shrm us travel-vacation-benefits-workplace-impact

SHRM Survey Findings: Vacation’s Impact on the Workplace

In collaboration with and commissioned by

November 12, 2013

SHRM/U.S. Travel Association: Vacation's Impact on the Workplace ©SHRM 2013 2

• What types of vacation benefits do organizations offer? Slightly more than one-half (55%) of organizations offer paid vacation plans, whereas the remaining 45% offer paid time off plans.

• Among organizations with a paid vacation plan, how many vacation days do full-time employees receive annually? New employees with one year of service receive an average of 11 paid vacation days a year. For all full-time employees, most organizations (86%) are providing between 6-20 vacation days on average, with 40% providing 11-15 days.

• Do organizations with a paid vacation plan allow employees to roll over vacation days from one year to the next? About three out of five organizations (62%) allow employees to roll over vacation days—54% allow limited rollover days and 8% allow unlimited rollover. Among organizations with a limited rollover policy, 56% allow 1-10 vacation days to be rolled over. More than one-third of organizations (38%) require employees to use all of their vacation days each year; otherwise, their vacation days will be lost.

• Do employees use all of their available vacation days? Among organizations that do not allow vacation rollover, three-quarters (77%) indicate that most employees (81-100%) use all of their vacation days each year. Sixty-four percent of these organizations report an average of 0-2 unused vacation days and 31% report 3-5 unused days. Among organizations that allow rollover, 31% indicate that most employees (81-100%) use all of their vacation days each year. One-quarter of these organizations (26%) report an average of 0-2 unused vacation days, 39% report 3-5 unused days, and 34% report 6 or more unused days.

Key Findings: Vacation benefits for full-time employees


• Do HR professionals think that it is important for employees to take their vacation? A large majority of HR professionals think that taking vacation is either extremely or very important for a variety of factors related to talent management, namely performance (94%), morale (92%), wellness (92%), a positive culture (90%), productivity (90%) and retention (88%). Fewer, although still a majority (70%), believe that taking vacation is extremely or very important for inspiring creativity.

• Do HR professionals think that employees who take most or all of their vacation each year differ on certain measurable outcomes from those who take less vacation? About three-quarters of HR professionals agree or strongly agree that employees who take most or all of their vacation are more likely to experience higher levels of job satisfaction (78%), be more productive (77%) and perform better (75%) compared with employees who take less vacation.

• If employees who were taking less vacation started taking more vacation, do HR professionals believe it would change certain measurable outcomes? More than two-thirds of HR professionals agree or strongly agree that if these employees started taking more vacation, they would experience higher levels of job satisfaction (74%), be more productive (72%), perform better (69%) and be more engaged at work (67%).

Key Findings: Importance of taking vacation


• Know the numbers. HR professionals overwhelmingly agree that it is important for employees to take vacation because doing so positively affects employee satisfaction, productivity, wellness, etc. Therefore, it would be valuable to know how many vacation days employees are using and whether they are neglecting to take vacation. If employees are not taking vacation days, what is the reason?

• Take a lead. HR professionals can help influence the organization’s culture regarding vacation. Does your organization’s vacation policy fit with your organization’s culture? Is the vacation policy being communicated and applied accurately and fairly across the organization?

• Understand your employees. Many employers are doing more with less in the current economy. This could mean that your employees have greater workloads and are taking on more responsibility. Could your organization’s employees be feeling overwhelmed? Do managers and leaders encourage employees to take vacation? Do employees feel comfortable requesting vacation time? Is there a stigma associated with taking too much vacation time?

What do these findings mean for the HR profession?


Vacation Benefits forFull-time Employees


Type of vacation benefits offered to full-time employees

Note: n = 481. Organizations that do not offer vacation benefits were excluded from this analysis.

Paid vacation55%

Paid time off (PTO)45%

Because this study focuses on vacation benefits, the next

slides reflect answers to questions asked only of respondents whose organizations offer a paid vacation

plan.


Paid vacation days offered to full-time employees

Note: Only organizations with a paid vacation plan were asked these questions. Organizations that offer unlimited vacation were excluded from these analyses.

1-5 vacation days

6-10 vacation days

11-15 vacation days

16-20 vacation days

21-25 vacation days

26 or morevacation days

3%

17%

40%

29%

6%

5%

All Employees: Average number of vacation days accrued annually

Vacation Days

Average 11

Minimum 5

Maximum 30

New Employees: Number of vacation days for one year of

service

n = 261

Note: n = 235. Respondents who answered “don’t know” were excluded from this analysis.


Vacation rollover policy for full-time employees

Note: n = 256. Only organizations with a paid vacation plan were asked this question. Organizations that offer unlimited vacation were excluded from this analysis.

Limited to acertain

number ofrollover days

54%

Require all vacation days

to be used each year

(unused daysare lost)

38%

Unlimited number of rollover days

8%

Among organizations with

limited rollover days, 56% allow 1-10 vacation days to be rolled over from one year to

the next.


