You give employees vacation time so they can kick back, relax and come back to work refreshed and more productive. Well, that’s not what’s happening.

More than half (52%) of U.S. adults are planning to work while they’re on vacation. That’s a troubling stat if you’re hoping to get back a revitalized worker following their hiatus.

But what may be even more troubling, that number’s increased since last year (when it was 46%).

This year’s survey was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of TeamViewer, an online meeting software company. More than 2,000 adults participated, 1,309 of which were employed full time, part time or were self employed. Harris also conducted last year’s survey, which polled 3,304 adults.

What Americans are doing on vacation

The kinds of work vacationing Americans are planning on doing this year:

  • Read work-related email — 30%
  • Answer work-related phone calls — 23%
  • Access a document on their home computer — 19%
  • Receive work-related text messages — 18%
  • Access a document on their work computer — 13%, and
  • Conduct work their boss, client or colleague asked them to do — 13%.

As was found to be the case last year, men are more likely to say they plan to work during their summer vacations than women (56% v. 47%). But both figures also increased over last year’s (54% v. 37%).

Start-up offers cash to take a vacation

So how can you get employees to completely disconnect from work on their vacations? Here’s an interesting strategy one technology company as adopted.

Denver-based FullContact offers its employees what company CEO Bart Lorang calls “paid, paid vacation.”

If employees go on vacation, FullContact pays them an extra $7,500.

But there’s one catch: They have to completely disconnect from work — no phone contact, no checking email.

In total, the company offers its employees the extra cash, 15 days vacation days and standard federal holidays off.

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