A "Working Vacation" — For Americans, Is There Any Other Kind?

With guest host John Donvan.

President Donald Trump has insisted that his 17-day stay at his New Jersey golf course is not a standard vacation:

Working in Bedminster, N.J., as long planned construction is being done at the White House. This is not a vacation – meetings and calls!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2017

When you’re leader of the free world, a true vacation isn’t really possible. But many Americans just plain refuse to take time away from work. More than half of full-time American workers end the year with unused vacation days. And this is in a country where vacation days are hard-earned (the U.S. is the only developed country without mandatory minimum time off).

And when we do leave the office, we very often stay connected through the panoply of apps and devices that ensure our colleagues are never more than a few taps away.

What drives this need for constant connection to the workplace? Scott Dobroski with Glassdoor told MarketWatch that it’s one simple factor … fear.

“That's the underscoring theme.” They fear getting behind on their work (34%), believe no one else at their company can do the work while they're out (30%), they are completely dedicated to their company (22%), and they feel they can never be disconnected (21%). As workers shoulder a heavier work-load post-recession, he says others are afraid of not meeting goals.

In a country where employment is so often seen as a virtue, how do you get workers to take a vacation?

GUESTS

Lee Burbage, Chief People Officer, The Motley Fool

Quentin Fottrell, Personal finance editor and the Moneyologist, MarketWatch; @Quantanamo

Neeru Paharia, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business; @neerupaharia

For more, visit http://the1a.org.

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