A new survey conducted by Halfday shows that something deeply alarming is happening to American workers. Workers are getting the full mental health benefits of their paid time off (PTO). Our research shows that 62% of Americans waste at least 10 PTO days a year. That’s a trend that has almost doubled in just the last four years. This frightening figure is indicative of the increasing overwork culture that is gripping the younger generations.
The OnePoll-conducted survey, with 3,767 respondents, found that more than half (54%) of Americans work on their vacations. This work-leisure integration is a euphemism for the reality that nobody has time to do both and complicates the already precarious American work-life balance. Stress the workers millennial workers were among those most likely to report guilt when taking time off for enjoyment. In fact, nearly three-fifths (58%) of millennials said they don’t take a day off without feeling guilty.
Working this way is not what Millennials are trying to do under the weight of today’s expectations. Many young people report feeling guilty about taking PTO. They got into the workforce at a time of really an unprecedented acceleration in technology, which creates this expectation that folks should just be on call all the time,” explained Mike Lombardo, a communications associate with Halfday. This constant pressure shapes a toxic work-life culture. Workers begin to dread taking time off instead of enjoying the peace of mind that comes with knowing a well-deserved break is possible.
Baby boomers—people born between 1946 and 1964—are much better at taking advantage of their paid time off. This generation is much more likely to be taking an average of one more week of vacation than millennials and Generation Z combined. Surprisingly, fewer than half of baby boomers said they felt guilty when using all their days of PTO. This contrast highlights a generational split in attitudes toward time off work.
Lombardo went on to explain how the U.S. work-life balance severely favors work. In the US, we have all become acquainted with the idea of work bleeding into all other aspects of life. This gives rise to a pervasive fear that coming back from vacations will require additional hours spent trying to get up to speed on things that were missed while out. This fear of falling behind can play a role in why people are afraid to take time off and away from the daily grind.
The community input findings from Halfday point to an urgent need. To bring change at home, Americans need to take mental health and well-being off the back-burner. As a result, too many people have guilted themselves into not taking well-deserved breaks. This guilt goes deeper than just personal reproach, reflecting a cultural problem that deserves more attention. Promoting PTO as an employer shown to increase employee health. This, in turn, leads to greater productivity and happiness on the job.
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