re: No Vacation Nation

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A culture of fear

Even for those Americans who do receive paid time off, actually taking it can prove to be a Herculean task. The overall culture of the American workplace is one where people often feel that if they dare to request vacation days, they will be stigmatised as lazy or disloyal. Many leave their earned time off on the table each year. Experts say this serves to create an imbalance in the work-life equation, rarely seen in other advanced economies.

An eye-opening survey released by careers website Glassdoor.com in April found that the average American employee who received paid time off last year had used only half of it.

Some 28% of workers told Glassdoor they feared falling behind in their work, while 17% feared losing their job. Another 19% said they didn’t take long vacations because they wanted to have an edge over the competition for a promotion.

“It’s clear the word ‘vacation’ among employers and employees doesn’t mean what it did in the past,” noted Rusty Rueff, a career and workplace expert at Glassdoor.

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