One-third of Canadians balk at taking vacation

Forgone vacation time saving employers $8 billion a year: survey

The office may seem quiet these days with many staff on vacation — but it should be even more quiet more often.

Fully one third of Canadians are not taking all of their entitled time off, according to a poll of 1,000 people by Ipsos-Reid for travel website Expedia.ca. The forgone vacation time represents almost $8 billion in savings for employers.

And these workers are giving up more than just a day or two here and there. They average eight missed vacation days per year.

Workers on the west coast are most reluctant to take their time off, with 41 per cent of people in British Columbia saying they do not take all of their vacation time each year.

The average in Alberta was right on the national average, but 19 per cent claimed to take no vacation time at all.

Employees from Quebec are the most likely to take all of their holidays, but even there 30 per cent report not taking all their vacation time.

And even when people finally do leave the office, many (36 per cent) say they stay in touch with work either through voice mail or e-mail.

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