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Singaporean workers are the sixth most vacation-deprived in the world

A little more than six in 10 full-time Singaporean employees (63%) revealed they were deprived of vacations in 2018, up from 57% in 2017 and 41% in 2016.

This increase has pushed the city-state up the rungs to become the sixth most vacation-deprived market in the world, as showcased in the Brand Expedia 2018 Vacation Deprivation® Study released today.

*For the purpose of this study, 11,000 full-time working adults across 19 markets, including 300 respondents in Singapore, were asked about whether they received adequate vacation days for today's working environment, and if they felt they deserved more.

Of these, almost nine in 10 (88%) Singaporeans felt that they deserved more vacation days last year – up from the 76% who felt the same in 2017. Additionally, 77% of Singapore workers even expressed a willingness to take a pay cut for one extra day of vacation.

Overall, the top six most vacation-deprived markets are:

Note: 2018 numbers in red indicate a decrease from 2017, and green indicates an increase.

#1 India

  • 2018: 75%
  • 2017: 60%

#2 South Korea

  • 2018: 72%
  • 2017: 81%

#3 Hong Kong

  • 2018: 69%
  • 2017: 64%

#4 Malaysia

  • 2018: 67%
  • 2017: 65%

#5 France

  • 2018: 64%
  • 2017: 66%

#6 Singapore

  • 2018: 63%
  • 2017: 57%

Priya-July-2019-Expedia-study-vacation-deprivation-provided-screengrab

 

On the other hand, the six least vacation-deprived markets include:

Note: 2018 numbers in red indicate a decrease from 2017, and green indicates an increase.

#1 Australia

  • 2018: 54%
  • 2017: 53%

# 2 Canada

  • 2018: 54%
  • 2017: 53%

#3 Japan

  • 2018: 53%
  • 2017: 48%

#4 Mexico

  • 2018: 52%
  • 2017: 56%

#5 New Zealand

  • 2018: 52%
  • 2017: 53%

#6 Brazil

  • 2018: 50%
  • 2017: 52%

Zooming in on Singaporeans' sentiments, younger employees aged between 18 to 34 expressed a slightly higher level of vacation-deprivation (67%) as compared to slightly more than six in 10 of those aged between 35 to 49 (65%), while a little more than half (52%) of those aged 50 and above shared the same sentiments.

70% of Singaporeans have taken at least one mental health day in the past year

In what the study revealed as a growing trend, Singaporeans are placing more importance on their mental health in recent year. In fact, 70% of Singaporeans have taken at least one mental health day in the past year, the fifth highest in the world after India (86%), Thailand (76%), Italy (75%) and Malaysia (74%).

Further, Singaporeans took an average of three mental health days last year and an additional 2.8 days on average for life administration.

Photo / Expedia

ALSO READ:The most commonly experienced mental health issues in Singapore

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