How Much Time Off Did Your Employees Take This Summer?

November 14, 2018 | 1,747 views

How Much Time Off Did Your Employees Take This Summer?

How Much Time Off Did Your Employees Take This Summer?

Business across a wide variety of industries are taking closer note to benefits and employee satisfaction. One standard benefit that continues to have a tremendous impact on employee happiness and productivity is paid vacation.

Why Should You Care?

According to research by non-profit, Project: Time Off, approximately three quarters of the workforce deems paid vacation as “extremely” or “very” important. Still, 662 million vacation days go unused every year. There’s a distinct disconnect here and one that must be course corrected if you want to see your employee satisfaction scores rise.

 

One of the biggest culprits of employees not taking time off is the pressure they feel from the workplace. There’s an inherent level of guilt associated with taking time for oneself and knowing that colleagues are picking up the slack. Making it easy to check-in with the office isn’t a good solution either. Although they might like being able to stay connected while on the road, they might feel obligated to check-in, stealing from those restorative vacation hours.

Why Check-In Now?

According to Namely, a benefits company, August was the most popular month for employees to take off from work. However, even though there were more requests during August for vacation time, these requests tended to be short in nature. The vast majority of people analyzed only requested one day off. Approximately 40% requested anything over two days.

 

As we approach the start of the holiday season, you want your team to feel restored, rested, and ready for the crowds. If they haven’t taken adequate time off yet, you might be dealing with frustrated, burnt out employees before the crowds hit. Now is the time to check-in with your team and see how they’re feeling. Here are a few things you can do to ensure they don’t leave you in a lurch but also remain happy at work.  

Encourage Extended Time Off In January

Although you don’t want your team members to leave for a week or two at a time now, you do want them to know that a break is on its way. By encouraging and scheduling extended time off for January, your team members who are teetering on burn out will have more motivation to work hard to finish out the year.

Don’t Push Back on Short Days Off Now

Although extended trips can be restorative, so can shorter vacation days. A recent study found that extended weekends have positive and immediate effects on stress and well-being. If someone requests a day off, honor it as best you can. Even if you’re stretched thin, honoring this time off will help prevent your team from burn out, which can pay off in the long run.

Empower Your Team With a Scheduling App

Using a scheduling app, such as ScheduleBase can help with filling in gaps when people need time away. By empowering your team to find replacements, they can feel less anxious about asking for time off and more at rest in their time away.

 

 

Author Profile Jon Forknell is the Vice President and General Manager of Atlas Business Solutions, Inc., a software marketing company specializing in employee scheduling software, including ScheduleBase employee scheduling software, and other business software solutions. In the past, Jon has been recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration as a SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Atlas Business Solutions was named as one of Software Magazine’s Top 500 Software Companies in 2004 through 2007, and 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.

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