It’s no surprise that Americans find it hard to unplug.
And even though some companies pay their employees to take time off, it turns out the majority of Americans may still try to squeeze in some work when they are out of the office, according to a new TripAdvisor study.
According to the poll, 77 percent of U.S. respondents reported that in the last year, they worked while on vacation. Compare that to an average of 40 percent who said they worked while away of nine other countries included—with respondents from Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain and the U.K.
The travel site surveyed over 16,000 employed persons in 10 countries and asked them about their work and travel habits over the past year. Across all countries surveyed, the top reason respondents cited for working on vacation is that urgent situations may need their attention.
It also turns out people in the U.S. are most likely to feel guilty if they don’t work on vacation, while nearly 20 percent reported that their managers expect them to work even while away.
The survey also dove into how various respondents feel about their vacation time when compared to other parts of the world. 83 percent of Germans reported that they were satisfied with the current amount of vacation time allotted—the most of any nation. 60 percent of Americans felt the same way. When asked if they believed their time allotted was fair compared to the rest of the world, an overwhelming majority of U.S. respondents said no.
Just what are people doing on their time off? This list details the top 10 most popular work activities on vacation:
Top Work Activities Respondents Typically Do While on Vacation
| U.S. Respondents | Global Average | |
| Check emails | 91% | 65% |
| Respond to emails | 85% | 56% |
| Check voicemail | 45% | 21% |
| Create / edit documents | 42% | 26% |
| Respond to voicemail | 40% | 20% |
Check out the full report to see how other countries stack up.
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