Breaks are important. Coffee breaks aren't just to move more java and gossip. They are a chance to pause and refresh. We are given vacation days in order to take a bit of a longer break in order to recharge the batteries and allow ourselves to do something different for a short while. Vacations allow us to come back to our jobs refreshed and more productive. Even trainers understand the value of a short rest in between reps and a day off from the weights now and then.
We don't all view vacations the same. According to a recent Harris Interactive poll, on average Americans are offered 14 days of vacation but only take 10 days, leaving twice as many days on the table as the previous year. We are not alone in our work ethic. Both Japanese and South Korean workers leave a number of days unused. On the other end of the spectrum, the French receive, and generally use, 30 days of vacation per year. Even with that, 90% of French workers feel "vacation deprived."
While the poll indicated that the top reason Americans gave for not taking vacation is that they were stockpiling days for a future vacation, I suspect other reasons may be at play.
In a lot of American businesses, redundancy in job responsibilities has been greatly reduced. This means that the chances that you are the only one who does what you do in your organization have increased. That means that when you go on vacation, one of three things typically happens to your work: You have to get it done before you go, you have to do it after you get back, or someone else "tries" to do it while you are gone and you have to re-do it when you get back. In other words, we really aren't getting a break from the work of our jobs, just displacing it. This makes vacation seems a bit less appealing.
There are many other reasons we tend to be reluctant to vacate:
- Economics: The recent recession has more people reluctant to leave their jobs unattended. There is an innate sense that it is more important than ever to prove one's worth at work. Furthermore, lack of economic security make spending money "frivilously" on a vacation seems like less of a good idea to more people.
- Boredom: At least in America, a lot of people fear being bored on vacation. I call it the Chevy Chase effect. There is a tendency to feel that if we aren't taking a big family vacation, like Chevy Chase's family did in the movie "National Lampoon's Vacation", we aren't really doing vacation right. If we aren't doing that, how can we help but be bored? If we ARE doing that, it probably means days in the car or airport and how can we help but be bored?
- Family: Studies show that many people fear spending extended periods of time with their families as much as they do spending it alone. If there is strife or trouble within the family, work becomes a convenient and socially acceptable escape. On vacation, that escape is removed.
- Importance: There is a fear that when you are gone on vacation, your employer will decide that you are not that important to the organization. One way to avoid that is to never be gone.
The reality is that your physical and mental health requires the occassional break. Just like your body needs to sleep to recharge and rest, you need to take those breaks and vacations from time to time. We need to work to overcome the fears and anxieties of stepping away from the job for a few days or a week and allow ourselves to recharge.
Likewise, it is important for employers to stop praying at the alter of employee efficiency and recognize that long term, the organization is better served and employees WILL be more productive, if they get the occassional break.
See you at the beach!
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