The State of American Vacation Time

Project: Time Off is an organization that looks at American workers and how they’re offered time off, as well as how they use it. According to their State of the American Vacation 2018 report, there have been some changes in how Americans are viewing and using vacation time.

The report focuses on the shifts that are related to how employers are working to create what is described as “more encouraging vacation cultures,” and employees are reportedly feeling more confident about using the time they earn.

Even with what’s being described as progress regarding how American workers see their time off, more than half still leave vacation time on the table. The following are some of the key findings of the 2018 State of the American Vacation report:

• 52 percent of employees said they had unused vacation days at the end of the year in 2017. This is in comparison to 54 percent in 2016 and 55 percent in 2015. This was the third consecutive year of increased vacation usage, which made the national average 17.2 vacation days taken per employee.
• The Project: Time Off report states that the increase in used vacation days impacted the economy by $30.7 billion, and produced an estimated 217,200 jobs, both directly and indirectly. It also generated $8.9 billion in additional income for people in the U.S.
• The research shows employers are funding more time. The average employee said they earned 23.2 paid days off, which was an increase of more than ½ a day over the year before.
• Americans forfeited 212 million days, which means they lost more than $62 billion in benefits, and basically gave their employer $561 in work time last year.
• The number of employees who felt like they would be seen as less dedicated or replaceable if they took vacation time were significantly less likely to use their vacation time. In fact, 61 percent of vacation time available to these employees went unused, as compared to the overall rate of 52 percent.
• Four-in-ten employees said their company culture encourages vacation, which is up from the perception of the previous year.
• Employers, especially Millennials, seem to be interested in the idea of “workcations,” where they can go away including on vacation, but still work remotely at some level.

The Project: Time Off survey looked at more than 4,000 American workers. The report author Katie Denis, who’s also vice president of Project: Time Off said that more employers seem to be giving time off, as they see the importance of work-life balance. Denis went on to say that employers are seeing they are having to be more competitive when searching for top talent and retaining them. Previously employers might not have cared much about helping employees achieve work-life balance, but now if they want to remain competitive, they have to.

Submitted October 01, 2018 at 04:40AM by arlomax https://ift.tt/2RfEIOT