Ryan Grant explains how vacation time impacts employee well-being
Ryan Grant, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychological science, explained how vacation time impacts employee well-being in Fast Company’s article, “Workers are too afraid of layoffs to take PTO.”
Grant’s research, “I Need a Vacation: A Meta-Analysis of Vacation and Employee Well-Being,” was published by the Journal of Applied Psychology in Jan. 2025 and selected as the Editor’s Choice article for the July issue. In the study, the research team found that taking vacation time has a prolonged impact, improving employee well-being and performance for an average of 43 days afterward.
“Vacation serves a critical role,” Grant told Fast Company. “If you’re just letting those things build up, they can dramatically snowball over time into much worse mental health and well-being challenges.”
Grant explained that employees who fear for their job security so much that they avoid taking time off are most likely already facing heightened stress levels. Although most people would take sick leave in order to recover from a physical illness, mental health is not always treated the same way.
“It’s kind of ironic because it directly opposes your goal of performing better,” Grant said. “You would hope that the organization cares more about the quality of your performance, which typically will be better after taking vacation and recovering.”