Vacation rollover policy for full-time employees by organization sector

Note: Only statistically significant differences are shown.

Comparisons by organization sector:No Rollover

Publicly owned for-profit (55%)Privately owned for-profit (46%)

> Nonprofit (25%)

Comparisons by organization sector• Publicly and privately owned for-profit organizations are more likely than nonprofit organizations to

require all vacation days to be used each year.

Comparisons by organization sector:Limited Rollover

Nonprofit (70%)Government (71%)

> Publicly owned for-profit (33%)

Nonprofit (70%) > Privately owned for-profit (49%)

• Nonprofit and government organizations are more likely than publicly owned for-profits, and nonprofit organizations are more likely than privately owned for-profits, to allow a limited number of vacation days to be rolled over from one year to the next.

Comparisons by organization sector:Unlimited Rollover

Government (29%) >Privately owned for-profit (5%)

Nonprofit (5%)

• Government organizations are more likely than privately owned for-profit and nonprofit organizations to allow an unlimited number of vacation days to be rolled over from one year to the next.


Number of vacation rollover days for full-time employees at organizations with a limited vacation rollover policy

Note: n = 134. Only organizations with a paid vacation plan that allows a limited number of rollover days were asked this question. Percentages do not equal 100% due to rounding.

1-5 rollover days

6-10 rollover days

11-15 rollover days

16-20 rollover days

21-25 rollover days

26-30 rollover days

31 or more rollover days

35%

21%

10%

10%

6%

7%

10%


Percentage of full-time employees that fully utilize all of their accrued paid vacation days each year

Note: Only organizations with a paid vacation plan were asked this question. Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding. Organizations that offer unlimited vacation were excluded from this analysis.

20% or fewer employees

21-40% of employees

41-60% of employees

61-70% of employees

71-80% of employees

81-90% of employees

91-100% of employees

6%

16%

19%

9%

18%

18%

13%

0%

2%

2%

4%

15%

24%

53%

Required to use all vacation days (n = 96)Can roll over limited number of days (n = 130)

Range of categories

is 10%

Range of categories

is 20%


Average number of unused vacation days for full-time employees

Note: Only organizations with a paid vacation plan were asked this question. Percentages do not equal 100% due to rounding. Organizations that offer unlimited vacation were excluded from this analyses.

0-2 unused days

3-5 unused days

6-8 unused days

9-11 unused days

12 or more unused days

64%

31%

4%

0%

1%

26%

39%

19%

10%

5%

Can roll over limited number of days (n = 129)

Overall, 61% of organizations report

that employees have an average of 3 or more unused

vacation days each year.


The Importance of Taking Vacation


HR professionals’ opinion about the importance of employees taking vacation for the following outcomes:

Note: n = 468-480. Respondents who answered “don’t know” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding. The “not important” category is a combination of “not very important” and “not important at all” response options. Questions are sorted in descending order by the “extremely important” response option.

Inspiring creativity

Improving productivity

Maintaining a positiveorganizational culture

Employee retention

Achieving and maintaining a high level of performance

Promoting employee wellness

Maintaining highemployee morale

31%

40%

47%

49%

50%

51%

51%

39%

50%

43%

39%

44%

41%

41%

25%

8%

10%

10%

5%

6%

7%

5%

1%

1%

2%

0%

1%

<1%

Extremely important Very important Somewhat important

Not important


HR professionals’ agreement/disagreement: “Employees who take most or all of their vacation each year are more likely than employees who do not to...”

Note: n = 461-475. Respondents who answered “don’t know” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding. Questions are sorted in descending order by the sum of “strongly agree” and “agree” response options.

Be considered betterteam players

Take fewer sick days

Stay with the organizationlonger

Experience greater employee engagement

Perform better

Be more productivein their job

Experience higher levelsof job satisfaction

13%

18%

22%

21%

20%

21%

25%

30%

40%

38%

47%

55%

56%

53%

41%

26%

29%

23%

17%

16%

16%

13%

13%

9%

7%

7%

5%

5%

3%

3%

2%

1%

1%

1%

1%

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree


HR professionals’ agreement: “Employees who take most or all of their vacation each year are more likely than employees who do not to...”

Note: Only statistically significant differences are shown. The “agree” category for this analysis is a combination of “strongly agree” and “agree” response options.

Comparisons by rollover policy:Agree that employees who take most or all of their vacation will stay with the organization

longer

Required to use all vacation days (70%) > Can roll over limited number of days (55%)

Comparisons by rollover policy

Comparisons by rollover policy:Agree that employees who take most or all of their vacation will be more productive in their

jobs

Required to use all vacation days (85%) > Can roll over limited number of days (69%)


HR professionals’ agreement: “Employees who take most or all of their vacation each year are more likely than employees who do not to...”


