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6/6/04
TIME OFF Many American workers are vacation-deprived. That is a key finding in a study released last week by Expedia.com, the online travel service. It maintains that US workers will forgo millions of vacation hours this year, choosing to linger at the office rather than lounge on the beach or beside a pool. The survey, the fourth annual vacation poll released by Expedia.com, was conducted by Harris Interactive, the national polling company. In all, 2019 US workers responded to questions about the amount of time they plan to take off in 2004. Of those polled, 30 percent said they would not use the vacation time they've earned this year. That means they will return the paid time off to their employers. ''On average,'' said the report, ''every employed American misses out on three days of vacation, up 50 percent from the two days they each forfeited in 2003.'' The survey results also revealed that employees in the Northeast tend to secure more vacation time than their peers in other regions. On average, they receive 13.6 days of vacation time compared to 12.4 days for the rest of the country. Northeast workers take more time off: 12.5 days on average versus 11.6 days nationally. At the same time, such workers are more likely to say that their employers are not as supportive about taking time off as they would like. Eighteen percent said they are discouraged from taking time off versus 17 percent nationally. When researchers looked at the Western part of the country, they found that 43 percent of the respondents there said too much work means they plan to take less vacation. Twenty-seven percent said they tend to give up more than a week of their vacation each year. Additionally, 56 percent of the respondents said they routinely work more than 40 hours per week. The survey results showed that working while on a vacation has become standard for many US employees. In all, 32 percent of the respondents said they routinely check their voice mail or e-mail while away on vacation and they also do some work. The exception: workers in the Midwest. Midwesterners are the least likely to forgo vacation, cancel or postpone vacation, or check voice mail or e-mail while they are away, the survey said. --DIANE E. LEWIS
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
US workers aren't too happy with the management system some employers use to improve job performance. Watson Wyatt, a human resources consulting firm, reports that only 30 percent of workers surveyed have confidence in the performance measures their employers created to help them improve. Just 20 percent said the company's performance management program helped poor performers. The survey of 1,190 workers found that 61 percent of employees reported that their performance appraisals were accurate. Additionally, 54 percent said those with better reviews received higher raises, bonuses, and other rewards. But only 30 percent said the performance management system the company used had helped them improve their performance. Also, less than 40 percent said their company had developed clear performance standards or goals. Respondents said the evaluation system used by their employers does not encourage honest feedback. ''Too many organizations view their performance management programs as organizational wallpaper,'' said Scott Cohen, national director for talent management at Watson Wyatt. ''They exist in the background and aren't expected to add value.'' --DIANE E. LEWIS
LIFE AFTER SCHOOL Parents, forget about the empty-nest syndrome. Sixty-four percent of the class of 2004 will be returning home to live with mom and dad after graduation, up 7 percent over a similar survey conducted just two months ago, reports MonsterTrak, the online job site. Survey results from 1,108 respondents were released last week. When asked how long they planned to live with their parents, 26 percent of college seniors said from one to six months. Sixteen percent expect to be with their parents from seven months to a year, and 22 percent said more than a year. Thirty-six percent will not return home, the survey found. By contrast, a similar MonsterTrak report released in March found that 43 percent of college seniors were planning to live away from home. In all, 23 percent planned to stay with their parents from one to six months, 14 percent said they would live at home for seven months to a year, and 20 percent said it would be more than a year before they could move to an apartment of their own. Those results were based on 1,092 responses received between March 1 and March 8, the job site said. A tight labor market and the high cost of living caused more graduates to consider returning home to their parents after commencement. ''Students are faced with a far different post-commencement scenario than what they envisioned entering college four years ago,'' said Michelle Forker, senior vice president of Monster Campus. --DIANE E. LEWIS
LEGAL MATTERS ATLANTA -- A judge has recommended dismissal of a bias lawsuit filed against Coca-Cola Co. by one of the original plaintiffs in a case that the world's largest beverage maker settled for $200 million. Former Coke security guard Gregory Clark had accused the Atlanta-based company of, among other things, not promoting him to available positions within his department because he is black. His claims were originally part of a larger racial and gender discrimination lawsuit that Coke settled in 2000. Clark did not take part in the settlement. Instead, he refiled his claim in a separate suit against the company. US Magistrate Judge E. Clayton Scofield III recommended Clark's lawsuit be dismissed, noting in part that Clark had lied on his employment application about his prior experience. He gave Clark 10 days to file an objection. Clark, who joined the company in 1996, left Coke in September, Coke spokesman Ben Deutsch said. --ASSOCIATED PRESS
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