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The case for taking a vacation
Experts say regular time off protects health, raises productivity
By Kristen Gerencher, MarketWatch
Last Update: 2:24 PM ET May 23, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A vacation may seem like a frivolous thing to contemplate in the face of a slowing economy, high food and gas prices, job insecurities and a falling dollar.
But your continued health and productivity may depend upon your getting away from work periodically, and employers grappling with rapidly rising health-care costs are starting to embrace the idea as well, public health experts and benefits consultants say.
"There definitely is a trend towards employers understanding the relationship between stress and health, and that taking time to recharge, relax, does have a benefit to burn-out," said Carol Sladek, principle in the work/life consulting practice of Hewitt Associates in Lincolnshire, Ill. "We do see some of our clients moving in the direction of trying to encourage their employees to use their time off and use it in larger increments."
That may be a tough sell this year, even though workers asked to do more with fewer resources may need their vacation time more than ever. Fearful of appearing unneeded or uncommitted, employees may be more inclined to schedule a few long weekends or limit their vacations to no more than a week. The portion of Americans planning to take a vacation this year dropped to 33% from 40% who said they took one last year, according to a survey of 1,000 adults released earlier this month from travel insurance provider Access America.
On the spectrum of U.S. workers' efforts to secure paid time off, vacation historically has taken a backseat to sick days and leave for medical reasons and family caregiving responsibilities. But it's rising as a benefit that Americans want to protect, said John de Graaf, executive director of Take Back Your Time, a Seattle-based nonprofit that addresses overwork and time poverty.
"We feel vacation time or the lack of it affects many Americans, and in many ways has a negative impact on our health," he said, noting that the U.S. spends 16% of its gross domestic product on health care but fares relatively poorly in international comparisons of life expectancy, infant mortality, chronic illness and obesity.
"We would argue that a big part of this is the time pressure and stress in people's lives that don't allow them to take care of themselves properly," de Graaf said.
There is little research on whether taking vacations impacts personal health, and how the duration and kind of respite may factor in. The frequency of annual vacations was associated with a reduced risk of death in middle-aged men at high risk of heart disease, according to a study published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine in 2000. A 2005 study of 1,500 women ages 25 to 75 published in the Wisconsin Medical Journal suggests that failing to take a break at least once a year brings psychological health risks.
Depression risks
The majority of the women studied, 34%, reported taking a vacation once a year, while 23% said they took one twice a year. Another 23% reported getting away every two to five years. Almost one in five -19% -- said they only took a vacation once every six years or less often.
The risk of depression, as measured by a standard industry test, increased as the frequency of vacation-taking declined, said Cathy McCarty, senior research scientist at the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisc.
"You were twice as likely to be depressed if you took it as infrequently as every two to five years," she said. "We know from other research that depression is associated with days lost at work and lower levels of productivity when you are at work."
There were social effects, too. Women who rarely took vacations also reported lower satisfaction with their marriages.
The study has some limitations. Participants defined what qualified as a vacation and it was impossible to distinguish cause from effect, McCarty said. "It could be that women who are depressed are less likely to take vacation because it's too overwhelming."
Still, employers would be wise to encourage workers to use their earned time off. "The rest of the world both gives and takes more vacation than the U.S," McCarty said, noting the study is due for an update.
"The big change in the last six years since these data were collected is that people, although they physically leave the office, they take it with them because they have Blackberries" and other electronic tethers, McCarty said. "I would love to do this again now and see if we get the same response because the effect of vacation may not be as great."
Preventing chronic stress
Last year, about 84% of U.S. employers offered paid vacation, and 63% rolled sick, vacation and personal days into a single paid time off plan, according to the most recent research from the Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Va. Even those with generous time off don't always take it. Only 14% of U.S. employees take a vacation of at least two weeks, according to a 2005 study from the Families and Work Institute in New York.
More employers are offering mid-career hires additional vacation time up front as a way to attract and keep talent, Sladek said. "If you only offer two weeks of vacation, it's tough to get people in the door....The trend we see is trying to put more time in employees' hands sooner."
But she admits that some employers have outdated vacation schedules. "A lot of it is just a mindset. We have a very hours-focused mentality when it comes to work."
For some people, vacation time is sacrosanct even if money concerns force them to scale back their plans. The opportunity to bond with family and friends, have free time and spontaneous adventures represents the payoff of working. But for others, vacation creates more stress than it alleviates, between endless airport security lines, crowds at popular summer destinations and the prospect of returning to work under a crush of piled-up tasks.
Many Americans already have at least a week off, but their vacation time typically is much less than that of other industrialized countries. Take Back Your Time is working with a senator that de Graaf declined to name to introduce legislation next year aimed at providing minimum paid vacation time for all working Americans. The standard would gradually increase to three weeks.
"We're trying to be practical," he said. "If we were to advocate four weeks, which is the minimal standard in the European Union, then people would just think we were nuts. We think three weeks is a reasonable compromise for the world's richest country."
Paid vacation time is a wellness issue that's as important as careful eating and regular exercise for workers' health, said Joe Robinson, a work/life balance consultant and author of "Work to Live" in Santa Monica, Calif.
Taking a holiday restores emotional resources and a sense of mastery that helps people bring energy, enthusiasm and satisfaction back into their life and puts a stop to chronic stress, which increases their productivity and lowers turnover, he said.
"To be healthy and do a sustainable job in a 24/7 world you've got to have a richer component to your life" than just working all the time, Robinson said. "You've got to understand the role that input plays in your output."
"If you're not paying attention to that as an employer, then you're having people who are going to run up medical bills, quit, burn out, be resentful and you won't be getting maximum productivity out of them," he said. "We're just not aware of the benefits of time off because we're so single-mindedly focused on time on."
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