Washington – A new American research project called Project: Time Off has documented the total vacation days taken by American workers and records a whopping average of 17.2 days of vacation in 2017 from just 16.0 days in 2014. This is an unprecedented record in seven years, peaking last in 2010 with an average of 17.5 days in average spent on vacations.
Approximately, 84 percent of all Americans accept the importance of taking some time off for traveling and spend some quality time with their family. Yet, nine-in-ten Americans confess to not traveling enough, and essentially being a stranger in their own country.
Even with the rise in the vacation days, 52 percent of all Americans still have unused time left from their vacation days from last year.
The vice president of the Project: Time Off, Katie Denis has been quoted saying, “Simple and avoidable barriers to travel end up costing American workers in the long term. When we forego travel, we miss out on defining moments, experiences and memories, and end up costing our economy, too.”
Money can act as a reasonable barrier to travel. Indeed, taking a vacation can become rather expensive, especially if one is traveling with the whole family. However, with the internet crawling with hundreds of attractive offers on flight tickets and hotel bookings and affordable travel packages, it is rather unfortunate that people still fail to take advantage of the attractive offers.
Apart from the expenses, pets, scheduling conflicts with children’s exams can still pose a problem. There is also the lingering issue of job security and the dangers of coming off as a less dedicated employee. Heavy work-load can be a hindrance when planning for the vacation days.
The flexibility of work has opened up new opportunities for the American employees to work offsite that enables them to work even on their vacations, without missing out a single work day. The idea of such workcations is especially attractive to the younger generation, with almost four-in-ten millennials enthusiastic about the idea of working on their vacations.
Traveling helps in improving physical health and is a great cure for stress that stems from everyday hassles and workplace pressure. Apart from the physiological benefits, it can also help in mending strained familial relationships as well as help spend more time with the children. Apart from the extra advantages, it can also help the employees to refocus on their work.
Companies, large and small are fast realizing the importance of vacations. A mentally satisfied employee not only increases job satisfaction and involvement but also increases overall productivity and decreases turnover rate in the long term.
