and as a single guy who loved my job, i got an extra 4 weeks of pay in my check every year. they also would set you up with a 2 month sabbatical after five years and a six month after ten. they completely valued their employees and the people were so motivated to do a helluva job that the company made money hand over fist and had a reputation for some of the most skilled and dedicated techies in the business...

man, i loved that place.

sP

Where I work, we're allowed to accrue leave up to a certain point, and after that we're on deemed leave, which means we're not allowed to come into work until our leave drops back below whatever the limit is. That way managers who are putting pressure on workers to stay and work when they want to be on annual leave get no choice in the matter and eventually learn that they have to be flexible when it comes to approving leave and managing workloads...

My housemate's last two vacation requests were not approved.
Worse yet, they don't tell him until the next week's schedule comes out.
He has a stuporvisor that doesn't like him and does everything he can to screw him around.

I don't take vacations because there is really no such thing. You are still having to answer emails & phone calls, and when you return there is simply a week-long backlog to deal with. Better to try to keep your job and then cash it out when you quit or get fired.

I don't see that as unusual.

Now there's a percentage of that group who are workaholics, and that's not good because they're likely neglecting their family, friends, other loved ones, their health, etc... on some level. There is a need to have balance in one's life.

But I love my work. Being self-employed, I'm never really on vacation even when I am. But taking an hour or so a day while away on holiday to keep my business running smoothly isn't a great sacrifice.

I'd have to say letting "an average of 3.2 vacation days expire" isn't really that much of a crisis.

I work for myself too and everyone knows not to bother me when I'm not in my office.

years. I can accrue 3 weeks vacation a year (since I started in July, I think HR told me I'll only accrue 2 weeks this year). I don't recall what their vacation use policy is but it's just so novel to me to have paid vacations that it'll be odd to take vacation time.

However, I think part of people not using all their vacation time is partly because people don't understand a stay-cation is just as good as a vacation where you go somewhere. So they don't consider taking a week off to just stay at home... what's the point? Of course, I'm a huge fan of stay-cations 'cause they're much cheaper.

I used everything!!!!

of place with the Grand Canyon.

When I worked before retiring, I always took every day of my vacation. Job insecurity is probably the biggest reason why workers fear taking the time off.

no security
hell i was laid off the day i came back from vaca

did not trust my employers enuf to take one

I work for a company that uses a PTO (paid time off) model. This means that there are not separate buckets for vacation days, personal days, and sick days -- it's all just one big pot of days off. I've been with the company for 17 years, and they are very generous...so generous that I never end up using my whole compliment of days. Here's why:

1) I'm smart about when I use the days. For example, I take the 3 days before Thanksgiving every year. 3 days invested = 1 week off. Part of that is a function of seniority.
2) We're allowed to roll a week over every year.
3) I'm always scared that I'll use all my days, and then get the flu, so I always hold back some.
4) I'm flexibly scheduled, so I don't have to take days off to do things like go to the DMV. I just work my schedule around it.
5) Kids in school. You can only vacation so-much with kids in school.

Two other things: I buy a week of extra PTO every year just-in-case. As a practical matter, it serves as a Christmas Club. I sell the days back every year in early December. Also, we have a way to donate unused PTO, but not every year has a recepient. If an employee is out with an extended illness, for example, we can donate PTO.

Having vacation days taken away due to benifit reductions, I value everyone of mine.
The company where I work, last year took away 1week from anyone who had 30 years or more company service.

I had trouble squeezing what I wanted to do into the time I had before, now its impossible.