Got time for holidays? Or has work got all your time?

Skipping your 2023 vacation because you have too much to do? Take a break off from work before work breaks you!

I once read an article about how someone was guilted by her boss into not taking her vacation time.  In the end the stress from work took its toll and, no, people didn’t get burned-out.  The company went under. No joke.

It’s now proven that stressed employees cannot produce as well as rested and relaxed employees.  Everyone seems to know this fact, so why are so many bosses still expecting their workers to keep their phones on and return to work early from vacation?  Companies suffer when people do not get holidays, as the company that closed down clearly shows.

The temptation is very high to keep on working, even if you have planned holidays.

Many of us, whether pressured from the boss or not, are tempted to skip our summer holidays, or, at least, check our work emails frequently while at the beach or in the hotel.  Some bosses expect this, and, after all, nobody wants 1,000 emails to go back to work to. 

But psychologists have found it vital for our health and well-being for us to completely shut down for a while, even if it’s for just a 48-hour break from emails and the phone, and a change of pace and scenery. 

August is almost upon us and September is just around the corner.  Have you already planned your vacation(s)?  Taken it already over the Easter weekend and don’t plan anything else? Decided to skip it this summer and maybe take a short break in the fall, maybe? 

What about your “people”?

You and your employees’ physical and mental health depends on R&R; be like the French (and I am not talking about the recent elections, but about their holiday policy where FIVE weeks is a minimum).

Studies have shown that we need to take time away from the daily schedule of work for our continued health, whatever that place and activity and might be.  It is the “other”, the time doing something completely different that causes restoration and growth.  For example, new places make new mental neuron synapses grow and this is a very good thing for creativity and memory. This also allows our brain to rest the overused “pathways” of much used tracks of thinking in our brains.

Not only that, but stress levels are reduced when you go away and really shut down.  I have a friend who went on an extended break, and she noticed that she was still “revving” up at the slightest hint of work, even when it’s thinking about packing for an upcoming holiday. She said her whole team was on the verge of burnout. Not good!

Take a break – for yourself, for your team, for your employees because productivity increases with a break in our work.  Employers should be sending their team members away more often just for better productivity — and for better creativity, too. Employees return to work relaxed and healthier after a vacation, they are then ready for to overcome more challenges in creative ways.

You need to relax, or you might find it difficult to do so later on!

This is what has happened to my friend.  It has been shown that, depending on your actual stress level at any point in time, it will take more or less time to unwind and really relax.  If you go on working, especially with high levels of stress at work, for too long, it becomes increasingly difficult to wind down.  Eventually, you will be unable to “remember how to relax”, and then may be in great danger of burnout.  Therefore, even long weekends with no emails and telephone on “off” are recommended to keep you “in practice” for relaxing. 

Also, for bosses, burnout and stressed employees actually cost the company a lot of money in lost working days (read “sick leave”) and in lowered productivity.  Thus, holiday time is one of the keys to a productive and positive work environment.

Remember, your family matters, and spending extended time with family builds relationships - it is the reason we work (at least for most of us).

So, it is important to remember working should be less important than your relationship with your loved ones, which is part of your big “why”, I hope.  Take the time off to build your relationships with them, doing things you all feel are enjoyable and relaxing.  For me recently, it has been having meals together outside as the weather has been quite nice; for another it would be another place and/or pastime.  But it is the time spent together doing things you enjoy in the end that matters because this is what builds and maintains relationships.

Just do it.  Take that vacation, even if it’s a mini-vacation!

So, take that time off; and limit the amount of time on work-related activities such as emails while you are away; do things with those people you love; and mostly, have some fun this summer!  Remember to shut down for at least 48 hours, but why not more?  I will be basicLLY off-line as of the 25th of July for a month- I may post and I may not, FYI. I am trying to be a good model for you! I WILL CHECK MY EMAILS EVERY 48 HOURS OR SO - looking forward.

So you need to take a break and be the healthier for it.  There is only one Summer of 2023, after all, so enjoy it!

Patricia Jehle patricia@jehle-coaching.com