Americans Gotta Vacation Like They Mean It

Shut it down, people.

The moment you leave the house with packed bags should be the moment you treat your phone as a means to talk to friends, play games and take photos. That’s it.

Captivate’s research and analysis asset Office Pulse has unveiled its findings in a survey of 1,000 people in North America on how they treat work while on holiday.

Far too many of us, it would seem, are taking that phone to email and check on work.

Shame on us, because the reason we travel is to kick stress to the curb, though that doesn’t seem to be how some Americans operate.

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Office Pulse’s Summer Travel Trends study found a stark dichotomy between how we in the United States treat work on holiday and how our neighbors to the north do. According to the study, 47 percent of Americans plan on checking email while on vacation—and nothing kills a good cabana chillout session like seeing an email from work.

Conversely, 59 percent of Canadians state they wouldn’t work at all, (which is the proper response in my book).

Now to be fair, there is a giant chunk of Americans who agree with that Canadian sentiment and will stave off anything from the employer (44 percent).Yet, 23 percent of people from the U.S. state they plan on not only working but doing so for half an hour a day.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Consider how time absolutely flies when you are at the resort, beach or amusement park. While commendable, a quarter of Americans are big enough workaholics that they are sacrificing what would otherwise be 30 minutes better served by a quick nap induced from a ridiculously large cocktail.

Captivate explains the French take up to 30 days of downtime a year, something that would be inconceivable to Americans: We take anywhere from 6-10 days of holiday time per year, according to the study.

Now we come to the truly depressing part of the study: “7 (percent) of U.S. respondents don’t plan to take any time off this summer; 51 (percent) of this group report the reason is because they don’t have any vacation time.”

While many of these hard workers don’t have enough vacation time, some of this could be classic vacation shaming. The 2017 Alamo Rent A Car Family Vacation Survey released this March states 49 percent of American workers feel immense guilt and what they call being “vacation shamed.”

Alamo Rent A Car vice president Rob Connors stated at the time: “Our research shows roughly one in four U.S. workers say the biggest benefit of vacation is feeling less stressed at work – yet, the majority still choose to limit their vacation days and forgo some much-needed rest and relaxation. This year’s survey suggests that American workers are putting a lot of pressure on themselves in workplaces when it comes to planning and taking vacations, especially in vacation-shaming environments.”

READ MORE: How to Ensure a Stress-Free Vacation

It’s not like many of us are working anyway. Kayak released a study this April that concluded 57 percent of American workers researched future travel during the workday.

Perhaps it’s time to stop daydreaming and start doing.

We understand that many of us simply have to work every waking hour and travel is a luxury that one just can’t embrace at the moment. But that should make shutting it off while on holiday all the more important.

If you can get away, do it completely.

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