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For fear of losing their jobs employees run out of U.S. vacation

According to a recent survey of job search web CareerBuilder.com, 35% of U.S. workers take no vacation this year due to lack of financial means or for fear that their job is not there at the turn of summer.

And among those who use their days off, not all completely disconnected from work.

28% of respondents said it plans to contact the office at least once during your vacation, whether they are working on a major project or not.

With an unemployment rate already reached 9.5% and few signs that unemployment is reduced in the short term, the fear of job loss is increasingly common among U.S. workers, where the flexibility of labor market also facilitates the dismissal. Anxiety

Vacation

"The current economic situation is causing anxiety among workers over the holidays, but a break from work is essential to maintaining a healthy level of productivity in the office," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder.com

"Spending the day off is now even more important given the added responsibility and pressure on many employees by the recession," he said, noting that already 15% Americans did not take all their vacation last year.

Indeed, another study by ComPsych Corp., a consulting firm specializing in labor issues, concluded that 10% of respondents are working longer hours or can not take holidays because they lack staff in their companies.

In 20% of cases, this ends up generating tensions and conflicts between colleagues, said ComPsych Corp.

The difficult economic situation has led many of those that have used their vacation this year are happening at home or, at best, somewhere nearby, instead of making long travel like other years.

This practice, which is not new but very popular this summer, even has a specific term in English - staycation, a merger between stay (stay) and vacation - which earlier this month was first included in the latest edition of Merriam-Webster dictionary 's .

One of the main problems is that many employees paid leave are not mandatory in the U.S., a practice against which organizations are struggling.

Congress has a pending bill to guarantee paid days off, but between recession and the most urgent health care reform, legislation is unlikely to succeed in the short term.

John de Graaf, national coordinator of Take Back Your Time , an organization that promotes the introduction of mandatory paid vacation in the U.S., believes that the law has "no chance" of being enacted this year but expects more luck in 2010.

Legislation for 2010

"Simply put, there are many other bills on the table to be considered before the Congress," said de Graaf. "But we hope that you vote in 2010 and, with enough public debate, could be approved."

Graaf said the U.S. is with Burma, Nepal and Guyana "the only country in which the law does not provide paid leave." "Half of Americans only receive one week of paid vacation per year and 30% do not have anything."

"The holidays are essential to health and in part this is the reason that Americans are much less healthy than Europeans despite spending twice as much on health," he said.

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