A new survey by Right Management has found that almost half of employees failed to take all their vacation time in 2010.
The talent and career management firm surveyed 627 U.S. workers via an online poll in December and found that 46% said they haven’t taken all of their vacation for 2010.
Despite the low figure, this may actually be an indication that employees are feeling more job security than they did a year ago.
“This may appear to be a disturbing finding,” says Douglas J. Matthews, president and chief operating officer for Right Management. “But it’s an improvement over a year ago, when in the identical survey we found that two-thirds of workers weren’t taking all the time that was due to them.”
Matthews said the 2009 results likely reflected employees’ increased work pressures following the rash of layoffs during the economic downturn.
But the fact that only 54% of employees revealed actually taking all of their vacation in 2010 indicates that many are likely still uncertain about their futures, Matthews said. “There’s clearly a lot of stress among employees in both Canada and the U.S. There are heavier workloads as well as uncertainty about business viability and the chance of more cutbacks.”
However, he notes that vacation is an earned employee benefit that helps maintain work/life balance and overall wellness.
“Vacation plays a fundamental role in fostering a healthy, productive workforce,” said Matthews. “Foregoing some vacation days may by itself not prove significant, but when many employees come to feel they can’t take the time to which they’re entitled, real harm may be done…and the results can be high turnover, low retention, absenteeism, frequent health or safety claims or a host of other HR problems. Vacation time is essential for balance and wellness.”