Did you know that Americans admitted to not using about half of their paid time off? In 2018 alone, figures indicate that workers surrendered 768 million days of PTO* (that’s collective among all workers, naturally). and in 2022, 9.5 days on average per worker were left unclaimed.
When I see commercials on television, the people in them are on vacation, kayaking down rivers and driving reliably tricked-out SUVs up rocky terrain, not rushing to company buildings or working from home. So which is it?
Sure we’re mostly working from home now, so that should reduce some of the stress from our lives. Perhaps. But we Americans have some sort of masochistic work ethic which forbids us enjoying the adventures of life in favor of the drudgery of reports, remembering to unmute at meetings, being gracious in the face of customer abuse and the uncertainty of fluctuating corporate status.
Other countries offer generous holidays and time off incentives, and the workers take them. They can spend several days on holiday at the beach or in the country. They don’t even need to travel far from where they are in most cases. Our country is humongous, so we fly or take trains to many major vacation destinations. The last big vacation I took involved more flying than vacationing crossing time zones. I arrived exhausted and spent my returning day mostly in the air and awaiting connections. Returning to work seemed a treat after that.
What did I just say?
Full-time workers have five days on and two days off, and on a holiday they are so overwhelmed with everything related to the event itself that there is no time to relax or enjoy the time given that isn’t PTO. It’s a mysterious phenomenon, possibly related to Stockholm Syndrome (in which victims become more attached to those holding them captive) or some dependency disorder to which we have no answers.
The Monday (or Tuesday) after a holiday is usually torture for workers because of all the catching up required. So holidays become synonymous with the upcoming negativity, making the desire to willlingly subject oneself to it less palatable, and possibly carrying over that same guilt to PTO.
Of course, we’re not better off working without time off, but the best thing we can do is make the best of the time we are given and take it for all it’s worth. That means, take the PTO. Stay at home, wear the same outfit for three days in a row and let the den degrade into a troll cave. We owe it to ourselves to enjoy freedom when it’s offered to us.
And no trips to Stockholm.
*(Source: Zippia.com)
Susan's Scribblings the Blog 