Employees want more paid time off, but aren't using it

While more time off has often been cited as a top perk desired by employees, new research questions whether such a perk is actually being effectively used by staff today.

A recent survey by Namely has found that attitudes towards vacation days are starting to shift due to increasing demands of the workplace.

They surveyed 471 participants, of which 50.4% of respondents classified as Millennials, with 10 questions related to attitudes toward vacation and paid time off (PTO).

Unlimited paid time off was extremely coveted, with most employees surveyed being willing to (or had already) given up stock options or a higher salary (40%).

However, despite this clear desire for days off, employees aren’t actually taking leave when officially granted leave days.

Over half of employees claim they typically book a week or more of time off in advance. But in reality, the average duration of a time off request was found to be just 2.34 days.

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The biggest preventer of PTO was rigid company policies (26%) followed closely by “stress at the thought of missing time at work” (21%)

“What this tells us is that despite the best intentions to take large chunks of time away from work and unplug from technology, employees are feeling confined and are using vacation time differently than previous generations,” Matt Straz, Founder and CEO of Namely said.

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