No “BUY  a vacation GET a promotion” isn’t our latest special to get you to book a vacation.  It is reality!!  An in-depth analysis on how vacations affect companies and their employees done by Project: Time Off uncovered that Americans are utilizing less and less of their vacation time than at any other point in time over the past 40 years.  
Gary Oster, Managing Director of Project: Time Off, states “Many people don’t take time off because they think that it will negatively impact their manager’s perception of them.  But, that isn’t the case at all.”¹  Why have so many employees started thinking this way?  Is this the result of us being electronically dependent and able to take our work with us everywhere?  Has the age of smart phones and working from home caused us to feel like, “why take a vacation when my work is coming with me?”Â
Well step in to the light my friends because “according to Project: Time Off, those employees that enjoy a relaxing, organized pre-planned vacation have a 6.5% 
higher chance of getting a promotion than those employees who leave 11 or more vacation days sitting on the table. While that percentage sounds small and irrelevant, it is a correlation versus a causation and it is the polar opposite of the idea that staying at work might mean getting ahead.  It simply doesn’t.”¹
Why might this be true? Â Fancy the idea that when you take a vacation that is pre-planned and organized, you are able to relax and let go of the day to day stress of your job. Â 
You are able to be present at your own vacation, able to relax, and are able to snap out of work mode.  This allows you to return rejuvenated and ready to tackle the new tasks that your job presents. Â
It might be hard for employees to grasp the fact that a boss/manager would be ok with them using their vacation days because they themselves don’t take a vacation.  Lead by example and show them respectfully that those vacation days are yours, 
you earned them, you are taking them, and let her/him see how rejuvenated and happy you are when you return. Â They will actually thank you for it because your productivity will increase when you return, your mind will be sharper, you will be happier and you won’t be taking a pay cut!!
Did someone say pay cut?  Yes I did!!!  Do you want one?  I am safely assuming that your answer is no.  
As it should be.  Have you realized that when your employer doesn’t allow you to rollover your vacation days and when you don’t take them, you are in essence giving yourself a pay cut.  Don’t allow yourself to become a vacation day victim.  Shawn Achor said it best, “Life is finite, and work is infinite.”  Use your vacation days, Invest in Your Health!
Taylor & Co. Travel , your DOT (Dr of Travel) prescribes 7 days in a caribbean paradise….. your health & well-being will Thank You!!
¹ Harvard Business Review, June 12, 2015, “Are the People Who Take Vacations the Ones Who Get Promoted”article written by Shawn Achor