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828-450-7641
info@fivedayweekend.org
www.fivedayweekend.org

Five Day Weekend Movement Launches
in Asheville, NC

Social Media Press Release

Rallies for more time off scheduled in Atlanta, Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh

ASHEVILLE, NC (April 17, 2007) - In an unprecedented move, a movement headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina, is petitioning Congress for a dramatic change in the way America works - and doesn't work.

Friends of the Five Day Weekend contend it is time the nation's workforce acknowledge the waste of vacation days never taken and fight for a seismic shift in the American workweek.

This movement began as a way to counter the ever-worsening epidemic of overwork in America. Not only do Americans receive far less vacation than their counterparts in Europe, but they also waste many of the vacation days they're given.

"Last year alone, working Americans threw away more than 570 million vacation days, largely because we were too overworked to take time off. How sad is that?" said Five Day Weekend Campaign Director Roy McCrerey. "It is time to stop letting work dominate our lives. It is time to prove that America works best when America works less."

McCrerey speaks from experience. He spent 10 exhausting years in sales before scrapping everything and pursuing his dreams of working in television and film. He has since happily worked an average of two days a week and said the Five Day Weekend campaign director position was "a natural fit."

The Friends of the Five Day Weekend started in Asheville, and now they're taking the movement on the road. The group's "Work Less Express" bus tour will be holding several rallies in the coming weeks:

April 17 - Kickoff rally in Asheville, NC
April 24 - Atlanta, GA
May 1 - Charlotte, NC
May 8 - Greensboro, NC
May 15 - Raleigh, NC

"We want to raise awareness of this excessive waste of perfectly good downtime," McCrerey said. "It's a crime all those vacation days are being lost. Some people in Asheville were the first to recognize the gravity of the problem, and said, 'We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore.'"

The campaign's goal might be dramatic, but so is the alarming data that sparked the movement. For example, unlike 96 other countries, the United States has no law governing vacations. Also, Americans receive an average of just 14 vacation days a year (compared to 39 in France), but they still throw away an average of four vacation days a year.

The Five Day Weekend movement is based in the belief that Americans would be phenomenally more productive if they were simply more energized about their lives.

"The Friends of the Five Day Weekend understood early on that 40 hours a week is 24 too many," McCrerery said. "You can barely even begin to enjoy yourself in a mere two days, especially here in Asheville, where there's so much to do. When you take five days off, you just feel better, and you're far more productive the other two days."

A five-day weekend could also provide a major boost to the health of American workers.

According to the 2006 Expedia.com Vacation Deprivation™ survey, 33 percent of American workers surveyed do not always take all of their vacation days. In fact, each employee leaves an average of four vacation days on the table. And 19 percent have either canceled or postponed vacation plans because of work.

Just recently, in the April issue of Travel + Leisure, a study demonstrated middle-aged men who did not take annual vacations were 20 percent more likely to have a non-fatal heart attack and 35 percent more likely to die from coronary disease than men who did.

"The fact of the matter is this: giving up vacation time is hazardous to your health," McCrerey said.

To learn more about the Five Day Weekend movement, visit www.fivedayweekend.org or www.myspace.com/fivedayfriends on MySpace.