Project: Time Off – “There’s a hidden cost lurking on the balance sheets of American companies. It is nearly half the size of the current federal deficit, larger than the Gross State Product of half of U.S. states and 24 times the annual revenue of the NFL. The source may surprise many U.S. companies. In an analysis conducted on behalf of Project: Time Off, Oxford Economics discovered $224 billion in liability sitting on the balance sheets of American companies due to unused vacation time . This liability has been amassed over years of employees rolling over unused paid time off (PTO). It does not include sick or personal leave. America’s vacation liability is massive—and it grew by $65.6 billion in the last year alone…An October 2014 Project: Time Off study revealed that Americans are taking less vacation time than ever before. From 2000 to 2013, the average worker has steadily taken fewer and fewer vacation days, from 20.9 days per year to just 16. As a result, either employees forfeit their earned benefits or companies see more unused vacation days wind up on their balance sheets.”