68% of Americans report that they work on vacation—3 tips for time off that's restful, not stressful

This summer, workers might be feeling more heat from their overused laptops than beach-time sun.

The winter brought flurries of layoffs that left companies across industries with less labor power. All the while, record inflation has weighed on consumers' wallets.

With smaller company staffs, employees have found themselves with heavier workloads. The result: 68% of Americans report that they work on vacation, according to a May survey from online learning platform Elvtr. The study polled 1,800 U.S. workers and 500 from Canada.

And that's if they take a vacation at all. With slimmer spending power, consumers have strained their budgets to afford travel.

According to a report by market research firm Harris Poll and the HR software platform Ceridian, 67% of American employees who planned to take a summer vacation this year say that might no longer be possible. Over a third say it's because travel has gotten too expensive due to inflation while another 32% either attribute it to the fact that their job has become too busy or there is no one to handle their work responsibilities while they are away.

The "workation" — doing professional tasks while on vacation — used to be a perk of the growing movement toward remote work: As more companies gave employees the ability to work from anywhere, some thought, why not make 'anywhere' a tropical coast on a weeklong beach trip?

Now, the workation seems to have become a requirement in some sectors.

Elvtr's poll found that workers are sacrificing vacation time across all industries, from software and IT to health care to finance and more.

"It's evident that the economic downturn doesn't discriminate. The reality is, every profession is feeling the effects," Roman Peskin, cofounder and CEO of Elvtr, tells CNBC Make It.

It's also not the first time that workloads have interfered with PTO. Last year, a survey from Korn Ferry found that 63% of professionals reported they would shorten their vacations to accommodate a heavier to-do list. And by the end of the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, most Americans cut their time off.  

More hours logged at work has taken a toll. Another survey from Ceridian found that 87% of workers across the world have experienced some level of burnout over the past year.

"Employers need to create space for people to log off and get away so they can rest, recuperate and recharge. The inability to fully disconnect is leading to very high levels of burnout in the workforce," says Michelle Bonam, Ceridian's vice president of organizational effectiveness.

She also says that employees should remember that taking time to rest can often make you more productive than continuing to work.

Here are Bonam's three pre-vacation strategies employees can use to truly disconnect from their professional life:

• Have an emergency contact: Before you leave for vacation, give your manager or direct reports a phone number or other means of contacting you in case of absolute emergencies. It's not only for their sake – it's for yours, says Bonam. If you know that someone will flag you in dire straits, you don't have to keep checking your email or Slack messages looking for fires to extinguish.
• 'Designate a decision-maker': Appoint someone you trust to take on your decision-making power in your absence so that projects don't get held up while you're away.
• 'Accept that things will happen': To truly turn off your professional world, Bonam says employees have to recognize that projects will continue to move forward, the world will continue to spin and ultimately, they might miss a thing or two at the office. She adds that you should try to finish your important tasks before you depart, communicate the status of your projects to coworkers and "Then, close your laptop and enjoy yourself."

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