Mynavi Announces 'Survey on Golden Week Holidays and May Disease 2026 (Among 20,000 Full-time Employees)'

Mynavi Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director, President and Executive Officer: Shunsuke Awai) has released the "Survey on GW Holidays and May Disease 2026 (Among 20,000 Full-time Employees)" conducted among full-time employees aged 20 to 59.

[TOPICS]

◆ The average Golden Week (GW) holiday in 2026 is 5.8 days. About 20% of full-time employees take paid leave in conjunction with GW holidays [Figures 1, 2].

◆ Over 40% of full-time employees prefer "holidays are scattered, such as having multiple three-day weekends" if the annual number of days off is the same. The average number of consecutive holidays that make returning to work feel difficult is 10.2 days [Figures 3, 4, 5].

◆ About 20% of full-time employees have "experienced May disease". Reasons include "the moment I finally relaxed during the GW holidays, the tense thread I was holding onto snapped" [Figures 6, 7].

◆ About 40% of those who have experienced May disease have "considered changing jobs because of May disease". About 20% actually experienced changing jobs due to May disease [Figure 8].

◆ The average Golden Week (GW) holiday in 2026 is 5.8 days. About 20% of full-time employees take paid leave in conjunction with GW holidays.

When full-time employees who have two or more consecutive days off between Saturday, April 25, 2026, and Sunday, May 10, 2026, were asked about the number of GW holiday days (consecutive holidays), the overall average was 5.8 days. Among them, "5 days (37.7%)" was the most common, followed by "4 days (11.8%)", and "10 days or more" was 8.3%. Regarding plans to take paid leave during the GW holidays, 22.3% plan to "take paid leave", and the average number of paid leave days taken during the GW period is 3.1 days. [Figures 1, 2]

[Figure 1] [Figure 2]

◆ Over 40% of full-time employees prefer "holidays are scattered, such as having multiple three-day weekends" if the annual number of days off is the same. The average number of consecutive holidays that make returning to work feel difficult is 10.2 days.

Regarding the ideal distribution of annual days off, when asked whether "having consecutive days off like long vacations" or "having scattered holidays like multiple 3-day weekends" is more desirable, "having multiple scattered holidays (43.0%)" exceeded "having consecutive days off (32.1%)" by 0.9 points. There was no significant difference by age group, but those in their 40s showed a particularly high tendency for "having multiple scattered holidays (45.4%)". Also, regarding the impact of the length of the GW holidays on work motivation, slightly more people felt that "long holidays make it hard to return to work, lowering motivation (37.1%)" than those who felt "longer holidays increase work motivation (33.0%)". By age, those in their 20s highly felt "longer holidays increase work motivation (36.2%)", while those in their 40s highly felt "long holidays make returning to work difficult, lowering motivation (39.2%)". Furthermore, when asked about the number of consecutive days off that make returning to work difficult, the average was 10.2 days. "5 days (20.5%)" was the most common, followed by "10 days (19.1%)". [Figures 3, 4, 5]

[Figure 3] [Figure 4] [Figure 5]

◆ About 20% of full-time employees have "experienced May disease". Reasons include "the moment I finally relaxed during the GW holidays, the tense thread I was holding onto snapped".

When asked if they have ever had May disease, 18.5% answered "yes". By age group, those in their 30s (24.0%) had a higher percentage than other age groups, and those in their 20s (21.7%) also exceeded 20%. Looking at the reasons for experiencing May disease, responses included "the moment I finally relaxed during the GW holidays, the tense thread I was holding onto snapped", "I entered a long vacation shortly after joining the company without getting used to the work", and "because the vacation was fulfilling, just thinking about going back to work made me depressed". The background of May disease seems to be influenced by mental and physical transitions after a vacation and environmental changes in the new fiscal year. [Figures 6, 7]

[Figure 6] [Figure 7]

◆ About 40% of those who have experienced May disease have "considered changing jobs because of May disease". About 20% actually experienced changing jobs due to May disease.

When full-time employees who have had May disease were asked if they "have ever considered changing jobs because of May disease", 39.9% answered "yes". This figure hovers around 40% across all age groups, suggesting that May disease can trigger a career reassessment. On the other hand, those who "actually changed jobs because of May disease" remained at 20.9%, indicating that not everyone who considers changing jobs due to May disease actually takes the leap. [Figure 8]

[Figure 8]

[Surveyor's Comment]

From this survey, we learned that the planned GW holidays for 2026 average 5.8 days. On the other hand, the number of people who prioritize the length of the vacation is limited, as only 22.3% of people take paid leave in conjunction with the holidays. In addition, if the number of annual days off is the same, many prefer "having multiple 3-day weekends..."