Michael Fitzgibbon, a Toronto labor and employment lawyer, who keeps tabs on what is happening in Canadian employment law matters at Thoughts of A Management Lawyer, posted some great vacation factoids just as he was leaving town for what is I am sure a well earned vacation, A Vacation by Any Other Name? :
- last year, Americans forfeited an average of 3 paid vacation days - 415 million days total - a 50% increase over 2003
- the value of unredeemed frequent-flyer miles is $700 billion, exceeding the value of U.S. dollars in circulation
- middle-aged men who skip vacation for five years increase their risk of heart attack by 30%
- the RAND Corporation in California now gives its employees a 5% bonus if they use all of their vacation days
- 32% of paid vacation time is spent doing non-vacation activities
- 30% of employees do office-work during vacation
- 43% return feeling overwhelmed by the work they have to do
I happened to have an email exchange with Mike today, and so I know he has not totally slipped into vacation mode. "Tomorrow," he says, uttering words that many of us have said all too often when we are supposed to be vacationing.