I need a vacation: A meta-analysis of vacation and employee well-being

Previous meta-analytic research concluded that the well-being benefits of vacation are small and fade away quickly, suggesting that vacation may not be that effective of a recovery opportunity for improving employee well-being. Since the time of this initial meta-analysis, however, the number of vacation studies has increased, providing an opportunity to estimate more precise meta-analytic estimates and increase our understanding of the different factors that play a role in this vacation-well-being relationship. As such, we conduct a meta-analysis using 32 studies that include 256 effect sizes to examine how employee well-being levels change due to vacation. Our results reveal that vacation has a large effect on well-being that does not fade out as quickly as previously thought. In terms of moderators, our results suggest that vacation length, national culture, and number of nationally mandated vacation days moderate this relationship, but the role of vacation location (i.e., away from home, at home, or a mix of both) remains unclear. Finally, we examine how types of activities and specific recovery experiences during vacation correlate with well-being during and after vacation using a meta-analysis of eight studies that include 69 effect sizes. Our findings suggest that psychological detachment and physical activities during vacation may be the most beneficial for improving employee well-being. Overall, this meta-analysis provides evidence that vacation is a more effective recovery opportunity for improving employee well-being than previous work suggests. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).