Half (49 percent) of working Americans would accept a job with no vacation time if they were paid more, according to the 11^th annual Vacation Confidence Index* released by Allianz Global Assistance. Millennials (63 percent, compared to 47 percent of Gen X’ers and 32 percent of Baby Boomers) and men (57 percent, versus 41 percent of women) are the most likely to sacrifice paid time off for higher salaries.

The average American who would give up paid vacation time for a salary increase would require a 48 percent raise to do so, though a sizable one in five were willing to give up their paid time off for an increase of 24 percent or less. One-third (29 percent) would need 25 – 49 percent more, 35 percent would need 50 – 99 percent more and 16 percent would need double their salary to take this offer.

On the flip side, the Vacation Confidence Index also explored the worth of unlimited vacation time, an increasingly popular workplace trend. One in three Americans (34 percent) would give up a portion of their paycheck for unlimited vacation, with Millennials (41 percent) even more likely to do so. Millennials are the most likely to both give up vacation time for salary, and give up salary for vacation time, highlighting how important professional success and personal flexibility is to this generation. Another survey takeaway found that more than one in ten (12 percent) of Americans already have unlimited vacation.

Of those who would forfeit a portion of their salary for unlimited time off, the average would be willing to give up 26 percent, with Millennials willing to forgo 32 percent. Nearly one-quarter of these respondents (22 percent) would be willing to give up over half their salary, while 21 percent would give up 25 – 49 percent and the majority (57 percent) would give up 24 percent or less.

“We asked Americans to literally put a price tag on their vacation days, and one-third of U.S. workers said they would be willing to take a pay cut in exchange for unlimited paid time off,” said Daniel Durazo, director of marketing and communications at Allianz Global Assistance USA. “Meanwhile half of Americans say they wouldn’t accept a job with zero paid time off regardless of the salary. ”

Obviously this seems like madness to me because I value vacation time so much. However, I do understand that many people don’t even take vacations and money is more important. I don’t judge anyone on their own personal decisions. But if you get the paid time off-use it!

*Methodology: These are findings of an Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Allianz Global Assistance. For this survey, a sample of 1,005 Americans from the Ipsos I-Say panel was interviewed from May 1^st to May 2^nd, 2019. The precision of online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the results are accurate to within +/- 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what the results would have been had all American adults been polled. Quota sampling and weighting were employed in order to balance demographics and ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Credibility intervals are wider among subsets of the population. For the purposes of this study, a Millennial is defined as someone between the ages of 18 and 34; a Gen X’er is between the ages of 35 and 54; and a Baby Boomer is 55+ years of age. 

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