Why Gen Zers aren't using all their vacation time
More than one-third of Gen Zers -- those born between 1995 and 2010 --don't use half of their vacation days, according to a Priceline survey released Wednesday.
The survey found 55 percent of Americans have more than 10 vacation days available to them, but they aren't using them. Why? Turns out guilt might be a driving factor.
Of the more than 1,000 full-time employed adults surveyed, 24 percent said they feel too guilty to take all their time off.
Other generations are lower than Gen Zers in this guilt-ridden issue, however. Of those surveyed, 19 percent of millennials said they feel guilty taking time off, 16 percent of Gen Xers feel it too but only 8 percent of baby boomers feel bad for taking their vacation time.
Beyond the guilt, nearly a quarter of Gen Zers surveyed said they worry if they take all their vacation time, their reputation will be harmed at work.
When asked the same thing, 15 percent of millennials said they're concerned it would harm their work reputation as well, compared to 10 percent of Gen Xers and only 5 percent of baby boomers.
And even when they take a vacation, those surveyed said they aren't really disconnecting.
Nearly half of the Gen Zers surveyed said they feel pressured to check their work voicemail or respond to emails while on vacation.
This problem seemed to be more common across all the generations, with 40 percent of millennials agreeing, 34 percent of Gen Xers identifying with that and 24 percent of baby boomers understanding that pressure as well.
One in 10 Gen Zers said they constantly checked their email and voicemail while on vacation, with 16 percent saying they check it as often as every few hours.
Coincidentally, 21 percent of Gen Zers surveyed said they get frustrated with their job or employer when they can't use all their allocated vacation days.
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Are they regretting not taking those vacations? According to the survey, 30 percent said they wished they had taken more spontaneous or last-minute trips. Simultaneously, more than a quarter of those surveyed said they regretted spending vacation time on other people's special occasions.