They say you can't take it with you. But what if you never go away in the first place? A study by online travel company
Orbitz has found a noticeable drop in the length of time North Americans are booking for vacations. Three week getaways? A thing of the past. And the lazy hazy days of summer are gone with it. "Our sense is that people are busier than ever with their lives, their family activities, their kids," observes the travel agency's Jeanenne Diefendorf. "So they find it difficult to take an extended vacation and easier to balance if they're only gone a couple of days."
But paradoxically, by not taking time off, they're cheating themselves - and quite possibly the very employers they'd be leaving behind. "They're missing the benefits of unplugging from the workplace for at least a week," she contends.
Many workers, now seeing themselves as "indispensable" - a quality often supported by management - feel guilty about booking more than a week at a time. Others are worried they'll miss something. It appears there's a growing trend where employees don't see the value in vacations, and find taking them more hassle than they're worth. Preparing to leave, finding others to cover for them and the fear of falling hopelessly behind make vacations, especially expensive ones, less and less attractive.
Some are weaving downtime into their daily routine in lieu of time off. "I've designed my life to give me the freedom to schedule my own time," explains Nancy Kirk, who runs a fabric business. "I don't want to separate work and the rest of my life like most people do."
Consolidations, "strategic trimming" and relentless cries for increased productivity can leave the average nine-to-fiver with a sense of responsibility that simply won't allow them to check out. Over one third of workers access their work email while on vacation, according to business research company
eMarketer. The prospect of several hundred electronic notes waiting for them on their return makes most people think this "preventative pruning" of their inbox saves time and hassle. But at what cost?
"In the short run, it can reduce productivity," states Iowa State Professor of Labour Economics Wallace Huffman. "And people are living longer and have to think seriously about working more years. That means it's critical that people take periodic vacations that allow their minds -- and their bodies -- to rest."
Europeans have embraced lengthy vacations for some time; most countries in the EU have a minimum of five weeks vacation, and nations like Italy encourage their workers to take that time off in large chunks at the same time of the year. France has a generous 30 days off, while socialist Sweden accrues a comfortable 25. The United States has half that of France's with only 15.
And Canada? A paltry 10 days - which we can't seem to book. According to the
Ipsos Reid/Expedia.ca study, over 32 million vacation days go unclaimed in Canada every year. That's enough for every man, woman and child in Canada to take a day off. If they can just find the time.
Read the study
eMarketer Study