Last year, we asked our community a series of questions about their holiday vacation plans. The results revealed some not-so-surprising similarities to what we see in the news about the difficulty many of us have with disconnecting from work while on PTO.

We didn’t change the questions when we repeated the survey since we wanted to easily compare the responses we got this year to those from last year. Interestingly, last year, most people reported that their company was closing for some or all of the week between Christmas and New Year’s. This year, the largest chunk of people were those using PTO or vacation days to have the time off. Additionally, those taking no time off reduced from 11% to 5%.

The percentage of workers who are planning to fully disconnect from work stayed the same at 32%, but the amount of time that people anticipated spending on work increased from last year’s results. Those planning to only work a little are still the largest group of people planning to work through their time off, but that number has decreased. 

Given the results of the previous question, you might expect the answers we saw when we asked people to rank their work/holiday balance satisfaction. The weighted average dropped from 3.72 to 3.47. The percentage of people who ranked their satisfaction as a 4 or a 5 (with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest) dropped from 61% to 47%.

Once again, we see the highest level of satisfaction from those whose companies gave them the time off. The majority of those ranking their satisfaction as a 4 or 5 were given time off. Interestingly, this year 76% of respondents who report using vacation time reported their satisfaction as 3 or lower.

The benefits of fully unplugged time away from work remain the same as ever (greatly improved job satisfaction, reduced burnout, and increased employee retention), but the issue of how to accomplish that is still in the air. 

Last year, we pointed out that having your office closed between Christmas and New Year’s greatly improves employee satisfaction with their work/holiday balance. In fact, not only does it improve satisfaction with their work/holiday balance, but those who were given the week off were also far more likely to fully or mostly disconnect from work during their time off. 

This summer, a new stat popped up about America’s working during vacation problem: 54% of Americans reported working during vacation. We all know that taking and fully embracing your PTO isn’t just a holiday problem. Some companies are trying to change their workplace culture to encourage taking time off work and using all of your PTO, but an American cultural shift needs to happen before that kind of messaging can fully sink in.

When you take a look at reasons that employees struggle to take time off, it becomes clear why closing the office is such a great solution. If your biggest issue is guilt about leaving your work for someone else to do, a company-wide break means that no one else is working either. Your work isn’t weighing on anyone else. If your main barrier to fully embracing PTO is that you feel like your boss never takes time off and your coworkers don’t seem to rest either, the office being closed allows you to let go of those expectations. They aren’t working either for the week. 

You aren’t missing anything. You’re not falling behind.

And what better way to start a new year than rested, recharged, and ready to go after a (hopefully) happy holiday season? 

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Houde is a Project Manager at Chaloner. After graduating from Guilford College where they majored in English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and minored in communications, Elizabeth started their career in New York City in publishing as an editorial coordinator.