When was the last time you went on a real vacation or even took the day off work?
A new report by Project Time Off found that Americans threw away 222 million vacation days last year. That adds up to $61.4 billion dollars in unused benefits. If workers had actually used all of those days to take a day off from work, $223 billion could've been spent on the U.S. economy and then generated new jobs.
For those employees who can rollover their days off, 658 million vacation days have been wasted. That adds up to $272 billion.
More than half of employees don't use all their vacation days. In fact, 15 years ago, workers were taking 20 days off a year; now, workers are taking 16 days off.
So what happened?
Today, most people are worried about returning to a ton of work. 30 percent of people can't actually afford to go on vacation. 22 percent want to show their dedication to their job.
Are there any consequences to not taking those vacation days?
Yes -- burn out and lost productivity.
91 percent of senior business leaders believe vacation helps employees recharge. However, only 39 percent of employees actually feel supported in taking time off.
If you're feeling stressed out and exhausted from work, maybe it's time to put those vacation days to good use.
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