Technology Keeps Employees Working During Vacation Days
Posted on December 6, 2006
Is modern technology having a negative impact on vacation time? That's the gist of an article from eWeek. The article says workers are using less of their paid vacation time. When workers do actually take a paid vacation day many say they are staying in contact with their employer thanks to technology. 72% of workers said they stay in touch with the office during their vacations.
Increasingly, workers are simply not taking paid days off from work, even when weeks are made available to them. More than one-third (37 percent) of respondents said they anticipate not using all of their time off this year.If that isn't depressing enough the article also said that 38% said they return to work after a vacation just as stressed as they were before they left.Fourteen percent of respondents polled said they hadn't taken a vacation this year longer than a long weekend, while 24 percent of workers reported that they had not taken a single vacation day this year.
The news doesn't improve among those who are actually using their vacation benefits. Thirty-nine percent of professionals polled said they check in with their offices most days, if not every day, while on vacation. In total, 72 percent of respondents said they maintain at least some connection with their employment headquarters while away, via e-mail and phone.
It's not just the worker ants staying connected while they're supposed to be winding down�87 percent of managers in the survey reported that they keep in contact with their offices while taking time off.
Many argue that the technological advances in communication and connectivity have led to a state of over-connectedness and an inability to unwind.