Is Vacation Time Undervalued in America?
We’ve all heard talk about varying vacation time. Many of us in America sigh as we consider the substantially greater number of days that are customary in other countries. So how does America stack up and what are we doing with our days off?
The U.S. is the one of the most under-vacationed countries in the world. We get the least and take the least vacation time of all, among a group of nine countries that Expedia.com surveyed in its Vacation Deprivation™ survey. Many in the U.S. will plan how to use 14 days while someone doing the same job in France may be scheduling a whopping 37 days of paid vacation time!
Not only do U.S. employed adults receive the least number of vacation days among the countries surveyed by Expedia (an average of 14 days in 2008), but less than 31% take the vacation days they are allowed. By contrast, Europeans are dedicated vacationers: 80% of employed French adults take all 37 days off, and 81% of employed German adults take their full 27 days.
Then there’s Finland, where workers get a minimum of 30 days paid vacation plus up to 14 paid holidays a year, by law. It’s the country with the most generous paid time off, out of 49 nations surveyed by Mercer, a human resource consulting firm. See the list of surveyed countries in a CNNMoney article.
The article says that U.S. employed adults often limit their vacations further by using their vacation days in short segments of several days each that include frequent contact with the office. Here in the Land of Opportunity it seems to be more fashionable to work than to play. It seems we all like the idea of vacation time but many of us aren't that great at using it. Are Americans working too hard? Or is work embedded into our lives so work is part of our play? Can we resist logging on, checking email or popping in to that weekly conference call while on vacation? Are you using your all your vacation time? Why or why not?