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American Workers Have 12 Million Vacation Years On the Table

Stressed Americans Leave 460 Million Vacation Days Unused

For the eighth consecutive year, working Americans received and used the smallest amount of vacation time compared with workers abroad, according to a survey commissioned by Expedia.com, MarketingCharts writes. For the entire article go to marketingvox.com

This is a lot of days. Four Hundred Sixty Million Days. This is a lot of years. About Twelve Million. Whenever critics view American workers as laggards they should look at this stat.

But yes we know there are more than a few Americans who do screw off while the rest of us pick up the slack. They are often the ones not denying themselves any vacation days. But still 12 million years worth of vacation days. Some lucky soul could languish on the beach for an awfully long time with that kind of vacation allotment.

So I suppose when you have a work force that leaves an accumulated 460 million vacation days on the table, it may be fair to say we are over worked and over stressed. Couple that with inflation, energy prices, food prices, all other kinds of prices, and small wonder we are driving each other crazy. In France they still get that month of vacation in the summer. They still take it. But not here. Here we have to squeeze in a three day holiday weekend and then feel guilty we are not on our Blackberries, IPhones, whatever, monitoring our email and voice mail.

So the obvious issue is the quality of life issue. Do we have a decent quality of life? Do we have a life?

Employers will be recruiting candidates, running background checks, conducting preemployment screening programs, and placing the most skilled into their workforce. But are they creating turnover by burning them out? Is there some point that all that Calvinistic dedication is resulting in burnout?

I’m not one to talk. As the co-founder of Corra, a background checking company, I don’t take vacations, either. Not really. So here we are. As for where we are going, it’s tough to say.

Check them out before you hire. Call Corra.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.