40% of employees didn't take time off in 2022. How employers can encourage PTO to avoid burnout

Employers have realized that taking time off is the best thing an employee can do to work better, faster and stronger. But are they doing enough to make sure that their employees are getting the message? 

Only 60% of full time employees took any PTO in 2022, according to a data study of 17 million anonymous employee records conducted by employee insights platform Visier. The remaining 40% took no time off at all, signaling the need for employers to take a more active role in ensuring that their workforce takes the time away they need. 

"These findings are really worrying," says Andrea Derler, lead of research and value at Visier. "If you think of the one in four employees that have never taken vacation time, that means they're probably relying on holidays and company-sponsored days only, and there aren't that many in a year. That has serious implications about their emotional state." 

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The number of employees using their PTO is down from last year, but not by much. In fact, according to Visier's research, the highest documentation of time off taken by employees was in 2018, with 63% of employees using any kind of vacation time. Since then, it has only varied a few percentage points, indicating that the issue has remained more-or-less persistent throughout the years.

While employees may point the finger at office culture that encourages work over personal time, Visier's data found that stigma around taking time off also plays a large role. Less than 45% of employees that have worked at a company for under a year take any PTO, compared to 87% of employees who have been with a company for over 10 years and take their time off, according to their analysis. 

While all employees struggle with taking time off, employers should lead by example and be aware of low PTO utilization before unused days add up.

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"PTO utilization is not always tracked in HR systems, which means that leaders in organizations may not even know when it's being underused," Derlerr says. "The first thing you need to do is track PTO utilization. [Ask,] 'How do I know how many of my employees actually take vacation? What about their productivity? The populations who don't take PTO, do they resign more frequently?' Without data you can't even begin to understand if you even have a problem."

Along with tracking data, leaders have to make relational changes, too. This means making it a priority to facilitate a conversation with employees they've noticed haven't taken time off in a while or make it clear to employees that they can speak up when they're getting overwhelmed or burned out. 

"The role modeling by leaders and managers is something that is quite an easy action to make a daily task," Derlerr says. "If you recognize that a team member is showing signs of burnout, have an open conversation. Why not talk about when an employee last took a day off? When you took a week off, did that really refresh you and recharge you? What does that mean for your productivity this week? Look out for others."