Vacation Days: Use Them or Lose Them?
Imagine my surprise when I came across this article today that said 41% of American workers let their paid vacation go to waste! 41 PERCENT!!! That means if they are 100 people at work, 41 of them don’t use all of their PAID vacation time given to them by their companies! As an avid traveler, I feel as though I never have enough vacation time so people failing to use theirs baffle me to no end! I once worked at a company that allowed employees to purchase an additional 40 hours of vacation time. The cost was about $850 to do so but I purchased it each year and used every single hour! Most companies have a “use it or lose it” policy so this means that American workers are giving these companies their money back each year. And guess what? Your boss loves it when you don’t take vacation time because they get the necessary work out of you to get the job done and they don’t have to pay you for NOT being at work. Additionally, they don’t have to pay someone else time and a half to cover your absence when you’ve gone on vacation – GENIUS (them, not you)! You give these companies 40+ hours of your time each week. For God’s sake, take your paid vacation time.
Don’t have money to go somewhere? Who cares? The term “staycation” was created for a reason! Book yourself a nice hotel on hotels.com or through one of the deal websites such as Groupon or Living Social! Spend the day lounging at the pool and having someone else clean up after you. Have a night out on the town and not worry about having to be up early the next day for work. Allow yourself the opportunity to take a physical and mental break from work for more than a couple days at a time. I cannot stress the importance of taking the time to unwind. Your mind, body & soul will thank you for it 🙂
Check out the article at http://tinyurl.com/p8xzdse for some additional insight on the topic. How about you? Do you take all of your paid vacation time from work? If you’re one of those that don’t use their time, why don’t you? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear what others are doing with their time!
Until Next Time,
Q