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Job benefits survey, part 3: Vacation until you get sick

April 23, 2013
There’s a bucket list compiled for the third part of the RDH eVillage Job Benefits survey, and it has to do with a wish for a holiday that dental hygienists currently do not enjoy as a paid day off.

There’s a bucket list compiled for the third part of the RDH eVillage Job Benefits survey, and it has to do with a wish for a holiday that dental hygienists currently do not enjoy as a paid day off. The survey asked about benefits unrelated to policies such as health and dental insurance — vacation, sick days, CE reimbursement, and uniforms. A state-by-state breakdown on those benefits is offered below.

Overall, 1,280 of the 2,111 hygienists (61%) participating in the survey said they worked full-time. The bucket list question posed to the full-timers was, “Are there any holidays that you wish your employer would celebrate with a paid day off?” We asked respondents to choose the holiday they “wish for the most, and do not choose a holiday where you are already paid for the time off.”

Drum roll, please.

Roll out the birthday cake; 35% of the respondents said they wouldn’t mind their birthday being a paid day off. Keep in mind as you study Christmas Day’s place on the list below that respondents wished a paid day off. So while offices are likely to be closed on Christmas Day, the time clock apparently is disabled in some offices on perhaps America’s most widely celebrated holiday. But somebody left the time clock on for July 4th, perhaps one of the other most celebrated holidays. The rest of the coveted paid holiday bucket list finished as:

  • Christmas Eve, 26%
  • Christmas Day, 14%
  • President’s Day, 9%
  • Martin Luther King Day, 4%
  • Thanksgiving Day, 4%
  • Memorial Day, 3%
  • Labor Day, 3%
  • New Year’s Day, 2%
  • Independence Day 1%

Notable write-in candidates in the “other” category as desired paid days off included: Veteran’s Day, Yom Kippur, Good Friday, the Monday after Easter, Columbus Day, and election days.

As mentioned above, this third article of the job benefits survey focuses on taking a break, either through a holiday or vacation, or just recuperating through a sick day. Click on the links below to view the statistics for your state.

Many employers say employees who work more than 30 hours a week qualify for full benefits. With that in mind, the statistics below consider hygienists who reported working four or more days a week, even though some hygienists working less than 30 hours a week reported earning benefits (in much smaller percentages).

The comments underneath the statistics for each state are only from respondents who indicated they work full-time. Not all states include the full range of statistics; the survey examined the statistics in states where at least a dozen full-time dental hygienists participated.

Click on the map of the region where your state is located for more details. Although there were not many responses from Alaska and Hawaii, statistics for those states are included with the Pacific map.

About the Author

Mark Hartley

Mark Hartley is the editor of RDH magazine and collaborates with Kristine Hodsdon on many of the articles for RDH eVillage, which also appear on DentistryIQ.com.