Short, Regular Holidays May Benefit Japan's Workers
More than 60% of the world's workers feel "vacation deprived," according to a survey by the travel company Expedia.
People who are vacation deprived feel they haven't taken enough time off work during the year.
Expedia surveyed over 11,000 people in 11 countries, including the US, Singapore and Japan.
About 84% of German workers feel they don't take enough holidays, while more than half of the Americans surveyed said they didn't use all of their paid holiday time last year.
Many said life was too busy.
Japanese workers are known for being reluctant to use their vacation days, and the survey backs this up.
It found that, on average, Japanese workers leave seven vacation days unused over a year. That's the highest among all the countries surveyed.
However, Expedia said Americans could learn from Japanese workers — because many Japanese workers don't feel they're missing out on vacation time.
In fact, the company described them as feeling the least vacation deprived — although 53% still feel they don't take enough holidays.
Expedia found that Japanese workers take advantage of nearly monthly national holidays to plan regular, short trips that let them relax.
In the US, workers are more likely to save up their holiday time for one or two big trips.
The survey also found that over our working lives, on average, we leave 90 vacation days unused.
But not workers in Hong Kong — on average, they actually take more vacation days than they're allowed!
