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July 9, 2008
Why (and How) to Vacation
With each passing year, more working professionals are seeing something that used to be an entitlement - vacation time - as an increasingly unavailable luxury.
Employees in Great Britain get an average of 26 vacation days per year. In Germany, workers get 27 days. In Spain, 31 days, and in France, a whopping 37 days of time off.
The United States: 14 days of vacation each year.
Not only do Americans get a meager amount of vacation time, they also tend not to even use it. About one-third of employed adults in the U.S. don't use all of their time off, leaving an average of three earned vacation days per year on the table, according to Expedia.com's latest annual Vacation Deprivation Survey.
Like employees in the U.S., workers in Great Britain on average leave three earned vacation days per year unused; Canadian workers leave one earned vacation day; employees in Spain, the Netherlands and Austria each leave four; and the French and the Germans on average each leave two. Italians leave an estimated six vacation days unused each year.
Nearly two in five employed U.S. adults (39 percent) reported to Expedia feeling better about their job and feeling more productive upon returning from vacation.
Yet in the Conference Board's April Consumer Confidence Index, the percentage of respondents intending to take a vacation over the next six months has fallen to 39 percent — not only reflecting a general decline since 2000, but also a 30-year low.
Although cyclical factors such as high gas prices and a slumping job market likely play a large part, so too do long-standing trends that continue to alter the way we work.
The constant push for productivity can make people avoid taking a vacation, for instance, as globalization today has companies increasingly running 24/7 because they have operations or clients all over the world. Moreover, job insecurity is causing far-reaching negative outcomes for the workforce, not the least of which is the widespread fear of taking a couple of days to rejuvenate.
Some people simply figure they'll relax when they retire.
At the same time, so many workers seem to be overstressed, with about two in five employed U.S. adults reporting they regularly work more than 40 hours per week. In a survey by the Families and Work Institute, as noted in the first chapter of Steven Greenhouse's new book The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker:
...two-thirds of employed parents responded that they didn't have enough time with their kids, and just under two-thirds said they didn't have enough time with their spouses. The typical American worker toils 1,804 hours a year, 135 hours more per year than the typical British worker, 240 hours more than the average French worker, and 370 hours (or nine full-time weeks) more than the average German worker.
A two-week, get-away-from-it-all vacation this summer may seem like nothing more than a romantic notion, but it doesn't have to be impossible. Here are some basic — though no less difficult — ways to ensure your vacation is truly effective.
1) Set Clear Goals and Intentions.
If you go in without a plan, old habits will prevail and it will simply be another time away from the office. Commit to actions that will help rest your body and your mind.
But "don't take on the world," Jamie Walters, founder of vision consultancy Ivy Sea, Inc., once suggested at Inc.com. Set modest goals so you don't recreate the often-frantic nature of work. A simple plan is often best.
2) Prepare Yourself Physically and Mentally.
"The trick these days when going on vacation is not only to physically remove yourself from your normal routine, but mentally as well," an International Herald Tribune article recently proposed. "Checking your BlackBerry every few hours or rushing to the nearest Internet café doesn't cut it."
This key task is easier said than done, of course. One good place to start would be to determine how you can "shift your thinking" from work to vacation. "Without this mindset management, it'll be difficult to achieve the goals you've set," Walters wrote at Inc.com.
3) Think Ahead.
"A common complaint is that it's not worth going on vacation for more than two or three days because, with work piling up and hundreds of e-mails waiting to be opened, it is so maddeningly difficult to catch up after returning," Greenhouse writes at Slate.
CareerBuilder.com (via MRINetwork) recommends workers think ahead: "Before leaving, make a list of tasks to address when you return. This will help you get back into the work mode without being overwhelmed."
4) Prepare Your Business.
For many working professionals, preparing to go away can be one of the more difficult steps. This is especially true for entrepreneurs. Yet not taking personal time to recharge can lead to burnout and even to resentment of work. Plus, new environments can spark creativity.
