Nearly half of Taiwanese employees check work-related e-mails or text messages while on vacation, according to an annual report released earlier this month by travel company Expedia.
The report, which looked at vacation deprivation in 19 nations and regions, found that 49 percent of Taiwanese feel “somewhat or very vacation deprived,” up from 44 percent last year.
However, Taiwanese were the least vacation-deprived employees in Asia, trailing those from India (75 percent), South Korea (72 percent), Hong Kong (69 percent), Malaysia (67 percent), Singapore (63 percent), Thailand (62 percent) and Japan (53 percent).
Overall, employees felt more vacation-deprived this year than last year, with respondents from 12 countries and regions reporting more severe feelings of vacation deprivation.
According to the online survey, which was conducted last month, Taiwanese employees were given an average of 14 vacation days this year, and are expected to use 12 of them.
That translates into about 22.9 million unused vacation days nationwide, as about 11.45 million Taiwanese were employed last month, according to Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics data.
By the end of this year, only 65 percent of Taiwanese employees will have used all of their vacation days, the report said, adding that 74 percent of female employees are expected to use all of their vacation days.
Last year, Taiwanese employees were again given an average of 14 vacation days, and used 10 of them, the report added.
The main reasons for not taking vacation days included a busy work schedule or shortage of staff (32 percent), wanting to save vacation days for emergencies (31 percent) and wanting to exchange unused vacation days for money (25 percent), the report said.
Forty-four percent Taiwanese respondents said they feel guilty for using vacation days, surpassed only by Japan at 58 percent and South Korea at 55 percent, while 54 percent of Taiwanese respondents said their employers or managers are supportive of taking vacations, it added.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard