City-dwellers, journalists and advertising executives have emerged among the world’s most vacation-deprived workers in a new global survey.
In Expedia’s 2017 Vacation Deprivation report, researchers identified a few global patterns from the responses of 30,000 working adults living in 30 countries when it comes to work-life balance. And it appears that on a global scale, people who work in marketing and media feel the most vacation-deprived (66 percent).
Predictably, the results also showed that people who live in rat race societies (big cities) have a harder time balancing work and play compared to their counterparts who live in the suburbs and rural areas.
According to the survey, the top three most deprived urban areas in the world are Seoul, Mumbai and Paris. The latter is an interesting finding given that France enjoys one of the highest numbers of vacation days and public holidays in the world.
French workers are entitled to a minimum of 25 days of paid vacation a year.
In the United States, patterns revealed that the most vacation deprived industries are real estate, followed by food and beverage, and health.
Regionally, Americans working on the West Coast also feel more deprived than any other region in the U.S.
Overall, feelings of sleep deprivation rose around the world this year, up 53 percent from 49 percent in 2016.
In fact, nearly half (48 percent) of respondents around the world said they’ve had to cancel or postpone a vacation due to work.
The report also revealed some interesting cultural differences when it comes to the discussion around mental health in the workplace: Western cultures, led by Norway (90 percent), the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand (all 77 percent), believe that mental health days should be considered sick leave, versus vacation time.
But in Asia, respondents feel the opposite, with 80 percent of Taiwanese workers, for instance, viewing mental health days as vacation time.
“The emphasis on mental health in the US and other parts of the world will hopefully encourage more people to view time off as a right, not a luxury, and enjoy the positive effects of vacation,” authors write. JB
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