Have you heard the one about the man who hasn’t had a holiday since 1987? What about the woman who only had a day off to give birth and was back at her desk the next day?
Sadly, these water cooler boasts seem to be worn like badges of honour. There’s a misconception that holidays are for under achievers, that there’s no time for time off. For some, leave is now considered a luxury that they can’t afford and that taking their foot off the pedal, even for a short time, will bring everything to a grinding halt.
In actual fact, the opposite is true. Taking time off is vital to our own survival – and in turn, the business in which we work.
We are not machines. But we do need to unplug, recharge our batteries and sometimes just switch off.
Here’s why.
The right to fair working conditions is set out in the European Pillar of Social Rights (Principle 10) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (Article 31).
To protect workers’ health and safety, working hours must meet minimum standards applicable throughout the EU.
The EU Working Time Directive includes things like a limit to weekly hours, a minimum daily and weekly rest period and a recommended rest period every 6 hours but it also states that workers must have paid annual leave of at least 4 weeks per year.
In the UK, this is a 28-day minimum and although this figure is amongst the lowest in Europe, many people are not taking their entitled holidays.
From a business perspective, at first glance, you may think that this is a great idea. Increased productivity, more ‘hands on deck’, harder working employees? Nice.
But you’d be wrong. Not taking holidays is detrimental to our physical and emotional well-being, leading to unhappy, unhealthy employees and subsequently, lower productivity and higher absenteeism.
WHY ARE PEOPLE NOT TAKING HOLIDAYS?
According to a survey on annual leave carried out by Glassdoor, the average employee takes only 77% of their holiday leave. Reasons given included “Fear of falling behind in their work” and “Didn’t trust anyone else to do their work”.
Other possible reasons could be:
1. Too busy / heavy workload. Some employees may feel that they are unable to cope with their workload and that taking time off will mean tasks building up and things falling through the gaps. Who will do their work when they are away? Will they get in trouble for not fulfilling tasks in a timely fashion? Perhaps they feel that they are letting customers, clients or management down by not being on the other end of a phone or at their desks.
2. Staffing shortages. Employees may feel that there are not enough staff to complete the workload. They may feel uncomfortable or guilty about leaving their work to be completed by already overstretched work colleagues.
3. Too shy to ask for time off. Some people are simply not confident about asking for time off. They may feel that it makes them look like ‘slackers’ or that they can’t cope with the role.
4. Lack of organisation. Due to the nature of their work some businesses are unable to grant leave requests at certain times of the year. For instance, a retailer may need maximum staff in their stores during a sale period or stock take. There may be limits on the amount of people that can be off at any one time. If an employee has not booked off the holiday time in advance, it may be difficult or impossible to accept the request.
5. Relying on ‘rollover’. Some companies allow employees to roll their holiday period over to the following financial year so they can build up their days and take a longer holiday. For example, some parents may want to roll their holiday time over so they can have 6 weeks off in the school summer holidays, or long-haul travellers may wish to go on an extended trip.
WHY THEY SHOULD BE TAKING HOLIDAYS?
Taking time off is good for physical and emotional well-being. The benefits are endless. Here are just a few.
1. Taking time off will reduce stress levels resulting in less anxiety, depression and long-term health problems such as high blood pressure and heart disease.
2. You’ll sleep better, have time to eat more healthily and take exercise. Overall, you’ll look and feel better. Your mood will be lifted.
3. Your creativity will improve. A change of environment and a break from the norm will inspire you. Ideas may spark more easily and solutions to challenges may become more apparent.
4. Stepping out of your comfort zone is good for you. Having to reorganise your workload, creating out of office instructions and delegating tasks will create opportunities to evaluate and improve systems, procedures and responsibilities.
5. Give your brain a break. Screen time, endless data, notifications, emails, spreadsheets. Your brain can only handle so much. Switch off from tech. Switch off from incoming information. Rest.
6. Sometimes holidays can present you with networking or research opportunities. You may meet people from your industry doing similar things or even doing them completely differently. You may visit similar businesses on your travels. Make contacts, swap ideas, take things back to work to try. Being away from your workplace environment may help you be more open minded. Allow the ideas to mull and develop and take them back to work.
7. Holidays make you happy. Fact. Employees will feel happier, more relaxed and valued. It may even give them a greater purpose to work hard as they know they have a week in the sun to look forward to or a regular Friday afternoon off.
HOW CAN YOU ENSURE THAT PEOPLE ARE TAKING TIME OFF?
As an employer, your ultimate goal is to have happier, healthier employees. The outcome? Better productivity, lower absenteeism, a healthier work-life balance and an improved culture – all leading to attraction and retention of the best talent.
Make sure you are giving your employees the best chance by following some of these handy tips.
1. Make sure everyone knows about your holiday policies. Have a shared accessible calendar where people can see when other colleagues are off and book their leave accordingly. You may wish to issue reminders to get people to book in leave early. Use all available internal comms platforms to share and promote information about holiday policies and procedures.
2. Let everyone know that you want them to take their holidays, giving them the confidence to ask for time off. Promote the benefits of taking leave. Keep tabs on how much holiday has been booked and remind people of their allowance so that they don’t miss out.
3. Consider a ‘use it or lose it’ policy with deadlines and dates. This may encourage people to take leave rather than lose it altogether.
4. Think about an incentive scheme that rewards hard work with time off. Could employees start later one morning if they’ve worked particularly hard on a project or completed an important job? Could a team that has achieved fantastic results ‘earn’ a Friday afternoon off. Schemes like this encourage people to work hard but it also boosts morale and demonstrates that they are valued.
5. Lead by example. Make sure you are seen to be taking time off too.