Vacation deprivation: making time for time off

Rob Lovitt Travel writer • E-mail

Tick tock, people!

Summer’s half over — have you taken your vacation yet?

If you’re like far too many of us, the answer is probably not, or at least not as much as you’re entitled to. According to a study by Expedia.com, 51 million Americans — 35 percent of the adult work force — do not take all the vacation they earn. On average, says the study, we now give up three days of vacation per year. Not only that, but we get less vacation time to begin with than workers in every other country in the study.

That’s just wrong. No, it’s more than wrong. It’s appalling. It’s embarrassing. It’s an affront to our national character, a slap in the face to our status as fun-seekers and, quite possibly, a crime against our very right to life (of Riley, that is), liberty (the kind sailors get) and the pursuit of holiday happiness.

Frankly, there oughta be a law.

Giving back, but not in a good way
The issue in question is “vacation deprivation,” an insidious condition that manifests itself in a variety of ways. In its mildest form, the disorder generates feelings of stress — work-related, of course — while we’re on vacation. Festering, it leads to monitoring office e-mail and voicemail when we should be writing postcards or lounging by the pool. And in its most virulent form, it prompts us to give up vacation time altogether, saying yes to more work when we should just say no.

Consider the numbers:

• According to Expedia, 33 percent of employed U.S. adults often have trouble coping with work-related stress during their vacation.
• Since 2005, the number of people who check their work e-mail and voicemail while on vacation has jumped 43 percent (from 16 to 23 percent).
• During the same period, survey respondents reported an average gain of two vacation days per year (to 14 days). Unfortunately, they took only 11, essentially “giving back” three days to their job.

That last statistic is especially troubling when you consider that Americans already get significantly less vacation time than workers in other developed countries. Fourteen days? That’s pitiful when you consider that British workers get a healthy 24 days, Germans get a revitalizing 26 and the Spanish get a rejuvenating 30. And, mon Dieu!, the French get an inspiring 36 days.

Viva la France, indeed.

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