In May 2009 961 working Belgians were polled about their holidays. Half of those questioned say that it is harder to detach from work during vacation in the current economic crisis. The number of working people in the ‘non-detachers’ group’ gets bigger the higher up the corporate ladder one is: 48 percent of the working force has a hard time detaching. For people in middle management this rises to 56 percent and for senior managers 71 percent cannot let go of their work while on holiday.

Also noteworthy is that one in two Belgians remains in contact with their company while on holiday. 45 percent of working Belgians on holiday are contacted by their boss or a colleague with questions about work. For the majority of those polled this happens every once in a while. For about 8 percent it happens regularly and for 2 percent it happens all the time.

60 percent of working Belgians cannot keep from checking their email during holidays, though 30 percent check their email sporadically and only 18 check their mail regularly.

When it comes to making holiday plans, the Belgians like to be early. About 42 percent make their plans in January. 25 percent wait until a month before they leave, 10 percent make plans less than a month before leaving and 9 percent make last minute decisions. 14 percent of those surveyed said they do not take vacations.

flandersnews.be/Expatica