Tight economy spurs some to relinquish vacation

Hanah Cho | On the Job

June 23, 2008

Welcome to vacation season.

Some 69 percent of workers take time off between Memorial Day and Labor Day, according to a new survey of 2,033 employees by The Workforce Institute at Kronos Inc., a work force management firm.

Of course, the challenge for employers is making sure there's enough staff to man the office, meet deadlines and get work done. The Kronos survey found that 21 percent of employees have been denied vacation because a co-worker had already requested it.

But it's becoming more difficult to go on vacation these days because of skyrocketing gas prices. Increasing workload and concerns over the slumping economy is apparently increasing pressure on workers to give up a break altogether.

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A new survey by career site Yahoo! HotJobs found that 51 percent of workers plan to forgo their vacation this year. (More than 1,100 workers nationwide participated in the online survey.)

That's an increase from 45 percent of employees who did not use their vacation days last summer.

"The economic downturn is leading to layoffs and stretched resources, which in turn leads to increased workloads and pressure to improve performance," says Tom Musbach, senior managing editor at the job site.

Musbach says that workers need a break more than ever to avoid burn-out.

So don't feel guilty, take that much-needed respite. I know I will.

Workplace tidbit: It may be tempting to wear those cut-off shorts or slinky tank top to work to ward off the heat this summer. But think again.

A new survey by Careerbuilder.com found that 41 percent of employers say workers who dress better or more professionally tend to be promoted more often than others in the office. The survey included 2,765 respondents and has a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points.

The survey also found that some employers have banned flip-flops (64 percent), mini-skirts (49 percent) and jeans (28 percent).

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Tight economy spurs some to relinquish vacation

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