Pack Your Bags America
By Hannah Goodwyn, 04.04.05

My senses raged as I traveled through unforgettable cities, jumping from one uniquely beautiful continent to another. From the blue lagoons off the coast of Australia to red deserts in New Mexico, from the majestic Canadian mountain peeks, to magnificent treasures in India, I have a passport, a carte blanche to go wherever I want.

Snapped back into reality, I closed the web browser—my gateway to accessible, yet relaxing escapes — and went back to my school work. I will visit travelago.com, a site that provides Internet users with inviting video from countries around the globe, on my next five-minute break.

Graduation is in one month, and I have already thought about the benefits my new job position will need to include. At the top of my list, and almost everyone else’s, is paid vacation time.

Recent television advertisements produced by Universal Orlando have only reinforced this as my top choice. You may have seen the one where an executive is sarcastically giddy because more and more American workers are not taking days off.

“Keep up the good work America. And remember your time is our money,” the elated CEO said.

After watching the commercial, I laughed for all of two seconds. Then I decided to find out why we are giving back our time.

It is not because Americans do not want to take vacations, because most do, according to a MetLife survey. Of the 1,542 respondents, 64 percent of workers rated paid time off as their most valuable benefit above health care insurance, pension plans and disability insurance.

Although it is a high priority and most have access to paid vacation days, a 2004 survey found that one in three had not and were not planning to use the time off, according to the Overwork in America study conducted by the Families and Work Institute, a non-profit research organization.

Now, why would anyone give this up? There are a couple of good reasons. One is that some people would rather trudge through the piles of work on their desk, than enjoy a nice long vacation to return to a bigger pile. Others may feel the pressure from employers to stay on the job because of projects that need attention and lack of workers to fill in for absent vacationers.

Joe Robinson, founder of the Work to Live organization, wants to reverse this trend in workplaces across the country. He believes that Americans do not take time off for more specific reasons.

“Well, it’s a convergence of a number of factors, mostly downsizing,” Robinson said in an interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered”. “The people who are left at those jobs are now doing the work for two or three people, so there’s more work and it’s harder to get away from that work.”

Technology and feelings of fear and guilt also are big factors. People get what he calls a “false urgency” related to issues at work. The immediacy of e-mail and cell phones creates an impulse in workers to follow up on messages because they feel they cannot wait. He also said that our idea of constant productivity encourages us to think that vacation is somehow an illegitimate reason to miss work days.

Not only is getting away from the office for a week exhilarating at times, it is also vital. Workers who do not take advantage of vacation time risk their lives.

“For example, only eight percent of employees who are not overworked experience symptoms of clinical depression compared with twenty-one percent of those who are highly overworked,” according to a Families and Work Institute press release published on Mar. 15, 2005.

Considering the study found that one in three people feel they are overworked, the number of workers who suffer from depression is relatively high.

Work-related stress also beats down a person’s health. It can even cause distress to the heart. Time away from work can decrease the “risk of death from heart disease in men by 32 percent and in women by 50 percent,” according to an article Robinson wrote for the Los Angeles Times.

By taking a vacation, workers are rejuvenated, which in turn makes them more productive. The Overwork in America study found that workers who take days off, return with a higher level of energy.

They also found that more time spent away – totally separated from the office and work – the more relaxed workers feel. And a few days off does not necessarily work as effectively as extended vacations. Of those who took one to three days off, 68 percent felt energized when they returned, while 85 percent felt even more so when they took seven or more days, according to the study.

“Sometimes being truly away from work helps employees return less overwhelmed and more able to engage energetically in work,” the Families and Work Institute release stated.

Looking at the consequences, I find it hard to come up with a reason to put my health and sanity in jeopardy, especially when the remedy is simply using my paid vacation days.

Time and financial constraints do not allow everyone the luxury of taking a trip to Europe or the Caribbean. But taking a long break from the office – even if it is spent at home – benefits employees who need time away from the stress. By allowing workers to take days off, employers can gain a more productive staff and decrease their chances of having to pay higher insurance costs because of unhealthy employees.

So, set a date, pack your bags and enjoy your vacation.