66% of people surveyed said that they will respond to emails and text messages from work while on vacation.
Combine that with the 83% of diehard workaholics that say they check business email after-hours after they’ve left the office, and the 29% who still attend online meetings and/or conference calls while taking a day or two off, and what you have is a bunch of people who just can’t learn how to relax. Heck, Web Watch is guilty of this ourselves, having done everything from creating Powerpoint presentations while sitting in a Las Vegas casino hotel lobby to hosting a conference call while on the Mad Tea Party teacups at Walt Disney World.
We’re not proud of the latter, but one does what one has to do.
Not everybody can be “on” all the time; everyone is entitled to having some sort of downtime… and if your office can’t survive for an evening without your prying eyes micromanaging everything, then maybe you’re working for the wrong company.
But it is true – American workers are horrifically bad at taking their allocated vacation time and days off compared to those workers in other countries. Americans put in nine weeks more work than those who work in Europe.
That’s what led John de Graff to write the book Take Back Your Time: Fighting Overwork and Time Poverty in America
Now we know that it may be a little too far off for most Web Watch readers, but October 24 is what John calls TAKE BACK YOUR TIME DAY, a day dedicated for businesses of all types to call attention to the overworking of America and how much stress and pressure it puts on individuals and their families.
Did you know that…
- 70% of employees surveyed didn’t use all their 2011 vacation days?
- On average, employees are not taking 70% of their allocated time off . Are those people crazy?
- When sick, people are more likely to go into the office than stay home to try to get better. Employees are often scared about losing their jobs if they don’t show up at the office – no matter how sick they may be
So make this 2012 New Year’s Resolution to use your allocated vacation time. You’ll feel better, more relaxed — and hey, you earned it. Those days are yours for the taking, and in this case – if you don’t use them, you lose them. Why give your company something back that they’ve already given you?