So preparation means that small-business owners must not only delegate the authority for people to act while you are gone, but also to ensure they have the knowledge and confidence to keep things moving ahead without you. If you work for yourself, CareerBuilder aptly recommends you "save vacation time for slower periods and make sure to notify customers and clients in advance."
5) Remind Yourself Why You Work.
Most of us aren't working long hours, day after day, year after year, for nothing. There is usually a vision to which we're aiming, whether it's to travel or some other goal we strive to achieve outside of work. Taking periodic vacations can remind us why we're doing all of this.
Finally, while a three-day vacation is better than nothing, consider whether it'll really be enough time to unwind and feel rested. According to the Families and Work Institute, it takes up to three days to relax when you go on vacation. Unfortunately, many employees and their employers will be lucky to have a "daycation" this summer.
Resources
2008 International Vacation Deprivation
Expedia.com, April 15, 2008
Consumer Confidence Index Continues to Deteriorate
The Conference Board, April 29, 2008
Worked Over and Overworked
The New York Times, April 20, 2008
Excerpted from The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, by Steven Greenhouse (Knopf, 2008)
Tips For Turning Your Vacation Into A Mini-Sabbatical
by Jamie Walters
Inc.com, June 2001
Want to Work Better? Take a Vacation
by Alina Tugend
International Herald Tribune, June 9, 2008
The End of Summer Vacation
by Steven Greenhouse
Slate, June 11, 2008
Survey: One in Four Workers Plan to Work While on Vacation
CareerBuilder.com (via MRINetwork)
Are You Working or Vacationing?
by Rosemary Haefner
CareerBuilder.com, Sept. 24, 2007 (last updated)
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Comment
6 CommentsI think that some people do not take vacation days because work is a vacation from the conflicts at home.
Others get enough vacation on Sundays or Saturdays. To make Sunday holy and restful, I recommend participating at Church, setting aside time for a walk and a nap, avoiding all commercial establishments, and making activities that strengthen relationships higher priority than doing any other activity. For example, accept that you might miss a meal because a long talker took up all the time. Finally, be punctual about bringing Sunday to an end in time for a full night's sleep before Monday's work.
One can apply these same principles to a vacation. But, I find one such day a week is sufficient for my recreation.
While going through these statistics, I get the feeling that Americans could be at work without leaves for fear of losing their job or place in the event they go away on long vacations. (Job market being in the slump)
Is it also possible that Americans have forgotten the way of working smarter and end up working harder (longer hours & lesser vacations)?
July 10, 2008 12:41 AMI know a major corporation where you are expected to work 60 to 100 hours per week. Vacation is accumulated as the year progresses, so the only time anyone has enough time for a lengthy vacation is November-December. If you request vacation it is often denied because
July 10, 2008 9:59 AMI was accustom to taking 1 or 2 vacation days a few times a year to make my weekends long.
Finally, after 8 years of taking mini vacations, I scheduled a 2-week vacation one summer which created the awesome feeling of being truly away from work. I even lost track of time. What a refreshing delight.
When I was laid off 4 years later, I had 35 days of accumulated vacation I had never used.
July 16, 2008 7:44 AMTechnology has already changed the way people spend their vacations. With all these mobile phones and their wider service coverage, satellite TVs, WIFIS, and the like, getting an uninterrupted quality vacation is becoming tough. Our inate tendencies to be informed and involved, lesser and lesser time is focused on real vacations filled with fun and peace.
July 16, 2008 10:50 PMJust in relation to what Milton Catalina said - It would be lovely to be able to accumulate unused vacation days and roll them over to the next year.
It is unfortunate, however, when you work for a corporation who does not allow this. There are companies that have policies that state if you do not take your alloted vacation days in that calendar year, then you get a pay-out and you lose the day's. (Unless, of course you are management. The rules are different for management.) Then as the end of the vacation year starts to draw near, there are hordes of people scrambling to take days off, just for the sake of using the time up. Where is the fun and relaxation in that?
July 17, 2008 12:02 PM
