With “9 to 5” becoming more like "9 to whenever I can get out of the office," and the pressure increasing to achieve self-actualization while raising kids, doing the dishes, and picking the dog up at the vet, it's getting more difficult to step out of the fast lane and relax.

The two-week vacation, considered almost a Constitutional right by most Americans, is quickly becoming an endangered species. And according to a recent nationwide survey commissioned by Hilton Hotels Corp., even weekends are no longer a time to take it easy.

Hilton used the survey, which questioned 1000 adults on their weekend leisure and work habits as a part of OmniTel, a weekly national telephone omnibus service of R.H. Bruskin Associates,

as a basis for creating the Hilton BounceBack Weekend, a program offering consumers an affordable chance to leave their stress and responsibilities behind and spend a weekend at any of the more than 250 participating Hilton Hotels and Resorts across the country.

"We suspected, just from our own personal experience, that the work week was being extended into the weekend," says Robert E. Dirks, vice president, marketing, Hilton Hotels Corp. "People really don't use weekends the way they were meant to be used. So we thought we would do some research to see if our hunch had any validity."

It was right on target. Weekends, it turns out, don't live up to their name for most people. Instead, they are a chance to catch up on all the various chores there didn't seem to be time for during the week.

According to the survey:

  • The average adult spends nearly a full weekend day (14 hours)—about twice as much time as they would prefer to spend—cleaning, doing laundry, running errands, grocery shopping, paying bills, and doing household repairs.
  • 90 percent of Americans feel no more energetic at the end of the weekend than they do on Friday. So much for relaxation.

Most of the respondents, especially women, indicated that the best way to relax would be to get away for the weekend and leave household responsibilities behind. But they indicated that family responsibilities and other time commitments stood in their way. Cost was also seen as a barrier.

Brainstorming

Once the results were in, Hilton assembled teams from its ad agency, McCann-Erickson, its public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller, and its marketing department and held brainstorming sessions. It all came down to one question: "How do you recharge yourself after the work week?"

As an answer to that question, Hilton introduced the BounceBack Weekend program in March.

"We decided to position our weekend leisure program as an emotional end-benefit, versus a program like our competitors have based on price strategy alone. And that's where we got into the stress concept and the problems of having the work week tied into the weekend," Dirks says.

In conjunction with the BounceBack Weekend, Hilton enlisted stress expert Peter G. Hanson, M.D., to write "The Hilton BounceBack Guide," a booklet containing tips on reducing stress levels.

The guide, available upon check-in or by calling the Hilton BounceBack Hotline, offers useful common sense advice, from the importance of exercise to the value of planning leisure activities ahead of time instead of fitting them in when you can.

"It is important to counterattack stress with pre-planned weekend breaks," Hanson says. "We must all learn how to balance the demands of work and home between the week and the weekend. And when we can no longer tolerate stress, we must be able to escape for a fun and relaxing diversion."

Here is a break down by age group of how Americans spend their weekends:

Ages 18-24

Typically this group spends almost 14 1/2 hours with friends, exercising, going to entertainment events and pursuing hobbies and interests. Those in the 18-24 range say they have more energy than any other age group at the end of the work week, but they report feeling less energetic after the weekend.

"This group works hard and plays hard—they spend more weekend time on both leisure activities and chores than any other age category and spend fewer hours on real relaxation and sleep," Hanson says.

Ages 25-34

This group spends 12 1/2 hours doing chores on the weekend, spending 6 of those hours cleaning, running errands and cooking—more than any other group.

Ages 35-49

More time is spent in this group grocery shopping, paying bills and doing laundry.

Ages 50+

This group spends almost 7 1/2 hours relaxing by visiting friends, reading, and pursuing hobbies. Working at their job and cleaning are the two tasks that take up the most weekend time for them.

And, the research shows, your definition of a chore can change depending on your age group. For example, many of those in the 18 to 24 age group consider gardening and cooking to be chores, while these same tasks are viewed as relaxing hobbies by those in the 50+ age group.

21 percent of the men said they felt very energetic at the end of the work week, while only 11 percent of the women felt this way. But at the end of the weekend, 18 percent of women reported they felt more rested, as compared to 17 percent of the men.

The survey showed that women spend 2 1/2 hours more on chores each weekend than men.

Single men report having the most energy left on Friday night, but they also report being the most exhausted by the end of the weekend. They spend more time than any other group pursuing their interests—exercise, entertainment, careers—and less time doing chores. Among all the groups, single men do the least amount of housework.

"The only thing they don't seem to catch up on is R&R," says Hanson.

Over 65% of parents want to get away for the weekend. They would also like to spend more time on the weekend with their children, but they say that family obligations, time commitments, and cost prevent them from vacationing more often with their children.

Parents report averaging almost six hours per weekend playing with their kids. 92% of these parents consider this a relaxing and enjoyable activity, and would spend two more weekend hours doing it if they had a chance.

People with children spend 66% more weekend time cleaning, 43% more time cooking, and 52% more time doing laundry than those without children. Married women do the most chores of all the groups surveyed, up to 30% more than single women.

Exceeded projections

The program has been very successful. Comparing the BounceBack Weekend results thus far to those from a program the company ran last year, Dirks says, the company is 96% ahead in reservations.

"It's unbelievable. It's already exceeded our projections. We've nearly met our initial forecast for the entire year of what this program might deliver to us, and we're only a little over halfway through it. It re-verifies one thing: pay attention to research."