A recent study indicates that a third of German workers leave part or all of their vacation time on the table, with most of those skipping time off giving fear of losing a job as the reason.
They’re not alone, of course…51% of U.S. workers and over 70% in China also take no vacation or less than they’re entitled to, and usually the same reason—plus not having the money to afford more vacation—are given.
The German study also found that willingness to take full vacation varies a lot with occupation. Not surprisingly, those with low-wage cleaning jobs or with building trades jobs that are not steady, have the highest percentage of stay-at-works, 47 and 45% respectively. But 41% of civil servants also gave up time.
For more information on the subject from TheLocal.de, click HERE or for information on China and the US, click HERE
German construction workers: among the most likely to pass up earned vacation time (Photo by Johann H. Addicks / Wikimedia)i
I suppose then that it is no surprise that the German economy is the strongest in Europe, by far. I love my vacations and take them, but then again my job is fairly secure. But can understand this sentiment, especially the part about vacations being too expensive for poorer families to take.
Paying for the vacation is certainly a big issue; one that affected my family for years. It’s interesting the way such issues can play out when employers either count on people not taking vacation, or actually paying them not to.
Case in point: Norwegian Air has just had to hire more pilots, quickly, to avoid cancellation of many flights. The company had expected its pilots to be more willing to “sell back” their days off than they turned out to be.
And speaking of Germany: One of the perks that workers had in the old DDR was vacation time at a resort, usually run by the factory or union, that guaranteed they could actually use the vacation. Not luxury, but…I’m sure a much higher percentage of people used it than now!