Four in 10 Americans will not use up their earned time off this year due to the fear of being replaced.
A new study called, Overwhelmed America: Why Don’t We Use Our Paid Time Off? revealed that coupled with work piling up, many Americans are afraid to take a vacation because of a lack of employer support and/or communication.
This completely contradicts the widespread acceptance of how important PTO time is to the health and happiness of employees. Forty percent of employees will actually leave vacation days on the table instead of using them. American workers are starting to adopt more and more of a martyr complex in order to show their worth.
One HR expert explains that some employees wear their lack of used vacation time as “a badge of honor”.
A cited reason for the fear of using PTO time is because many Americans are still mentally stuck in a recession. An overwhelming number of people lost their jobs when the economy was in a slump and it took, in some cases, years to become employed again. To prevent being laid off American employees will work to the bone to show that they aren’t replaceable.
The effects of a poor economy still prevail with one third of the respondents saying they can’t afford to use their PTO time even if they wanted.
This work martyr complex is reinforced by some company cultures as well. It starts from the top. If C level management doesn’t communicate the importance of PTO, employees will not see the importance in it either. Management, sometimes, sends mixed messages about taking time off which can actually further discourage it. Many senior business leaders have stated that they never, or very rarely, talk with employees about the benefits of taking time off. While this may be completely unintentional, the message is still sent and received that time off is probably frowned upon.
In cases of “use it or lose it” policies, five out of six workers say they plan on using most of their PTO by the end of the year. Unfortunately, 26% of workers reported working for a company that had a “use it or lose it” policy.
