Time For A Vacation! A Global Analysis on Paid Vacation Leave and its Effects

As the world’s population continues to readjust in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, shifts in work and travel patterns have changed drastically. The Pandemic proved that a lot of jobs can be done at home, and as a result the desire for leisure travel has increased significantly. Despite this, will employers acknowledge this greater interest for leisure travel from their employees as regressions in COVID mandates continue and individuals return to in-person work? Most developed nations around the world have some form of federal legislation that requires employers to offer their employees paid vacation time. The United States, in contrast, is one of the very few countries that does not have such legislation and leaves it up to the discretion of employers. This thesis will explain why the United States needs to guarantee paid vacation time and how it can benefit the people, the employers, and the government. It will examine the reasons why the United States government has delayed guaranteeing paid vacation time-off to all workers, as well as understand how paid vacation time-off and other paid time-off (PTO) options can benefit a worker’s overall health and their performance levels at work. This thesis will also examine how other countries have managed to guarantee paid vacation time and how such legislation has affected these nation’s economies, productivity, and psychology of their people.