Human Resources: Employees Take Vacation, Call in Sick to Escape "Holiday Hiatus"

CHELMSFORD, Mass., March 22, 2010 - A new survey commissioned by The
Workforce Institute<http://www.workforceinstitute.org/>(tm) at Kronos(r)
Incorporated<http://www.kronos.com/> and conducted by Harris
Interactive(r) reveals that employees across the U.S. are feeling the
pain of the "Holiday Hiatus" - that time between either Martin Luther
King Day (Jan. 18) or President's Day (Feb. 15) and Memorial Day (May
31) that constitutes the longest stretch of the working year without a
paid holiday. From calling in sick to using vacation time, employees are
taking a variety of actions to make it through to the unofficial start
of summer.

News Facts
*         40 percent of full-time salaried employees get both Martin
Luther King Day and President's Day off as paid holidays. 39 percent do
not get either.
*         25 percent of full-time salaried employees who get neither
Martin Luther King Day or President's Day off or just one of these days
off as paid holidays say they are more stressed during the Holiday
Hiatus than the rest of the year.
*         In terms of how they cope with the stress of the Holiday
Hiatus, those salaried employees who said they take action to deal with
stress from lack of paid holidays do so in a variety of ways including:
taking more vacation time (37 percent); taking more sick days (16
percent); eating junk food (25 percent); and working out more (28
percent).
*         57 percent of salaried employees said they would take a sick
day when they were not really sick. How would they spend the day? 52
percent said they'd lounge around the house; 49 percent said they would
run errands; and 25 percent said they would stay in bed.
*         77 percent of salaried employees who get neither Martin
Luther King Day or President's Day off or just one of these days off as
paid holidays said they would not take a sick day when they were not
really sick if their company offered them a "Duvet Day", a term coined
in the U.K. by organizations who give employees one or two paid days off
per year that they can take without cutting into sick or vacation time
(the idea being they stay home in bed under the covers or "duvet").
*         A 2008 Kronos/Mercer
study<http://www.kronos.com/PressRoom/PressReleases/2008/Full-Cost-of-Em
ployee-Absence-Equals-36-Percent-of-Payroll-According-to-New-Mercer-Stud
y-Sponsored-by-Kronos%c2%ae.aspx> on the full cost of employee
absenteeism found that unplanned employee absences cost organizations
the equivalent of nine percent of their base payroll on average, more
than half the cost of healthcare benefits, measured at 15.4 percent of
payroll in Mercer's 2007 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health
Plans.
*         21 percent of full-time salaried employees plan to take five
days off between Jan. 18 and May 31, while an additional 14 percent plan
to take six or seven days off.
*         63 percent of full-time salaried employees are concerned about
job security. 60 percent of these folks say that concerns about job
security have impacted their vacation plans, with 23 percent saying they
are less likely to take vacation time this year.

Supporting Quotes
*         Joyce Maroney, director of The Workforce Institute, Kronos
"More than half of our survey respondents said they would take a sick
day without really being sick. These kinds of unscheduled absences cost
companies millions of dollars each year. Organizations should look at
providing employees with more flexible paid-time-off options to better
manage the problem."

Supporting Resources
*         About Harris Interactive<http://www.harrisinteractive.com/>

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris
Interactive on behalf of Kronos Incorporated from February 24 to 26,
2010 among 2,323 adults ages 18 and older, of whom 471 are full-time
salaried employees. The survey data are weighted to represent the
overall adult population. This online survey is not based on a
probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling
error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including
weighting variables, please contact Laura Souza.

About The Workforce Institute
The Workforce Institute was founded by Kronos Incorporated in 2006 as a
think tank to provide research and education on critical workplace
issues facing organizations around the globe. By bringing together
thought leaders, The Workforce Institute is uniquely positioned to
empower organizations with the knowledge and information they need to
manage their workforce effectively and provide a voice for employees on
important workplace issues. A hallmark of The Workforce Institute's
research is balancing the needs and desires of diverse employee
populations with the needs of organizations. For additional information,
visit www.workforceinstitute.org<http://www.workforceinstitute.org>.

About Kronos Incorporated
Kronos is the global leader in workforce management solutions that
enable organizations to control labor costs, minimize compliance risk,
and improve workforce productivity. Tens of thousands of organizations
in 60 countries - including more than half of the Fortune 1000(r) - use
Kronos time and attendance, scheduling, absence management, HR and
payroll, hiring, and labor analytics applications. To learn how Kronos
uniquely delivers complete automation and high-quality information in an
easy-to-use solution, visit www.kronos.com<http://www.kronos.com>.