While only 65 percent of full-time employees plan on taking vacations, 81 percent of managers plan to do the same, according to a recent survey from CareerBuilder.
Although this figure for employee respondents is up from 61 percent in 2011, it remains far prerecession levels when 80 percent of employee respondents in 2007 took vacations. Nineteen percent of respondents report that they can't afford vacations, a decline from 24 percent in 2011.
"Managers may be more likely to afford vacations, but they should still be encouraging their employees to use paid time off, even if they are staying close to home," says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "Workers who maximize vacation time are less likely to burn out and more likely to maintain productivity levels. Heavy workloads and financial constraints can make it difficult to get away from work, but even if you're not traveling far from home, a few days away can have a very positive impact on your health and happiness."
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The survey also finds that 17 percent of respondents took or planned vacations for ten days or more, which is down from 24 percent in 2007. Three in 10 workers plan to remain in contact with work, similar to last year, and 37 percent of manager respondents expect that their employees do so, though is typically only applies to those in the middle of a major project or issue.
Another 15 percent of respondents say they gave up vacation days last year because they lacked the time to use them, marking a slight decrease from 16 percent in 2010. Thirty-eight percent of respondents plan to stay at home during paid time off, and 23 percent of respondents say they have had to work while their families went on vacation without them.
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