Why Won't You Leave?: An Evaluation of Employees' Willingness to Take Time Off

Abstract

Presently, there is little empirical research that considers why some employees are more inclined than others to take advantage of their organization's leave benefits. This study aimed to explore employees' willingness to take their leave benefits based on various individual and organizational characteristics. Such characteristics studied include perceived work stress, engagement, burnout, perceived gender inequality, work-life balance, leadership/management support, coworker support, and job demands-resources. Employees' willingness to take leave was collectively assessed based on attitudes towards sick leave, vacation leave, and leave included in the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Survey data collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk[registered] from approximately 137 working professionals were analyzed to determine how each of the identified characteristics are associated with employees' willingness to take leave. Results found: perceived job stress, burnout, and work-life balance impact willingness to take sick leave; perceived job stress, burnout, perceived gender inequality, work-life balance, coworker support, and leadership/management support impact willingness to take vacation leave; and perceived job stress and work-life balance impact willingness to take FMLA. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.