top of page
Writer's pictureSusan & Renée

When and How to Take a Vacation


Hopefully, you have something fun planned over the summer months. Whether it's an exotic excursion or a more simple staycation, we all need to take time to disconnect from the office and completely forget about work for a bit. It's taking these breaks that sustains us to continue working and be good at what we do. 


Intuitively, we know this. Yet…

 

While vacation time for employees is a standard employee benefit in many workplaces, many people don’t use their vacation time.

 

Or by the time they finally do take a vacation, they are so drained that the vacation is used just to recover from working. If they’re lucky, they’ll get back to a baseline of being rested, but not anywhere near feeling fully replenished.  

 

It seems like a safe assumption to say that no one wants to work all the time, yet a 2023 Pew Research Center study found that 46% of workers in the US take less time off than is offered and less than half of employees use all of their vacation days. Why does this happen?

 

There are numerous reasons employees leave paid time off on the table:

  • Anticipation that the build-up of work that awaits their return will not be worth any rest and rejuvenation they experienced while away.

  • Guilt feelings about having co-workers take on extra work to cover for their absence.

  • Concern that taking time off will hurt their chances for advancement or that they will be viewed as uncommitted.

  • Saving their time off in case of an emergency

  • Being too busy with work to plan a vacation.

 

Overworked employees who don’t use their time off are set up to experience burnout and all the negative consequences that come with that, including health problems, low morale, inferior performance and employee turnover.

 

It’s easy to see how extended time off from work, like a sabbatical, can help workers decrease stress and improve well-being, especially if they are able to completely disconnect from their jobs. But that’s not realistic for all workplaces. And the research suggests it may not be necessary.

 

In order to maximize the benefits of time off, you’ll want to consider the duration, frequency and what you do with your time.

 

Studies have shown that taking two weeks off isn’t any more rejuvenating than taking one week off. What can make a difference, however, is the frequency of vacations. A few weeklong vacations tend to provide more restoration than one long holiday.

 

The other key element of time off that is beneficial relates to what you do with your time. Again, the research gives us some clues. According to Sabine Sonnetag, an organizational psychologist at the University of Mannheim in Germany, there are two different activities that help us recover from work: relaxation and mastery experiences.

 

Relaxation refers to unwinding and doing nothing. In other words, being a couch potato with no guilt.

 

Mastery experiences can be anything that activates you in an enjoyable way. This may include physical activity, learning something new or stepping outside of your comfort zone in a fun and interesting way. Not only do such activities produce a feeling of accomplishment but they distract us from thoughts about our jobs.

 

Next week, we’ll talk about how leaders can influence their company’s culture around vacations. In the meantime, consider these questions:

  • When was the last time you took time off from work (not counting weekends)?

  • What do you do with your time off? Do you return to work feeling replenished? Why or why not?


Image credit: Getty Images

3 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page