I've been quiet for a few days. I was so busy at the training sessions that there was little time to post. I arrived home late on Wednesday night and by the time we ordered in a pizza and watched the second last episode of LOST for the season (how amazing was it, folks?) that I just crashed.
Yesterday was my first day back in the office in a week. Needless to saw voice mail was full. The in-basket was overflowing, and I had an all-morning meeting. GRRR
I had planned on taking today off of work but there is just too much to do. I still have 13 vacation days to use up by June 30th . . . I know that that won't be happening!
Recently the issue of not using one's vacation was discussed in the Globe and Mail:
Yup, Canadian workers have issues with vacation. We don’t take it when we have it. We bank it away as if the magic of compound interest works on vacation days. Often times, it never gets used and we end up giving it back to the company, or cashing it in. We are, according a long running survey, a nation of “vacation-deprived” souls.
Where I work we can bank vacation days (and I have 63.5 days in the bank).
Why am I saving this vacation time? I don't have a 12 week vacation planned any time soon. Besides, I get an additional 6 weeks of vacation as of July 1!
Why are you not using your vacation days?
expedia.ca has been tracking this for a number of years. This is what they have found on their survey:
“Canada continues to be one of the most vacation-deprived countries globally with employed Canadians reporting an average of 18 days each of vacation in 2007, only the U.S. fares worse with an annual average of 14 vacation days,” according to the survey.
Not surprisingly, European workers, living in countries with a more healthy work/life balance have significantly more vacation days that they use. Now I know why everyone was so more laid back and relaxed in Europe. The moral of this story . . . . let's all be European!
Enjoy some well-deserved vacation folks.
Comments