WASHINGTON (TVR) – Americans are using more vacation days, but a majority of them still forfeit time off, leaving as unclaimed valuable days away from the office, an annual report finds.
The Project: Time Off survey from the U.S. Travel Association found 52% of employees had unused vacation days at the end of 2017, with a total of 221 million days forfeited.
While a majority are still giving up time away from work they are owed, the survey found a slight improvement over previous years.
The average time off in 2017 per worker was 17.2 days, up from 16.8 days in 2016. In fact, last year continued a three-year trend of improvement from a 2014 low of 16.0 days used.
“The increase in vacation usage from 16.8 to 17.2 days delivered a $30.7 billion impact to the U.S. economy. It also produced an estimated 217,200 direct and indirect jobs and generated $8.9 billion in additional income for Americans,” the Travel Association said in its report.
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Project Time Off
The 52% of Americans who did not use all their vacation time accumulated 705 million unused days, an increase from 662 million in 2016, meaning employers gave them the ability to take more time off, even if workers forfeited it.
The 212 million days that went unused equaled $62.2 billion in “lost benefits,” the survey said.
“That means employees effectively donated an individual average of $561 in work time to their employer in 2017,” Project: Time Off concluded.
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Fear, Workload Discourage Vacation Time
The top reason U.S. workers don’t take all of their allotted vacation time is because they fear “looking replaceable,” the survey found.
Nearly two-thirds, or 61%, said that was why they forfeited time off.
“My Workload is Too Heavy” and “Lack of Coverage at Work” both tied for the second-most cited reason, at 56%.
“My Pet,” “The Logistical Hassles of Traveling,” and “Concerns about Security and Safety when Traveling,” tied for third place at 54%.
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