“Vacation reminds me how much better life would be if I wasn’t shackled to my desk.”
That’s what one Glassdoor community member said when asked whether they’ve considered not returning to work after PTO. We associate vacations with traveling, recharging, and lounging on the beach, but paid time off (PTO) in America is not all sunshine and rainbows.
According to a recent poll of more than 3,000 professionals on Glassdoor, 77% of employees feel anxious anticipating their post-vacation workload. Glassdoor community participants report experiencing emotions ranging from anger, (“Post-PTO stress…caused me to have a rant at my client”) to malaise, (“[I] came back from PTO and literally did nothing for a month. I just wasn’t in the mood.”).
If you’ve ever felt that post-vacation dread, you’re not alone: It’s normal to not want to go back to work after a vacation. We spoke with Dr. Erika Bocknek, a licensed therapist, to dig into the science behind this. The short of it? Anxiety is often connected to ambiguity around what supervisors want from their teams.
The expectations vs. reality of PTO in the U.S.
Paid time off means something different at every company. Some organizations offer a combination of sick days and vacation days, (with varying policies on how unused days are compensated), others categorize all employee leave in a single category, and about 8% of companies offer unlimited PTO.
“While HR policies may be clear about PTO (in terms of number of days off and those kinds of parameters), clients frequently tell me that there is a lot of ambiguity around supervisor and team expectations,” Dr. Bocknek explained. “This may include a lack of clarity around tasks, or it may reflect supervisor and colleagues’ ambivalence about the individual having taken time off.”
The data on how workers actually use PTO and how they feel afterward is pretty bleak.
- Less than half of U.S. workers exhaust their PTO allowance
- 47% feel guilty for taking a vacation
- 68% of Americans report working on vacation
To put it plainly, an employee who takes PTO is not necessarily on vacation.
Many professionals struggle to set work boundaries. Tools like email, text messaging, Slack, and Teams blur the lines between company time and private time, making it easier than ever to check in to work — even on PTO. For some workers — whether they have FOMO or are workaholics — it’s too hard to resist clicking when their messaging apps light up.
Why workers feel bad after coming back from vacation
Time away is supposed to help employees avoid work burnout, but a Glassdoor community poll in the Work-Life Bowl found that 45% of respondents had struggled with thoughts of leaving their jobs while on PTO. Some commenters even admitted that they had quit while on leave.
Leaders can make it easier for employees to take — and enjoy — their time off by establishing pre- and post-PTO check-ins.
“Employees need to hear that their supervisors have reasonable expectations about productivity and are not sending mixed messages regarding the impact of the employee’s PTO on the team,” said Dr. Bocknek. “In addition, leaders can set positive examples and influence the team culture by utilizing their own PTO.”
How to feel normal after vacation
Where do you land on the post-PTO spectrum — anxious about going back or re-energized? Join the Glassdoor Community conversations for tips on using PTO, or share your own.