Is taking time off becoming a lost art?
When’s the last time you really took a good vacation? I mean, without checking in with work while you were out? Do you take time off but check voicemail and email regularly? Apparently, I’m not alone…check out the full article here.
Are you running off to the beach this year? Is your car packed with beach umbrellas, rusty beach chairs, a BlackBerry, laptop and several cellphones? Are you taking just one week instead of your allotted two?
Then I guess you're all set.
That's because one in four workers plans to work while on vacation this year, according to CareerBuilder.com's annual survey. (So is it still considered a vacation? Or are you just working from a prettier office?)
Meanwhile, workers are expected to give back 574 million vacation days in 2006, depriving themselves of much-needed breaks, according to Expedia.com's annual vacation deprivation survey. The number of vacation days that employees are skipping this year increased by one from last year. On average, Americans leave at least four days unclaimed annually.
"People in America don't take all the vacation time they should or could," said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, which is based in Washington, D.C. They "actually work very hard, have very long hours and are under a lot of stress. ... It's a very tough world out there, and unfortunately it has the effect of leading people to take less vacation or, when they take it, they take much of their work with them. And they are under a lot of stress and having problems balancing their lives."