I’m told if you have a catchy title then people read your posts more. Let this be a little experiment.
I’ll give you the #1 reason up top.
#1 – They didn’t feel the need
Let me get back into the research for a second to give that context. Pew Research asked 5k workers in the US about their jobs. There were a lot of questions, but I was struck by the part about PTO (Paid Time Off). About half said they took all their paid leave. But 46% said they didn’t take all their PTO. The top reasons were:
52% Don’t Feel the need
49% Worried about falling behind
43% Feel bad about burdening co-workers
19% It’ll hurt chances of promotion
16% Fear they might lose their job
12% Their manager discourages it
A couple of takeaways. Upper-income workers with bachelor’s degrees used less PTO. That was also true for managers. People working in education, government, or the military use less PTO than in other industries. So, what does it mean that the top salaried workers don’t feel the need to take vacation?
Looking deeper into the results of the survey, about four in ten workers say their job or career is important to their overall identity. Three in ten say they respond to work messages outside of work hours very often. About half said they were extremely or very satisfied with their job. Half said their job was enjoyable all or most of the time, and 47% say it’s fulfilling. Workers with higher incomes report greater overall job satisfaction compared to those with middle or lower incomes.
Wasn’t it Mark Twain who said, “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life?”
So if higher income workers are happy, why do other workers feel less engaged? There may be some answers in the data.
Upper-income workers were happier with opportunities for training and development, as well as promotion. Nine in ten upper-income workers have access to key benefits, like paid time off, health insurance, and retirement. Lower-income workers are less likely (6 in 10) to get insurance and retirement. There are similar patterns for family and medical leave. Many lower-income workers expressed concerns about falling behind at work or burdening their colleagues by taking PTO. This suggests that they may lack flexibility and control over their work schedules or workloads.
My takeaway? If all workers had the same access to benefits, growth, stability, flexibility and control then maybe nobody would need to take all their vacation time.
B.S. Donovan 