Note: This article appeared in our summer newsletter.

We were intrigued by information contained in several recent articles we found regarding traditional vacations. It seems that workers are leaving more and more unused vacation on the table each year. A recent survey found that 45% of workers in 2006 did just that, while 36% said they had too much work to take vacation! It is believed that 40% of we Americans put in more than 50 hours at work each week.

Wow, too much work to take vacation. While this information did not site specific age groups we know that the largest number of workers today are Baby Boomers. It is an interesting phenomena that we have always worked long hours because we have been in such a competitive environment given there are 77 million of us, but at what cost?

Apparently more and more people are taking long weekends instead of vacation turning Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday into 4-day mini-vacations. No doubt employers love this as it is much less disruptive to the work place to have someone gone for a couple of work days than a week or two at a time. This resistance to taking vacations is the equivalent of giving back over $21 billion dollars to our employers!

The question we would ask is this in the best interest of the employee or the organization? One study indicated that vacation (defined as at least 1 continuous week off from work) reduced the risk of heart attacks in men by as much as 50% and by as much as 30% in women. If we do not get away from work for longer periods of time to recharge our batteries are we doing a disservice to ourselves? Americans are taking less time off now then in the 1920’s. Europeans mandate a minimum of 4 to 5 weeks of vacation per year on the premise that a better-rested workforce is a more productive workforce.

If you have an opinion on this one way or the other please feel free to comment here, we would love to hear from you!

This was taken from our latest newsletter. If this fits you and you are willing to share your experience we would enjoy speaking with  you! Here is an interesting note for all you Baby Boomers out there:A recent study indicated that the fastest growing segment of self-employed workers is people ages 55 to 65. A 29% increase occurred amongst this age group in 2006 as compared to only a 10% increase in the self-employed overall.Are Baby Boomers embracing self-employment out of necessity or a desire to do something different with their lives?You tell us, if you are a Baby Boomer and self-employed we would love to hear from you. Why did you chose the self-employment path, do you enjoy it?Send your responses to: info@futuredecisions.com, we will contact you and if you agree we will include your story in a future newsletter article.