1 in 4 Americans Continue to Work on Vacations
Study reveals Americans feel guilty when taking a vacation — and struggle to disconnect
A study of 2000 people, created by the book summary app Headway, shows that 2 out of 3 struggle to disconnect during their downtime and 68% feel anxious if they don’t check their work emails while away. As a result, 27% admit to working on vacations. “These numbers are dropping significantly, which is a good sign. Just two years ago, similar surveys showed that two-thirds of workers were working during their vacations,” said Thalia-Maria Tourikis, certified health coach and burnout prevention expert at Headway app. “With so many people being let go – even at major companies – it’s made a lot of us rethink how we spend our time. More people are realising that they’re not obligated to sacrifice their downtime (or sanity) just to prove themselves at work,” she added.
Unsurprisingly, nearly half of respondents chose to work while away to stay in control and 1 in 7 out of fear of losing their job – yet another 1 in 3 said they simply loved their job and didn’t mind hustling while away. However, around 1 in 8 admitted that their manager demands them to work on vacations, while a whopping 96% of people receive relaxation-disrupting calls and messages from colleagues while away. As a result, the lack of work-life balance takes a toll on our well–being: 61% feel guilty when working on vacations, and 49% feel guilty if they don’t. Moreover, 52% have experienced mental health issues due to overworking, with 46% suffering from anxiety and 1 in 4 having to cope with chronic stress.
What’s more – 2 in 3 workers have experienced alarming physical health issues, such as frequent headaches, fatigue and chronic back pain, caused by overworking.
You can find the full study on Headway’s website.