5/31/07 6:45 AM

Workers Opt for Long Weekends Over Big Vacations

By Kathy Gurchiek

Hectic family schedules, soaring gas prices and the e-leashes of technology will prompt more workers to opt for long weekends that serve as mini-vacations instead of taking long blocks of vacation time as in years past, according to recent surveys and a trend forecast.

Three- and four-day vacations are replacing the once-a-year, two-week vacation for U.S. workers, according to Chicago-based outplacement consultant firm Challenger, Gray& Christmas Inc., which offered up a forecast of vacation habits based on workplace and family trends.

“We are becoming a nation of the long weekend vacation, with workers looking ahead to each Monday/Friday holiday for the opportunity to turn a three-day weekend into a four- or five-day weekend,” firm President and CEO John A. Challenger said in a press release.

“The switch to mini-vacations will only be accelerated by soaring gas prices as travelers stay close to home or even stay at home and use the time to work on the house or explore locally,” he added.

Findings from the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2006 Workplace Vacation poll back that up, with 70 percent of 473 HR professionals noting that employees are opting for long-weekend vacations.

Challenger suggests that the trend is linked to more dual-income households; scheduling a long block of time off can be difficult with two full-time wage earners in a household.

There were 30.1 million married couple households in which husband and wife were employed outside the home, Challenger said, citing 2006 Census Bureau data, and 66 percent had at least one child at home.

Trying to schedule a vacation around the children’s activities can present another barrier to taking long vacations, he noted.

“Between the work schedules of the husband and wife as well as the school, after-school and summer activities of the children, it is difficult to find an extended time that works for all family members,” he said.

Despite a heightened desire since Sept. 11, 2001, to spend more quality time with family, “people’s schedules have not really changed enough to allow for this,” he observed. “The idea of taking three- or four-day vacations at a nearby location is an effective way of solving this time-crunch problem.”

Then there’s the expense of longer vacations.

“Even if you cut out the airfare by driving, hotel rooms, food and attractions could easily reach $200-$300 per day,” and driving long distances can be expensive given today’s pump prices, he observed.

Employers will be the biggest beneficiaries of the short vacations, Challenger suggested.

“For the employer, these brief jaunts are the equivalent of a 20-minute power nap—they do not disrupt the rhythm of the workplace, and afterward the worker is refreshed and ready to attack the job at hand. While workers may end up with more frequent vacation absences from the office, productivity does not suffer because they are gone for less time,” he said.

Electronic Ties that Bind

Gone, but not forgotten.

Laptops, pagers, cell phones, personal digital assistants and BlackBerry devices have become “e-leashes” that virtually tether some employees to the office even while they are supposedly on vacation.

HR professionals are more likely than other employees to perceive that workers feel personally obligated to stay connected while on vacation (44 percent vs.35 percent, respectively), SHRM found. There’s also more of an expectation of those higher up—the mid- and executive-level employees—to stay in touch while they are gone.

And while only 9 percent of 6,823 private-sector employees surveyed for CareerBuilder.com said their employers expect them to check voicemail or e-mail while on vacation, others might do so anyway.

Information technology workers are most likely to work while on vacation, with 36 percent checking in with the office on their days off, followed by sales workers (32 percent) and banking/finance workers (29 percent), according to CareerBuilder.com

Fourteen percent of workers feel guilty about being on vacation instead of at work, a feeling most prevalent (20 percent) among those ages 25 to 34 who are trying to move up the corporate ladder.

Other findings from the CareerBuilder.com survey, conducted from Feb. 15 to March 6, 2007:

• 70 percent of workers receive two weeks or more of paid vacation, and nearly 25 percent receive four or more weeks.

• 12 percent do not receive a paid vacation.

• 9 percent lie to their employers, telling them they can’t be reached while on vacation.

• 20 percent won’t take a vacation in 2007, 27 percent will take five days or less, and 9 percent will limit themselves to weekend getaways.

“There are a host of reasons why employees feel compelled to forgo a vacation or obsessively check in,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of HR at CareerBuilder.com.

“Some may fear if they are gone and things go smoothly, it will send a message that they aren’t needed,” she said in a press release.

“However, the opposite can actually be true. If you prepare in advance and anticipate issues, it can positively reflect on your management and organization skills.”

Kathy Gurchiek is associate editor for HR News. She can be reached at kgurchiek@shrm.org.

Related Articles:

Vacations Misused for Labor, Not Leisure, SHRM Survey Finds, SHRM Online Compensation & Benefits Focus Area, September 2006

U.S. workers continue to leave vacation time unused, HR News, June 6, 2006

For the latest HR-related business and government news, go daily to www.shrm.org/hrnews.