No Time to Lose: A Search for Work / Life Balance

Reposted from Take Back Your Time’s recent email dated July 7, 2008

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Dear TAKE BACK YOUR TIME supporter:

Instead of this month’s newsletter, I’ve got some exciting news! Our brand new vacation poll (a scientific survey of 1,002 Americans by Opinion Resarch Corporation) found that 69% of Americans support a paid vacation law. Only 27% are opposed. We have nearly 3-1 support for our paid vacation law campaign–that’s huge!

And our brand new Web site: www.right2vacation.org is now live! On the site you’ll find arguments for a paid vacation law, 37 colorful and humorous posters that you can print and put up in your offices to draw people’s attention to the campaign or email to friends, the most pertinent results from the poll (every demographic of Americans supports a law!).

Below, in this email, you’ll find a press release that you can send to all your local media (please do!) and to friends letting them know about the poll and the new Web site. Call your local radio stations and tell them about the poll as well! We are already getting interest in this from as far away as Ireland. Use the poll results to encourage your Congresspeople to support legislation guaranteeing paid vacation time for all Americans.

Let me know what you think of our Web site. Email me at jodg@comcast.net. And please, if you can, contribute to this campaign–you’ll see how to do it on the site. We are really poised to make a difference, but our funds are dangerously low. We truly need your help. If you believe in this campaign, contribute now.

Read the press release and forward it wherever you can!

Thanks so much!

John de Graaf
Executive Director

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JULY 7, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: John de Graaf
jodg@comcast.net; (206) 443-6747

NEW POLL SHOWS STRONG AMERICAN SUPPORT FOR A PAID VACATION LAW: STUDY SHOWS WORKERS RUN RISK OF BURNOUT FROM TOO LITTLE VACATION

NEW WEB SITE PROMOTES LAW

As the nation celebrated July 4th, a new poll found that most Americans don’t have or don’t feel they can take time for “the Pursuit of Happiness,” and more than two-thirds support a law that would guarantee paid vacations for American workers.

The scientific telephone sample of 1,002 Americans was conducted by The Opinion Research Corporation, a leading professional pollster, during the week of June 23, 2008.

The poll found 69% of Americans saying they would support a paid vacation law, with the largest percentage of respondents favoring a law guaranteeing three weeks vacation or more. Take Back Your Time advocates a three-week paid vacation law. Americans under 35 (83%), African-Americans (89%), Hispanic-Americans (82%), and low-income Americans (82%) were the strongest supporters of such a law, as were residents of the Northeast (75%) and the South (72%). 75% of women and 63% of men support a paid vacation law. 74% of families with children support such a law. Every demographic showed majority support for a law. Overall, only 27% of those polled were opposed to a paid vacation law.

NOT ENOUGH TIME OFF TO AVOID BURNOUT

Americans were asked how many weeks of vacation are best to prevent “burnout.” 52% said they need three weeks or more and 82% said they needed at least two weeks.

Disturbingly though, the survey showed that among working Americans, 28% took no vacation time at all last year, half took a week or less, and two-thirds got less than two weeks off. The median time off for all workers was 8.2 days, far below the three weeks that most cited as the optimum to prevent burnout, much less actually relax and enjoy themselves.

A growing body of evidence suggests that burnout is just one of the negative consequences of too little vacation time. Studies have firmly established that men who don’t take vacations are 32% more likely to die of heart attacks and women are 50% more likely. Lack of vacation time doubles rates of depression for women. After vacations, workers gain an hour per night of quality sleep and their reaction times are 30-40% faster, improvements that last for several months.

“American work-life is out of balance and this poll shows people know it,” said Cecile Andrews, chair of the Take Back Your Time board. “The only difference between dinosaurs and American vacations is that dinosaurs are already extinct. We are losing the breaks we need to stay healthy, avoid stress and bond with our families. It’s certainly a shame that neither Presidential candidate has addressed this issue. Maybe this poll will get them to take notice.”

NEW RIGHT2VACATION WEB SITE LAUNCHED

Take Back Your Time has launched a new Web site—(http://www.right2vacation.org/) promoting the idea of a paid vacation law.

Mixing hard science and a lighthearted touch to make a very serious case, the site includes the latest research on the impacts of too little vacation time, as well as more than two dozen humorous posters that can be downloaded, printed and posted to call attention to the campaign and ways to get involved.

“The site is fun, just like vacations are,” said Joe Robinson, author of Work to Live, and a leader of the campaign. “The United States is the only wealthy country without a paid vacation law. We’re the capital of burnout and it’s costing all of us hundreds of billions of dollars a year. We can change that with a law guaranteeing vacations to workers. We need time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Fun is not a four-letter word. But this would actually make businesses more productive too.”

“Vacations are so important for family bonding,” said William Doherty, professor of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota. “Some of the strongest memories from childhood involve family vacations. And yet, far fewer families are taking them now.”

NEW EPIDEMIC SPREADING THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES: IRRITABLE GROWL SYNDROME

“Take Back Your Time’s medical team has discovered a new disease that has rapidly been spreading throughout the US in recent years,” said Executive Director John de Graaf. “Ever notice that people seem crankier, there’s lots of road rage, we’re all impatient? Do you feel like screaming at your computer to hurry up sometimes? Nerves frazzled by overwork and constant rushing lead to angry snarls. We call it ‘Irritable Growl Syndrome.’ It’s definitely hard on Americans’ health and there’s no pill to cure it. Our workers need a real ‘pause that refreshes,’ and the most promising is more vacation time. Time to unwind from the ever-increasing stresses of the workplace.”

Take Back Your Time believes that the lack of vacation time in the United States is a serious problem, as the new poll indicates. A law guaranteeing paid vacations would allow us to catch up to other nations (for example, every European worker gets a minimum of four weeks paid vacation). It would lead to higher hourly productivity and reduce the escalating cost of health care, by making all Americans healthier. It’s not rocket science; it’s common sense. Every other wealthy country in the world realizes that.

Take Back Your Time can provide key experts for your radio programs or print stories. Just contact John de Graaf at: jodg@comcast.net or (206) 443-6747 or Joe Robinson: joe@worktolive.info. Poll results (by July 3) at: http://www.timeday.org/right2vacation/poll_results.asp