A recent national survey by Oxford Health Plans reveals that 18 percent of employees are unable to use all of their vacation days because of the demands of their job. More than 34 percent say that it is difficult for them to ever “get away” because their jobs never have any “down time”; 32 percent say that they never leave the building after arriving at work, and eat lunch while working; 19 percent say that their jobs make them “feel older”; and 19 percent feel compelled to go to work when they are sick. How does paid vacation time in the United States compare to what workers receive in other industrialized countries? Not very well. Average annual vacation time in the United States is 13 days. Compare that to Italy (42 days), France (37 days), Germany (35 days), Brazil (34 days), Britain (28 days), Canada (26 days), and Japan (25 days).
This content originally appeared in Church Treasurer Alert, June 2001.
