Employees are overloaded with work
Ultimately, for the majority of workers, taking paid leave isn’t as simple as sending a text to their manager, slamming their laptop shut, and hopping on the next flight to Cancun. There are a variety of complex factors that keep workers tied to their desks and make it difficult for them to get some well-deserved rest.
Companies that require constant availability and busy workloads often create an environment where employees feel guilty about taking a break. According to a Pew Research Center survey of 5,188 U.S. workers, nearly half (49%) of those who don’t take full advantage of their paid vacation do so out of fear of being left behind, while 43% of workers fear that their coworkers will be forced to take their breaks.
“I think this is because I have some important meetings during the week that I cannot miss and I do not want to fall behind on work. Also, as a manager in our company, it can be seen as ‘irresponsible’ to take time off on important days.” – Tristan Harris, Sr. Marketing Manager at Thrive Digital Marketing Agency
Kade Roberts, CMO of SaaS dating company CamGo, has experienced this first-hand at previous workplaces. When discussing why her colleagues don’t take vacation, she tells us that while the reasons vary, “common reasons are fear of falling behind on work or a company culture that subtly discourages taking time off.”
Holiday shame is still alive and active
Cameron Allen, writer at Digital Whale Club and self-described “notorious PTO collector,” expressed similar sentiments. When he spoke to us about why he “Allen was notorious among his previous employers for being the worst at taking paid time off, saying he feared he would be a burden on the company and have a negative impact on it.
“I had Tendencies to please people most of my life and I always felt that if I take paid leave, I would be a Inconvenience to the company I worked for and thereby negatively impact the company.” – Cameron Allen, writer at Digital Whale Club
Allen is not alone. Research from the Movchan Agency found that 47% of workers say they feel guilty about taking a vacation this summer. In fact, the phenomenon is so widespread that there’s a name for it: “vacation shaming.” The term was first coined in 2016, but this data shows that the practice of provoking mischievous looks and critical comments after telling people about a long weekend is still widespread in U.S. workplaces, even though attitudes toward hustle culture are slowly fading in the U.S.
