Americans value money over time off

Want more vacation? Some people tell their bosses they are “sick” in order to get an extra day off work, yet many of us don’t take all the vacation we’re actually entitled to. Which might indicate that what we really, really want is more time away from work.

But when push comes to shove, what do we want? More money. Given a choice between an extra week of vacation or 5 percent increase in salary, 79 percent of Americans will take the raise, according to a recent survey by finance recruitment firm Accounting Principals.

To read the details, click here: Americans value money over time off

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8 thoughts on “Americans value money over time off

  1. Yet a 5% raise is only equal to 2.5% net cash after taxes, so it is the equivalent of a weeks vacation. A vacation costs more than that unless it is a “staycation”. So how am I ahead if I take the time off unless I just sit at home?

    1. It could be argued that the personal satisfaction and happiness gained from a week of vacation could not only be healthy for you as a worker, but beneficial to your company, as it would increase employee productivity upon their return. In the end, both the company and the employee are gaining more utility from a vacation. Simply from a practical standpoint, vacations are necessary to the livelihood of any healthy business, in my opinion.

  2. I would take the time off. I would rather sit at home for a week, puttering around, sleeping late, watching movies, working in the yard (that is in theory, as right now, the yard is covered with snow and will probably be covered with snow until I die), and meeting friends for lunch than go to work.

    1. Amen!
      I’m also one of the 24% who would gladly have more time off. One of the things that most annoys me about US companies is their miniscule vacation policies. And if I leave a company and get a new job, I may get a higher salary, but my vacation time always resets to “you haven’t been here long enough to earn time off”.

      If I’m getting 5 weeks off per year (seniority) I want to carry that with me to the next job!

      Yet another reason why, this time around, I’m going for contractor/consultant instead of FTE.

  3. If we don’t use all our vacation anyway, why wouldn’t we want more money? A lot of us have vacation we can’t take because of work schedules, finances, spousal vacation (or lack thereof), kids in school, etc. (I’m not saying we’re RIGHT not to use all our vacation, however)

  4. The situation depends, I think, on where in Maslow’s needs hierarchy one is. With the economy somewhat shaky, and many people worried whether they will have a job longer term, or will have their hours reduced due to the ACA, or will have less net pay due to the ACA and/or reduced hours, a larger proportion of workers are spending carefully. That said, given a choice between money and time off, I’d expect the majority of working people to opt for money to improve their financial cushion.

    If/when the economy improves to, maybe, the level of the year 2000, I’d expect to see more people opt for time off. I did notice during the Christmas shopping days in late 2000 that more retail outlets than usual closed for more hours on Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and Sundays around those holidays. The businesses made their financial targets, their employees did not work so many hours, and all were happy.

  5. Vacations are expensive! The more money you make, the more vacations you will eventually be able to afford, which is probably why people would rather have the money over the time off.

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