Do you carry over your vacation every year? Do you feel like you can't possibly take a few days off because of what you must conquer when you return?
Stop being a Vacation Martyr.
You're a liability to your company and yourself.
According to Project Time Off, Oxford Economics discovered $224 billion in liability on American companies' balance sheets from unused vacation time. The average vacation liability per employee is $1,898.00 – $3,023.00 (but can be up to $12,000 depending on the role). The average decrease in days taken off per year has been 4.9 days since 2000.
Why?
One reason is Vacation Martyr Syndrome. I was once on a conference call with a guy while he was on a family vacation in the Mediterranean. I don't know if he thought he was super-important or super-loyal, but I actually felt sorry and thought less of him. Loyal? He left the company six months later, by choice or not.
It hurts companies more to pay out vacation in cash than to have their employees take the time. It hurts the employee because there are typically caps on carrying over, and more companies do not allow continuous accrual. If the company has a “use it or lose it” policy, employees are 84% more likely to take their vacation. Americans forfeited $52.4 billion in benefits last year.
75% of HR Professionals report that employees who take most of their vacations perform better than those who take less.
When you take time off, you can recharge and renew. People returning from vacation often note increased creativity and solving of complex problems since before they left. Ideas for businesses that happened on vacation include Instagram and Dropbox. In a survey of 1,000 small business owners, one in five startup ideas came while on vacation!
Unfortunately, most employees receive negative or mixed messages about taking time off, even though 91% of senior leaders recognize the benefits. Are they acknowledging it in a broad perspective but not making sure it gets put into action?
Companies that encourage their employees to take vacations have happier employees, who are less likely to leave their jobs.
- RAND Corporation offers sabbatical pay and 3% of the monthly base salary for every day taken. Each year, employees who take all 20 vacation days are given an additional 5% of their annual base salary. This company must realize that the return on productivity and creativity is much higher than 5%.
- FullContact offers employees $7,500.00 to take their time off, making disconnecting mandatory. Now that's what I'm talkin' about! If you're on vacation but still working every day, it's not vacation or renewal time.
- Motley Fool selects one employee a month at random to take two weeks off work the following month.
- Less than 2% of companies, like Virgin Airlines, Nerd Wallet, Netflix, and MGM Resorts, have an unlimited vacation policy. Employees haven't abused it and have significantly more morale, creativity, and productivity.
One of my clients took a month-long sabbatical to Italy. She started walking more to prepare, lost weight, and changed her diet. She had renewed energy and enthusiasm for life, something she couldn't have gotten in a long weekend or after a week abroad.
Another client has to work some holidays and weekends based on the nature of their work. Giving them an extra day off doesn't always make up for the time they missed, especially if they need to travel to visit family.
Don't be a Vacation Martyr or save up all your vacation. Take your renewal breaks to improve your health, creativity, and productivity.
If you're the boss, encourage it, and know you will get a better employee when they return.
