Encourage Vacation: Increase Productivity and Creativity

​Be the leader who both takes- and encourages employees to take vacation time. 

On average, American workers who receive a vacation allotment generally have an annual allowance of 14 days, but use only ten.

A select few organizations offer unlimited vacation, but employees with this benefit take even fewer days off than employees with set amounts.

Compare this to Europe, where every EU country has a statutory minimum of 20 mandated leave days per year - some have even more - plus public holidays.

And Europeans typically take all time-off offered.

✅  But research shows that many Americans who receive vacation are afraid to take it because they fear asking for time off. 

✅  Because they think that time away for a vacation will negatively impact them in their bosses’ eyes.

𝗬𝗲𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱, 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼.

Instead, the European vacation mindset actually helps boost productivity and creativity.
Leaders need to be role models for employees, by taking every vacation day they earn, and by encouraging their employees to do the same.

And letting them know they don’t need to work during their time off.

𝗜𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱-𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗖𝗢𝗜𝗩𝗗, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.

Provided you have people on your teams who you can delegate work to, there’s no reason not to allow people a complete break.

🚩 If you don’t have back-up, then you have a problem, but one that is fixable.

So, make your workplace an even better place to work, by showing employees that their vacation time is important. 

𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲.

​And an organization that avoids the costs associated with cultures that have disengaged employees.