An increasing number of working Canadians anticipate putting in extra hours before or after a vacation this year, according to ADP Canada’s most recent Workplace Insight Study. Now in its fourth year, the study found the “time off tax” is growing in both severity and scope. According to this year’s survey, 66 per cent of working Canadians say they are likely to do extra work before or after their vacation. The study, conducted by Leger on behalf of ADP Canada, revealed workers who work extra hours anticipate spending an average of 16 hours on extra work before a vacation and an average of 17 hours on extra work after a vacation. This is an increase of ten hours in total when compared to last year. Other key findings include:

• Three in five workers (60%) check in with work at least once when on vacation, while 39% check in multiple times or daily
• Younger Canadian workers aged 18 to 34 are slightly more likely to spend extra time doing work before and after a vacation than other age groups (67% vs. 63% for those aged 35+)
• Less than half of working Canadians take their full vacation allowances (48%), with 30% feeling they have enough time off during the year and do not need to take the full amount, 25% stockpiling their vacation days for the future, and 22% not taking all their vacation because their workload is too high.