Many employees returned to work this week a little lighter on vacation days – not because they used them, but because they were lost when the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Just how many vacation days did workers let expire at the end of 2011? The answer depends on who you ask:
- An Expedia study found that the average worker would lose 2 vacation days at the end of the year
- Hotwire found that the typical U.S. employee would lose 6.2 days
- JetBlue found that 57% of Americans would leave an average of 11 vacation days
unused, and - CNNMoney estimated 226 million vacation days would go unused — $34 billion worth of time.
The most recurring reason given as to why employees let their vacation
days expire: They couldn’t afford to take a vacation.
Other reasons given:
- Job insecurity (thinking they may lose their jobs if they took vacations)
- A lack of planning, and
- Having too much work to take time off.
