more likely to have an engaged workforce at its peak performance. It's incumbent upon employers to create a culture that encourages employees to both regularly take time off and fully unplug from their job while they're away," Jezior explained.