Comparisons by organization sector:Agree that employees who take most or all of their vacation are more likely to be more

productive in their jobs

Privately owned for-profit (79%) > Government (57%)

Comparisons by organization sector

Comparisons by organization sector:Agree that employees who take most or all of their vacation experience higher levels of job

satisfaction

Publicly owned for-profit (89%) >Nonprofit (71%)

Government (63%)


HR professionals’ agreement/disagreement: “If employees who were taking less vacation started taking more of their available paid vacation days each year, they would be more likely to...”

Note: n = 448-458. Respondents who answered “don’t know” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding. Questions are sorted in descending order by the sum of “strongly agree” and “agree” response options.

Be considered betterteam players

Take fewer sick days

Stay with the organizationlonger

Experience greater employee engagement

Perform better

Be more productivein their job

Experience higher levelsof job satisfaction

10%

15%

14%

14%

15%

15%

19%

31%

39%

42%

53%

54%

57%

55%

40%

28%

31%

23%

21%

19%

17%

18%

17%

12%

9%

10%

9%

9%

2%

2%

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree


HR professionals’ agreement: “If employees who were taking less vacation started taking more of their available paid vacation days each year, they would be more likely to...”


Comparisons by organization sector:Agree that if employees started taking more vacation they would experience greater

employee engagement

Publicly owned for-profit (74%)Privately owned for-profit (70%)

> Nonprofit (51%)

Comparisons by organization sector


Demographics


Demographics: Organization Industry

Note: n = 464. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options.

Percentage

Professional, scientific and technical services 25%

Health care and social assistance 18%

Finance and insurance 13%

Manufacturing 13%

Government agencies 9%

Educational services 8%

Religious, grant-making, civic, professional and similar organizations 5%

Retail trade 5%

Accommodation and food services 4%

Construction 4%

Information 4%


Demographics: Organization Industry (continued)

Note: n = 464. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options.

Percentage

Transportation and warehousing 4%

Wholesale trade 4%

Utilities 3%

Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services

2%

Arts, entertainment, and recreation 2%

Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction 2%

Real estate and rental and leasing 2%

Repair and maintenance 2%

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting 1%

Personal and laundry services <1%

Other industry 3%


Demographics: Organization Sector

n = 463

Privately owned for-profit

Nonprofit

Publicly owned for-profit

Government

Other

54%

22%

15%

7%

2%


Demographics: Organization Staff Size

n = 457

1 to 99 employees

100 to 499 employees

500 to 2,499 employees

2,500 to 24,999 employees

25,000 or more employees

27%

41%

19%

10%

3%


n = 469

Demographics: Other

U.S.-based operations only 84%

Multinational operations 16%

Single-unit organization: An organization in which the location and the organization are one and the same.

36%

Multi-unit organization: An organization that has more than one location.

64%

Multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices

68%

Each work location determines HR policies and practices

2%

A combination of both the work location and the multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices

31%

Is your organization a single-unit organization or a multi-unit organization?

For multi-unit organizations, are HR policies and practices determined by the multi-unit headquarters, by each work location or by both?

Does your organization have U.S.-based operations (business units) only, or does it operate multinationally?

n = 469

Note: n = 307. Percentages do not equal 100% due to rounding.

Corporate (companywide) 87%

Business unit/division 10%

Facility/location 3%

n = 307

What is the HR department/function for which you responded throughout this survey?


SHRM Survey Findings: Vacation’s Impact on the Workplace

• Response rate = 17%• 481 HR professionals from a randomly selected sample of SHRM’s membership with

the job title of director or above participated in this survey• Margin of error +/-5%• Survey fielded August 22-September 5, 2013

In collaboration with and commissioned by

Survey Methodology


Publicly available Research

• 2014 Holiday Scheduleshttp://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/2014HolidaySchedules.aspx

Research Available Online to SHRM Members Only(Note: Hard copies of these reports can be purchased at SHRMstore.org)

• 2013 Employee Benefits Report http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/2013Employee-Benefits.aspx

• 2012 Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Report http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/2012EmployeeJobSatisfaction.aspx

Fee-Based Services

• SHRM Customized Benchmarking Service – Paid Leave Reporthttp://www.shrm.org/Research/benchmarks/Pages/default.aspx

Additional SHRM Resources

http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/2014HolidaySchedules.aspx

http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/2014HolidaySchedules.aspx

http://www.shrmstore.org/

http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/2013Employee-Benefits.aspx

http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/2013Employee-Benefits.aspx

http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/2012EmployeeJobSatisfaction.aspx



http://www.shrm.org/Research/benchmarks/Pages/default.aspx


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About SHRM Research

Project lead:Tanya Mulvey, researcher, SHRM Research

Project contributors:Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SPHR, vice president, SHRM ResearchEvren Esen, manager, Survey Research Center, SHRM ResearchChristina Lee, researcher, SHRM Research

Copy editor:Katya Scanlan, SHRM Knowledge Center

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