{"id":21185,"date":"2016-11-15T13:01:20","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T13:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/?p=21185"},"modified":"2022-06-24T19:41:59","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T19:41:59","slug":"work-life-imbalance-expedias-2016-vacation-deprivation-study-shows-americans-leave-hundreds-millions-paid-vacation-days-unused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/work-life-imbalance-expedias-2016-vacation-deprivation-study-shows-americans-leave-hundreds-millions-paid-vacation-days-unused\/","title":{"rendered":"Work-Life Imbalance: Expedia\u2019s 2016 Vacation Deprivation Study Shows Americans Leave Hundreds of Millions of Paid Vacation Days Unused"},"content":{"rendered":"

More Americans consider themselves \u201cvery vacation deprived\u201d than any\u00a0<\/em>other nation;\u00a0<\/em>South Korean workers take fewest vacation days<\/em><\/p>\n

BELLEVUE, Wash., November 15, 2016 \u2013 Expedia.com\u00ae<\/sup><\/a>, one of the world’s largest full service online travel sites, today released the results of the 2016 Expedia Vacation Deprivation\u00ae report, an annual study of vacation habits among employed adults in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.<\/p>\n

The study, conducted on behalf of Expedia by Northstar, found that America again trails much of the world in work-life balance on the metric of paid vacation. Americans received 15 paid vacation days from their employers in the past year, and took only 12. With three days unused, this means American workers effectively failed to take approximately 375 million paid vacation days within the past year.*<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been looking at vacation and work life balance for more than a decade now and while many of the employed adults we survey agree that regular vacations are important for their general health and wellbeing, there are still plenty who have trouble maintaining the important balance between work and life,\u201d said John Morrey, Vice President & General Manager of Expedia.com. \u201cWe believe vacation, no matter how you define it, is critical to maintaining this balance and we hope that Vacation Deprivation serves as a good reminder to take a few days off and disconnect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Paid Vacation: A Right in Europe, a Luxury in Asia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Across Europe, paid vacation days are very much a right. The study found that Spanish workers are given 30 days off and take all 30. The same is true of the Finnish and French. Italian and German workers are given 30 days of vacation and take 25 and 28 of those days, respectively.<\/p>\n

Being given 30 days off for vacation isn\u2019t exclusive to European nations, however. Brazilians take their full complement of 30 afforded vacations days, as do residents of the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

North American countries, specifically the United States, Canada, and Mexico, earn about half that time off work. Study respondents in each nation report having 15 days available, and take 12, 14 and 12 days in turn.<\/p>\n

North American paid vacation habits most closely resemble those in Asia. Vacation Deprivation revealed that South Koreans are given 15 days and take only 8, the least among the 28 countries surveyed. The Japanese take 10 of 20 days available, Malaysians take 12 of 16 possible days and Thai workers take 12 of 15.<\/p>\n

Vacation Deprivation is a State of Mind<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite having 30 vacation days available to them, 68 percent of Spanish and United Arab Emirates workers feel \u201cvery or somewhat vacation deprived,\u201d the most among all respondents. A full 25 percent of Americans described themselves as \u201cvery<\/em> vacation deprived,\u201d the highest percentage in the field. Only 6 percent of Norwegian and Swiss respondents said the same.<\/p>\n

Guilt and worry prompt many workers to skip vacation. In particular:<\/p>\n