Bosses Take More Vacations Than Workers

CREDIT: Dreamstime View full size image

Bosses are more likely than their employees to take a vacation this summer, new research has found. In that research, 81 percent of managers said they were likely to take a vacation this summer while just 65 percent of workers were planning a summer getaway this year.

While workers are less likely than their bosses to take a vacation, they are more likely to take a vacation this year than they were last year. Last year, 61 percent of workers took a summer vacation. Although more workers were taking a vacation this year, the number was still far below prerecession levels, when 80 percent of full-time workers took a vacation.  Workers were also less likely this year to take a vacation of more than 10 days than they were in the past. 

Money is a big reason why many workers were not planning a vacation. Almost one in five workers said they were not going on vacation because they could not afford to do so, while 12 percent of respondents said that could afford a vacation but were not planning on taking one. Nearly one-quarter of workers, 23 percent, said they had to stay at work while their family went away without them and 15 percent of workers said they would lose vacation days because they did not have time to take vacation. 

[Fear of Being Fired Kills the American Vacation]

"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," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, which conducted the research. "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."

Despite the benefits that vacations have on the health of employees, workers are not totally unplugging when they go away.  Three in 10 workers said they contact their workplace while away and 37 percent of managers also maintain contact with the office when they are away. Additionally, 38 percent of workers said they were also likely to stay home or take a "staycation" instead of going on vacation this year.

The research was based on the responses of 5,000 full-time workers and 2,000 managers. The research was done by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder. 

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow DavidMielach on Twitter @D_M89 or BusinessNewsDaily @bndarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+.