It's 'vacation starvation' vs. time to regroup

Carol Kleiman
Chicago Tribune
Published Saturday, April 26, 2003

'Vacation deficit disorder."

"The incredible shrinking vacation."

"Vacation starvation."

That's how Joe Robinson of Santa Monica, Calif., describes what's happening to paid time off for workers in the United States.

Robinson, who founded the Work to Live campaign in 2000, is spearheading a national effort to get legislation enacted that mandates three weeks of paid vacation for all full-time employees. A freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker, he's the author of "Work to Live: The Guide to Getting a Life" (Perigree Trade, $14.95).

"The U.S. is the only industrialized country in the world without paid vacation laws on the books," said Robinson, who has lobbied in Washington for his proposal and is devising a national survey to measure public support.

"Vacation time is completely up to the employer, yet there are real benefits to vacations. They allow you to rejuvenate yourself, recover your health and diminish stress. You come back refreshed and with higher productivity."

In addition to U.S. workers not having a legal right to any vacation at all, "we also have the shortest vacations in the world -- and they're getting even shorter," Robinson pointed out.

According to the International Labor Organization, Americans are working eight to 12 more weeks a year in total hours than workers in European countries. Workers in Europe and Australia have legally mandated vacations of at least four weeks.

"Denmark just added two days more to its five weeks of vacation, and Japanese workers get two paid weeks by law," said Robinson.

During the 10 years he worked as an employee, Robinson usually got two weeks of paid vacation, but he also negotiated to take a third week, unpaid. The vacation advocate, who previously edited an adventure travel magazine, now tries to take four weeks a year.

"It usually takes me two weeks to recoup from the stress of the job and then an additional week to join the rest of the civilized world," said Robinson, who is fairly typical of most workers in this regard. "Time off is medicine -- it's one of the cheapest things you can do to enhance your health and your life. And free time is the engine of creativity."

But U.S. workers, on average, aren't even close to being able to reach the goal of completely restoring themselves by taking sufficient paid time off:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Americans average only 8.1 days of vacation a year after one year on the job and only 10.2 days after three years.

Additionally, because of today's slow employment market, bare-boned staffs and a profusion of mergers and downsizings, many workers -- fearful of their job security -- don't even take the vacation time they're entitled to.

"Nothing illustrates the stranglehold of overwork on American lives today than the fact that 175 million vacation days each year are not taken by employees who are entitled to them," said Robinson. "Instead of getting more vacation time, we're going the other way. Yet we need the break. We're not machines. We need downtime."

Not everybody agrees that a minimum of three weeks of paid vacation is appropriate for all U.S. employees -- particularly in a slow economy.

"I think America's leading edge in business is our dedication to our jobs," said Susan R. Holland, president of HollandRusk & Associates, a Chicago-based executive search firm.

"I do a lot of work internationally and am aware of the vacation time European employees have. But in many cases, the push to excellence is lost. And if three weeks' vacation, with only one year under your belt, becomes a law, I'm concerned we might lose our edge."

Holland, who has been in recruitment since 1976, thinks individual employers are in the best position to decide who gets how much time off. "I'm not against vacations," she said, "but they shouldn't be a federal mandate."

And as of now, they're not.

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