如果放棄帶薪假，你一年里可能就有好些天免費給老板打工。

美國旅游協會發起的“休假項目”本周二公布了一項調研結果，發現受訪美國人中有55%沒有休完2015年的帶薪假，較前一年增長了13%。因為放棄帶薪假，美國人實際上為雇主義務工作上億天，放棄了614億美元的福利。

該研究調查了5600多名全職員工和1184位管理者。結果顯示，55%休假不足的美國人合計未休的帶薪假期達6.58億天。此前估計未休帶薪假期為4.29億天，實際結果遠超預計數字。

然而，因未休假而蒙受損失并不是什么新鮮事。早在2014年，美國員工未能休完假而放棄的薪水和福利就達到524億美元。

休假不僅有利于員工休養生息，恢復活力。上述研究發現，2015年，如果美國人休完全年應得的假期，本該為美國經濟增加2230億美元消費，還可以創造160萬個就業崗位，提高650億美元國民收入。即使美國人只多休一天假，消費額就能增加340億美元提振美國經濟。

為何美國人休假不積極，研究發現，37%的受訪者害怕休完假要面臨堆積如山的工作。另有30%的受訪者覺得休假期間沒人能做自己的工作。研究認為，老板是請假最大的影響因素，甚至比員工家庭的影響力還大。80%的員工稱，要是老板的全力支持和鼓勵，可能就會多請假。

工作與生活的平衡一直是熱議話題。一些企業的首席執行官在命令員工休假，比如軟件公司Full Contact的首席執行官巴特·羅讓。另一些企業不僅關心員工休假，還強制員工每天下午5點以前下班，將每周工作時長限制在40小時以內。（財富中文網）

譯者：Pessy

審校：夏林

By not taking paid time off, you may be working for free a number of days throughout the year.

According to a study released on Tuesday by the U.S Travel Association’s Project Time Off, 55% of Americans didn’t take all their paid vacation in 2015. This represents a 13% increase from the previous year. By giving up this time off, Americans are effectively volunteering hundreds of millions of days of free work for their employers. This resulted in $61.4 billion in forfeited benefits.

The study, which surveyed over 5,600 full-time workers and 1,184 managers, shows that the 55 percent of under-vacationed Americans left a total 658 million vacation days unused. This far exceeds the previous estimate of 429 million unused days, according to the study.

However, the result of losing money from not taking vacation isn’t anything new. Even in 2014 employees who failed to use up all their vacation days forfeited $52.4 billion annually in pay and benefits.

Taking time off isn’t just benefiting a worker’s R&R. If Americans had used the vacation time they earned in 2015, it would have resulted in $223 billion in spending for the U.S. economy, the study found. It also would have created 1.6 million jobs, which is $65 billion in additional income. Even if Americans had just used one more day, the results would have been $34 billion in total spending for the U.S. economy.

As to why many Americans are hesitant to take vacation, the study found that 37% fear they would return to a mountain of work, and 30% felt that no one else could do the job. Bosses, according to the study, are the most powerful influencer in taking time off, even slightly more influential than the worker’s family. 80% of employees said if they felt fully supported and encouraged by their boss, they would be likely to take more time off.

The work-life balance is a perpetually hot topic. Some CEOs, like software company Full Contact’s Bart Lorang, are ordering employees to take vacation. Other companies are moving beyond vacation and are forcing workers to leave by 5 p.m. and limiting workers to 40 hours per week.