The Summertime Homestretch!

We are officially into the Summertime Homestretch! Here at Insights360, summer projects are gearing up. My team and I find that we are most productive when we take time to disconnect on weekends, and certainly over vacation.

But have you heard of people who have vacation days and don’t take them. What’s that about?

According to the results from Project: Time Off’s State of American Vacation 2016 report, our nation’s vacation usage has fallen to 16 days a year—nearly a full week less than the average in 2000. These findings provide a comprehensive look at America’s vacation habits to date. The survey, conducted by Oxford Economics, included 5,641 U.S. employees who earn time off.  55 percent of Americans didn’t use all of their vacation time in 2015, resulting in a total of 658 million unused paid vacation days per year! Jaw. Dropped.

Is it about prestige? Shankar Vedantam in his Hidden Brain podcast, which aired on April 27, 2017, shares a study where Americans feel and are attributed higher status by others if they are SOOO busy they can’t take their vacation days.

In Europe, people would look at you and think you’re crazy.  Let’s not be crazy, my friends. Take your vacation. Hear this video message….