Are You Afraid to Take a Vacation This Year?

Are you afraid to take a vacation this year?

The answer may depend on how secure you feel with your job right now. But if a recent study is any indication, the answer may be that instead of hauling your butt to the beach, you're going to make sure it's glued to your office chair.

According to a recent Towers Perrin survey of 650,000 workers, fewer people are "seriously considering" leaving their job: 71 percent reported they're not looking for work right now, up from the 64 percent recorded last year. Clearly, workers aren't messing with what they've got, whether they like it or not. They know the job market is tough, and they're hunkering down.

How is this impacting the way employees work? Looks like it means they're giving up some work/life balance -- and not complaining about it. While 55 percent of workers said they could balance work and personal responsibilities (down from 62% last year), the report found that "increased anxiety about work/life balance doesn't appear to be a function of a change in company policies."

Specifically, the study found that 70 percent of employees say their work schedules give them enough flexibility to meet personal and family needs, which is just about what it was last year.

"This suggests," the report says, "employees can't, or won't, take advantage of the flexibility they do have and may be putting pressure on themselves to work longer hours, whether to deal with expanded workloads, help overtaxed colleagues or protect their jobs."

So, I ask again: Are you afraid to take a vacation this year?