Employees require rest, relaxation

My Grandfather Stull lived in Corwith, Iowa. Summers there were filled with what now seems like luxurious boredom. At night, the whole family sat on the porch and drank lemonade. Periodically, my cousin Cathie and I would rally and try to catch fireflies. During the day, we went to the “plunge” or played endless games. Reading also took up a big part of my life in summers past. I read and then re-read “Anne of Green Gables,” “Little Women,” “Nancy Drew” and “The Secret Garden.”

Oh, to be a child again!

Like most Americans, I now live by a checklist and the clock. Tasks and goals have an A, B or C priority. There’s nothing wrong with that – on the job. The problem is that we often become such hard drivers that we translate our job skills over to our personal lives with disastrous results in terms of increased stress, depression, ill health and less productivity at work. All work and no play do indeed make Jack a dull boy!

What some writers call a “vacation deficit” is affecting our country in some very negative ways. While workers in Europe often have a two-hour lunch and take a month or longer vacation, the average American has a half-hour lunch and takes one to two weeks of vacation time. Is it any wonder we are exhausted?

A study completed in 2000 found that at least 30 percent of employees actually give up vacation time that they have earned. The study also found that Americans work three and a half weeks more than their Japanese counterparts, six and a half weeks more than British workers and 12 and a half weeks more than German employees.

A study done by Expedia in 2002 found that Americans have less vacation time than any other country in the industrialized world and yet give up vacation. Americans experience “vacation deprivation” and often feel proud of it. “I just couldn’t use up all my vacation days” is a typical but pathetic boast to make.

Employers need to implement five steps in order to encourage employees to “catch a break.”

• Encourage employees to use their vacation time. Most employees encourage their staff to take vacations by telling them that if they don’t use it in a certain period of time, they will lose it. While this is understandable, it is better to look at your staff’s vacation time on a quarterly basis. Make sure that you make it clear that you are pro-vacation.

• Remain positive about employee vacations no matter what the state of the business. Have you ever worked for someone who played you like a harp? I have. These are the bosses who make you feel guilty when you take vacation, even if it was planned for months. As an employer, you do not have to grant vacation during your busy season, of course. A CPA going to Bermuda during tax season or a retail manager going to Florida at Christmas is not advised. However, you shouldn’t make the employee feel guilty for taking a planned vacation. Once in January, I put in for vacation time in July. The response: “That might be the week of our annual meeting.” I asked about this date for three months in a row. By the time I was told that the meeting would be in August, I had lost the opportunity to make a reservation at my desired destination.

• Do not call employees while they are on vacation, even if they are staying at home. Unless it is a life or death situation, do not call your staff while they are on vacation. Figure it out. The biggest phone abuse seems to come when employees have opted to relax at home. It is so easy to pick up that phone “just for a minute.” You may be relieved after the call, but you have startled your employee, thrown him or her back into work mode and basically cheated him or her out of promised vacation.

• Take time in the week before the vacation to garner all necessary information from the vacationing employee. A few days before a staff member is to leave for vacation, carve out time from your busy schedule to find out what is pending, where all the important phone numbers are kept, what needs to be done, who should be called and more. Take the time to get this update and it will pay off. You may wish to devise a vacation guide, which employees fill in so that you have it at the ready. If this meeting is expected, your departing employee will take more time and care in preparing for his or her exit to nirvana.

• Welcome your employees back – slowly. My favorite boss had a very bad habit. He used the expression “hit the decks running,” and he meant it. There was no down time when I returned from a trip. He had a nasty habit of setting up meeting with clients for the day I returned. I usually felt jet lagged, out of sorts and grumpy. I never got much out of the meetings. All I could think about was the pile of mail and plethora of e-mails awaiting me. Allow the employee to take care of the stack of work, have a meeting that afternoon to discuss pending projects and set up meetings for day two!

Most of all, it is important to remember that vacations are not some inconvenience to your firm. Vacations are part of the job. They refresh your employees. Your staff has earned one.

Don’t forget to take one yourself!

Sinara O’Donnell is the principal of SinaraSpeaks, based in Springfield. She speaks nationwide on customer service, communications and humor.