Hello,
Reading time: 2 mins, Don't even think about reading this if you're on vacation!
What sense does it make to earn but not take your vacation time?
More and more Americans believe they can't afford to leave the office. Yet in our business, taking a break is essential to recharging your batteries.
Some thoughts on the subject of time off follow.
All the best,
Joe Grant
joe@joegrantconsulting.com
P.S. If you want to improve the way your agency works, get in touch with Grant Consulting. We've been helping agency management teams succeed since '92. Contact Joe Grant at joe@joegrantconsulting.com.
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 Take a Break
Get this: most workers fail to use a third of their vacation time. And that's not good if you run a company.
An important bargaining chip for a new hire is the amount of vacation time they'll get, especially for more senior people who may come aboard from a job where they're already at the 3 or 4 weeks a year level. But according to a recent New York Times article, American workers are actually taking less and less time off... even if they've earned it.
Why? The usual excuse is workload. But Hewitt Associates, the big hiring consultancy, says if you dig deeper it's a cultural thing - the organization doesn't support people taking a lot of time off, according to Carol Sladek at Hewitt. For some people the good ole' American work ethic dishes tons of guilt if you're not working day and night, and some are so paranoid about losing their jobs that they just don't use all of what's coming to them.
Even if you're at the top of the heap and can pretty much set your own rules, taking a break can work against you culturally. When Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott announced he'd take the entire month of May off there was an outcry and speculation he'd be moving on. For the record, he took the time off anyway.
Many people zip away for quick breaks - shorter sojourns are definitely increasing as opposed to 2 or more week absences - but Blackberrys or laptops come along, usually thoughtfully provided by employers. A third of employees say they work while on holiday often spending 10 percent of their "vacation" working. We know of agencies where people are told to log this time simultaneously as billable and vacation.
A Families and Work Institute study says it takes an average of 3 days away to begin to relax, so just when your engine is cooling down - WHAM - you have to do a hard start and fire up again. It's jarring and engenders resentment.
In our deadline manic profession, this news is all bad. People burn out quickly under constant pressure and we all know the best ideas don't always come when you're playing beat the clock.
If you work crosswords you understand how important a hiatus is. When you come back to a puzzle a day later suddenly the right words magically appear - because you've given your overheated wiring a chance to cool down.
CNN recently reported that people returning from vacation were nearly 60 percent more productive for the first few weeks back than they were prior to vacation. You have to weigh the need for billable hours with the need for rejuvenation time. Athletes can sprint to win races but they need lots of recovery time - and so does your staff.
Years ago at an agency I ran I tried an "unlimited" time-off policy. It was up to each employee to decide how much time they'd take off (vacation, sick, and personal time were all combined in PTO, i.e. personal time off). The few abusers were quickly identified, given warnings, and in 2 cases terminated because they simply weren't getting their work done. The average staffer took 15 days off a year. Still that's nowhere near what's mandated by law in countries like Switzerland and Ireland (20 vacation days a year), Germany and Sweden (25), and France and Finland (30).
Today time off with pay is a precious gift and can go a long way to prevent attrition. Reevaluate your vacation policy in light of increased productivity not just billable hours, be generous providing days off for long hours or exceptional work, and encourage longer vacation spans. Your staff will thank you and, if these studies are right, they'll be more efficient and productive when at their posts.
Oh... and if you're reading this while you're on vacation yourself, think about the example you're setting.
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About Grant Consulting
Grant Consulting, formed in 1992 by Joe Grant, is a consultative resource for advertising agency principals who want to improve their agencies. The firm works exclusively with agency senior managers to help them discover and then reach their full potential. Copyright 2007 Grant Consulting Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. We encourage sharing in whole or in part if copyright and attribution are included. Contact us at:
Grant Consulting
239.394.8220
joe@joegrantconsulting.com
www.joegrantconsulting.com
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