Vacation Deprivation Up This Year Over Last

Toronto, ON - More Canadians are vacation deprived this year than last year, according to the annual Expedia Vacation Deprivation Survey conducted by Ipsos Reid. While last year 21% of working Canadians claimed to not take all of their vacation, that number rises significantly to 29% this year.

• Younger Canadians, aged 18 to 34, are most likely (31%) to have not taken all of their vacation days when compared to middle-aged (27%), 35 to 54, or older Canadians (28%), aged 55 and older. This is interesting, considering that younger workers (12.1 days a year) receive fewer vacation days every year on average than do middle-aged (17.9 days a year) or older workers (19.1 days a year).
• Residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (42%) are most likely to have not taken all of their vacation days, followed by those living in Alberta (36%), Atlantic Canada (36%), British Columbia (32%), Ontario (29%) and Quebec (18%).

Furthermore, while working Canadians, on average, gave back 2.06 days of their vacation last year, this year the average number of vacation days that they're are giving back to their employer by not taking their vacation days is 2.43 days per year.

• Residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are, on average, giving back the most vacation days, with the average worker not taking 3.62 of their vacation days. British Columbians are, on average, giving back the second-highest number of vacation days (3.10), followed by Atlantic Canadians (3.08), Albertans (2.69), Ontarians (2.40), and finally Quebecers (1.52).
• Men (2.90 days a year) are giving back a full day more than are women (1.94 days a year)

Assessing their own situation, one in three (33%) Canadians have self-diagnosed themselves as being vacation deprived. British Columbians (42%) are the most likely to identify themselves as vacation deprived, followed by those living in Alberta (41%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (37%), Ontario (36%), Atlantic Canada (30%) and Quebec (19%).

• Women (34%) are slightly more likely than men (31%) to call themselves vacation deprived.
• Younger Canadian workers (39%) are more likely than middle-aged (36%) or older (23%) workers to suggest that they are vacation-deprived.

Barriers To Taking Vacation...

Only one half (49%) of Canadians say they always take all of their vacation days. Reasons for not doing so include not booking them far enough in advance (12%), being too busy with work to get away (8%), or having kids in school and not being able to get away (5%).

Moreover, some don't take their vacation for fear that it will be perceived negatively by their colleagues at work (3%), or because they might miss an important meeting or decision (2%). Some of these feelings might stem from the fact that one in three (31%) agrees they `feel guilty' about taking time off from work. Also of note is that two in ten (20%) say they have cancelled or postponed vacation plans in the past because of work, and that 16% of workers still check their work messages while away on vacation. In fact, one in four Canadians (25%) report that their employer doesn't encourage them to take all of their vacation time they are allotted.

Green-Eyed Co-Workers...

Along with vacation deprivation often comes vacation envy - feelings of jealousy when a co-worker or friend returns from vacation. Four in ten (42%) Canadians admit that they have personally suffered from vacation envy at some point in their life. Among those who have experienced vacation envy, it has caused over 1 million of them (14%) to book a vacation that they otherwise wouldn't have booked.

• Women (48%) are more likely than men (35%) to say they have experienced vacation envy.
• Those aged 18 to 34 (59%) are more likely to say they've suffered from envy, as compared to those aged 35 to 54 (43%) and those over the age of 54 (26%).
• Canadians living in British Columbia (54%) are most likely to have been affected by vacation envy, followed by residents of Alberta (46%), Ontario (46%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (42%), Atlantic Canada (37%), and Quebec (28%).

How To Get Out Of The Office...

Thinking about what would personally prompt themselves to use their allotted vacation time, a majority (51%) of Canadians indicate that a family event, such as a wedding, a reunion, or other similar event would prompt them to use their vacation time. Other situations include being able to afford the vacation (50%), finding a great deal on a vacation (43%), interest in an amazing destination (33%) or if easy travel options were available, such as convenient times or direct flights (31%).

And assessing the flip side--what their employers could do to encourage Canadians to take their time off--two in ten (21%) say a policy which mandated that employees must take a minimum number of vacation days a year would do the trick. Other tactics include a vacation policy in which employees had a flexible/unlimited amount of vacation that they could take (20%), if their work load wasn't so heavy (17%), if their boss encouraged taking time off (17%), if they were confident that taking a vacation would not be perceived negatively (15%), and if their company offered a fair vacation policy (14%). In fact, only eight in ten (82%) Canadians agree that their employer offers a fair vacation policy, meaning that two in ten (18%) do not agree.

According to Canadian workers, other things that employers could do to encourage their workers to take time off include actively helping workers to find resources to cover their job responsibilities while on vacation (14%), providing a culture that supported employees using their allotted vacation time (14%), and if upper-management demonstrated the importance of taking time off by taking their own vacation days. But 5% of workers claim that their employer is `not very supportive of employees using their vacation time'.

One thing that does not appear to be helping Canadians take their vacation time is electronic devices. More specifically, 48% of workers say that technological advances such as PDAs, Blackberries, Pocket PCs, Webmail and cell phones have made it harder to get away from work. Conversely, just two in ten (19%) believe that it is easier to get away from work as a result of these devices. For one third (33%), though, it is neither easier nor harder.

• Canadians between the ages of 18 and 34 (54%) are more likely than those aged 35 to 54 (50%) and those over the age of 55 (40%) to say these devices make it difficult to get away from work.
• Men (22%) are more likely to say it's easier to get away from the office now than women (15%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Expedia from 03/25 to 03/28, 2008. This online survey of 2,032 employed adult Canadians was conducted via the Ipsos I-Say Online Panel, Ipsos Reid's national online panel. The results are based on a sample where quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data. Quota samples with weighting from the Ipsos online panel provide results that are intended to approximate a probability sample. An unweighted probability sample of this size, with a 100% response rate, would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Sean Simpson
Research Manager
Ipsos Reid
Public Affairs
(416) 572-4474
[email protected]

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Ipsos Reid is Canada's market intelligence leader, the country's leading provider of public opinion research, and research partner for loyalty and forecasting and modelling insights. With operations in eight cities, Ipsos Reid employs more than 600 research professionals and support staff in Canada. The company has the biggest network of telephone call centres in the country, as well as the largest pre-recruited household and online panels. Ipsos Reid's marketing research and public affairs practices offer the premier suite of research vehicles in Canada, all of which provide clients with actionable and relevant information. Staffed with seasoned research consultants with extensive industry-specific backgrounds, Ipsos Reid offers syndicated information or custom solutions across key sectors of the Canadian economy, including consumer packaged goods, financial services, automotive, retail, and technology & telecommunications. Ipsos Reid is an Ipsos company, a leading global survey-based market research group.

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