Because you've earned it.
Because it's good for you.
Because it makes you a better employee.
And, skipping vacations could kill you.

The stats are in. Taking a real vacation improves employees health and morale. Businesses that contribute to that effort with fringe benefit vacation plans are providing for their employees' overall wellness. And earning employee satisfaction points.

Interestingly enough, Americans leave more than one million hours of vacation time on the table at their companies in unused accrued vacation time. Executives are the worse.

Research shows that skipping vacation time is not such a good idea. Findings are consistent  that vacations do your heart good. And the more often you take them, the less likely you are to have a heart attack. One study tracked the health of 12,000 men over a five year trial period.  Men who took multiple vacations every year had a 32% lower chance of death, compared to the men who didn't take vacations. In another study women ages 45 to 64 with no heart disease were tracked for 20 years. Women who took no more than one vacation every six years were at 50% higher risk for a heart attack than frequent vacationers.  Stay-at-home spouses faced about twice the risk of the most-frequent vacationers.

Yoshi Iwasaki is a professor of therapeutic recreation at Temple University in Pennsylvania. He claims that vacations are not only an important way of finding meaning in life, but they also enhance the quality of life, including health. He believes that time away -- by itself -- isn't the all-for-one ticket to better health. It matters where you go and what you do.

The good news is that companies are beginning to recognize the correlation between wellness programs and their employees' health and happiness. A happy employee is a productive retained employee.  Benefit programs that encourage employees to take vacations at dramatically reduced costs are getting some attention among HR directors.

"Companies with at least five employees can offer a vacation discount benefits program for as little as $20 per month, per employee," says Cari Machalik-Mottet of A1 Travel in Northwest Arkansas. "The benefit program puts more than 600 vacation choices in the hands of employees at deeply discounted prices. It even covers their entire families."

"Companies with at least five employees can offer a discount vacation benefits program for as little as $20 per month, per employee."