Ask your work colleagues if they take advantage of their full allotment of vacation time. Most will say no, and every year, there’s data to prove it.
Just last fall, Glassdoor released a survey that found employees use only 51 percent of their time off. The unused vacation time is a drag on employee morale, which can lead to lower productivity and less work intensity. It also can drag down the business’s balance sheet because the unused vacation time may roll over from year to year.
As summer approaches and employee vacation usage rises, businesses and managers should follow these simple steps to create an environment in which employees feel empowered to take time off.
Preparation
Most importantly, speak with your employees before they leave or even as they plan for their vacation. This preparation gives employees and employers peace of mind.
For the employee taking time off, knowing things are taken care of at work is pivotal to spending a relaxing vacation away from the office and its pressures. And the team staying behind at work is well prepared to manage the added workload and responsibilities.
Collaboration
In order to successfully navigate summer vacation timing, work collaboratively with your employees to have them schedule vacations with an eye toward the professional calendar. Traditionally busy times lead to more remote work for your distant employee and discontent with the team at the office.
No project left behind
Establish work plans with the teams who will pick up the slack during a vacation. There should be a project champion as the internal and external contact for any ongoing engagements. Clients and co-workers should all know whom to go to in order to get answers and move the ball forward.
These informal partnerships in the office allow one co-worker to cover for another and vice versa. It builds cross competencies and makes sure no project is left behind.
Limit the check-ins
Employees who feel they need to stay connected while away should be encouraged to budget just one or two check-in times through which they can catch up on email.
Otherwise they should leave their work phone at home and not take it to the beach. Encouraging your employees to have a single daily check-in helps make time away from the office less stressful.
Finally, when folks return, the strategy is simple: Communicate what happened while they were gone so they can quickly catch up.
Applying these tips will help employees use vacation time to recharge and feel newly empowered and engaged in their work.
James Craft is a professor of business administration at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration, University of Pittsburgh. James has researched and published extensively in the field of human resources and labor relations.
