Posted June 13, 2012
It’s an old joke – “No one ever says on their death bed, ‘Gee, I wish I had worked more hours.'” – but it never fails to elicit a few chuckles.
And in this country, some sighs of recognition.
About 57 percent of working Americans ended 2011 with unused vacation time, averaging 11 days, according to a Harris Interactive study. A fifth of the workers surveyed said they couldn’t afford to travel, and almost 10 percent said that in today’s job market, they were afraid to take time off.
But the bigger factor, said one local expert, is our priorities. “What Americans see as important and what is rewarded is individual achievement,” said Trisha Stark, executive director of the Minnesota Psychological Association. “It’s not (about) working well in a group, being cooperative, being healthy. It’s achieving.
“There’s a feeling that the only way to show achievement is to sort of marry your work.”
Stark said
