The shifting balance of power between workers and employers since the mid-1970s shows up in a lot of different ways. On one end, it shows up in declining union membership and the long-term drop in household income; at the other end, you’ve got record-high corporate profits, record-high worker productivity and annual double-digit increases in average CEO pay.
However, statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics data demonstrates the power shift in an unexpected and more intimate way. They show that as recently as the early ’80s, roughly 80 percent of the American workforce was able to take at least one week-long vacation each year. Today, that number stands at just 56 percent, and based on the trend line, it is destined to continue to drop still farther.
Some of that decline can be attributed to fewer companies offering vacation benefits. The economy has shifted, with manufacturing jobs in decline and lower-paying service jobs on the upswing, and the service industry is less prone to offer vacation benefits. However, the decline can also be traced to workers who have vacation days coming to them that they are simply afraid to use. The competition to keep a job or get a promotion is so intense that many just aren’t willing to take the risk of not showing up for a few days. Even the well-documented fact that vacation makes workers happier, healthier and more productive doesn’t offset the nagging dread of separating yourself from the workplace.
The BLS stats also don’t reflect the fact that for many who do take a vacation, it’s not much of a vacation at all. Cell phones, voice mail, email, e-conferencing and other technologies allow a vacationer easy access to the workplace even if he or she is halfway across the world. The technological imperative holds that if you CAN be connected at all times, then you MUST be connected at all times, even when technically on vacation.
As a result, only the truly courageous, the professionally secure or the don’t-give-a-damn crowd are willing to “go rogue” and cut all lines of communication with the office. The concept of uninterrupted vacation time has disappeared along with all other expectations of not being interrupted. Meals, “quality time” with families, reading time — we have built an entire culture on the expectation that any activity is vulnerable to constant interruption from almost anybody.
These days, you often hear claims that the American work ethic is in decline, that we have become more “takers” than “makers,” etc. It’s all nonsense. The truth is, the hamster wheel is running faster than ever, and increasing numbers of Americans are so insecure about their economic future that they don’t dare step off the wheel even for a week. In fact, claims that Americans have become lazy layabouts — in stark contradiction to the facts — are themselves evidence of a cultural perception that we all need to work harder harder harder.
So … here’s the part where I notify you that next week, I’ll be on vacation hoping to recharge my batteries, change my perspective and do my rebellious part in sticking up for the rights of the working people — oops, sorry boss — I mean I’ll be off improving my productivity as a worker.
