Americans Skipping Vacations, Lunch Breaks

New Survey Warns Of Health Risks From Overwork

NEW YORK, 6:52 p.m. EST February 23, 2001 -- According to a new survey, one in six American employees is so overworked that they can't find time to use their vacation, reports Reuters news service.

About 32 percent of those surveyed say that they work and eat lunch at the same time. Another 32 percent say that they never leave the building once arriving at work.

Americans already have fewer vacation days than workers from other industrialized nations.

The health benefits of regular vacations are well known. According to Dr. Alan Muney of Oxford Health Plans, regular vacations have been proven to have dramatic effects on lessening stress-related illness and health care payments in general.

Seventeen percent of respondents reported a loss of sleep due to the demands of their job.

Oxford Health Plans conducted the survey, which involved phone interviews with 632 men and women selected at random. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

Other results reported by Reuters were discouraging. Seventeen percent of the respondents reported that their overwork was due to policies that made it hard for them to take time off and 20 percent felt that it would be necessary to come to work even when sick or injured.

However, a majority of employers offer generous allowances geared toward employee well-being. Fifty-five percent of those polled said that their employer offers transitional alternative duty, in which individuals can choose to return after an illness or injury. And 48 percent admit that their job allows the option of working during flex time.

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