Ghost vacationing is what happens when Burnout, family pressure, and Mental health go unspoken !

☀️ It’s summer—the season of out-of-office replies and long-awaited getaways. But not everyone gets to truly disconnect.

☝️ Ghost vacationing is rarely a grand escape. For most, ghost vacationing means slipping away for a few hours—not weeks.

In fact, 70% of these stealth breaks last less than a day. Just enough time to breathe… without asking.

🌍 Despite vastly different vacation policies, the behavior is surprisingly universal:

• 🇺🇸 32% of U.S. employees

• 🇪🇺 33% of Europeans …have taken time off without telling anyone.

Why? Because the system doesn’t always make space for recovery.

🔄 Workload matters:

• 50% of Europeans work a standard 31–40 hour week

• Over 40% of Americans clock 41–50 hours

🧠 Mental health is a trigger:

• 36% of Americans who’ve never ghosted say they’d do it if their mental health declined

• That’s nearly double Europe’s 20%

🤝 And here’s the quiet solidarity:

• 42% of Americans and 41% of Europeans have asked for—and received—cover from colleagues during ghost vacations. Unspoken pacts. Human empathy. A shared understanding that sometimes… you just need out, according to a new interesting research published by Kickresume using data from 1,897 people in U.S. and Europe specifically, conducted in July 2025.

✅ Number of vacation days

Researchers explored how much time employees truly take off—and the contrast is striking: 🇪🇺 Nearly 60% of Europeans enjoy three weeks or more of vacation 🇺🇸 While almost half of Americans take 10 days or less

Given these numbers, it’s no surprise that “ghost vacationing”—quietly slipping away without formally logging time off—might be more common in the U.S.

When official PTO is scarce and workloads are intense, informal escapes become a coping mechanism.

In contrast, Europe’s more generous and structured time-off systems reduce the need to go under the radar. There, rest isn’t just allowed—it’s expected.

✅ Number of Ghost vacation days

Whether you're in Milan or Miami the story is strikingly similar: Unannounced time off isn’t rare—it’s quietly woven into modern work culture.

📊 Researchers found near-identical patterns across the Atlantic:

• 🇺🇸 49% of U.S. workers say they’ve never ghost vacationed

• 32% admit they’ve done it at least once

• 3% say it’s a recurring habit

🇪🇺 Europe echoes the trend:

• 53% say never

• 33% have ghosted once or more

• 5% do it regularly

Despite different labor laws and vacation policies, the behavior converges. Why? Because when recovery isn’t built into the system, people find their own ways to disappear—briefly, quietly, and often out of necessity.

✅ Reasons of Ghost vacationing

When researchers dug into why people ghost vacation, the answer was clear: It’s not avoidance. It’s a quiet response to pressures that feel too personal—or too risky—to name out loud.

💔 Across both the U.S. and Europe, two reasons rose to the top:

• Family or personal responsibilities

• Burnout and mental health struggles

🇺🇸 In the U.S.:

• 34% cited family or personal needs

• 34% pointed to burnout or mental health

🇪🇺 In Europe:

• 38% named family demands

• 33% flagged burnout

These aren’t signs of disengagement—they’re signals of unmet needs. When the system doesn’t make space for care, people carve it out in silence.

🚀 Researchers conclude that Ghost vacationing reflects deeper pressures that workers face around burnout, family responsibilities, and mental health. Our research shows it is a common response to these challenges rather than a sign of laziness or disengagement.

At the same time, concerns about trust, guilt, and consequences influence how people take unofficial time off. This reveals a disconnect between formal policies and the realities of everyday work life.

☝️ 𝙈𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬:

I really like the findings from Kickresume’s latest survey on ghost vacationing—not just for the data, but for what it reveals about the emotional undercurrents of work culture.

Ghost vacationing isn’t about laziness or disengagement. It’s a quiet coping mechanism—used when people feel they can’t ask for time off, even when they need it most.

The research shows that workers aren’t trying to avoid responsibility. They’re responding to pressures they don’t feel safe addressing openly—especially burnout and personal obligations.

And despite Europe’s more generous vacation policies, ghost vacationing still happens. Why? Because even well-designed systems can miss the human nuance of real life.

To me, this isn’t just about time off—it’s about trust. It’s about psychological safety. It’s about whether people feel seen, supported, and allowed to pause without guilt.

🙏Thank you Kickresume researchers team for sharing these insightful findings:

Júlia Mlčúchová Tomáš Okrouhlý

Dave Ulrich George Kemish LLM MCMI MIC MIoL

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#vacation #ghostvacation #burnout #mentalhealth