Employees Take Vacation, Call in Sick to Escape "Holiday Hiatus"
CHELMSFORD, Mass., March 22, 2010 — A new survey commissioned by The Workforce Institute™ at Kronos® Incorporated and conducted by Harris Interactive® reveals that employees across the U.S. are feeling the pain of the "Holiday Hiatus" – that time between either Martin Luther King Day (Jan. 18) or President's Day (Feb. 15) and Memorial Day (May 31) that constitutes the longest stretch of the working year without a paid holiday. From calling in sick to using vacation time, employees are taking a variety of actions to make it through to the unofficial start of summer.
News Facts
- 40 percent of full-time salaried employees get both Martin Luther King Day and President's Day off as paid holidays. 39 percent do not get either.
- 25 percent of full-time salaried employees who get neither Martin Luther King Day or President's Day off or just one of these days off as paid holidays say they are more stressed during the Holiday Hiatus than the rest of the year.
- In terms of how they cope with the stress of the Holiday Hiatus, those salaried employees who said they take action to deal with stress from lack of paid holidays do so in a variety of ways including: taking more vacation time (37 percent); taking more sick days (16 percent); eating junk food (25 percent); and working out more (28 percent).
- 57 percent of salaried employees said they would take a sick day when they were not really sick. How would they spend the day? 52 percent said they'd lounge around the house; 49 percent said they would run errands; and 25 percent said they would stay in bed.
- 77 percent of salaried employees who get neither Martin Luther King Day or President's Day off or just one of these days off as paid holidays said they would not take a sick day when they were not really sick if their company offered them a "Duvet Day", a term coined in the U.K. by organizations who give employees one or two paid days off per year that they can take without cutting into sick or vacation time (the idea being they stay home in bed under the covers or "duvet").
- A 2008 Kronos/Mercer study on the full cost of employee absenteeism found that unplanned employee absences cost organizations the equivalent of nine percent of their base payroll on average, more than half the cost of healthcare benefits, measured at 15.4 percent of payroll in Mercer's 2007 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans.
- 21 percent of full-time salaried employees plan to take five days off between Jan. 18 and May 31, while an additional 14 percent plan to take six or seven days off.
- 63 percent of full-time salaried employees are concerned about job security. 60 percent of these folks say that concerns about job security have impacted their vacation plans, with 23 percent saying they are less likely to take vacation time this year.
Supporting Quotes
- Joyce Maroney, director of The Workforce Institute, Kronos
"More than half of our survey respondents said they would take a sick day without really being sick. These kinds of unscheduled absences cost companies millions of dollars each year. Organizations should look at providing employees with more flexible paid-time-off options to better manage the problem."
Supporting Resources
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Kronos Incorporated from February 24 to 26, 2010 among 2,323 adults ages 18 and older, of whom 471 are full-time salaried employees. The survey data are weighted to represent the overall adult population. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Laura Souza.
About The Workforce Institute
The Workforce Institute was founded by Kronos Incorporated in 2006 as a think tank to provide research and education on critical workplace issues facing organizations around the globe. By bringing together thought leaders, The Workforce Institute is uniquely positioned to empower organizations with the knowledge and information they need to manage their workforce effectively and provide a voice for employees on important workplace issues. A hallmark of The Workforce Institute's research is balancing the needs and desires of diverse employee populations with the needs of organizations. For additional information, visit www.workforceinstitute.org.
About Kronos Incorporated
Kronos is the global leader in workforce management solutions that enable organizations to control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve workforce productivity. Tens of thousands of organizations in 60 countries — including more than half of the Fortune 1000® — use Kronos time and attendance, scheduling, absence management, HR and payroll, hiring, and labor analytics applications. To learn how Kronos uniquely delivers complete automation and high-quality information in an easy-to-use solution, visit www.kronos.com.
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© 2010 Kronos Incorporated. Kronos is a registered trademark and The Workforce Institute is a trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Contact
Laura Souza
Kronos Incorporated
+1 978.947.4777
Laura.souza@kronos.com