Leading Your Business Through Vacation Season

By:  Samantha Clark. Franchisee, Garland, TX

The summer months can be a tricky time for employers, especially small-business owners, as they try to balance the needs of their customers with their employees’ requests for vacation time. With an eye on maintaining and growing a business, leaders may find themselves dreading vacation requests and the possibility of being short-handed. However, according to the CNBC All-America Economic Survey 47 per cent of survey respondents indicated they would not be taking a summer vacation this year. At first glance, this finding could draw sighs of relief from business leaders across the country, but the lack of vacationing could actually be hurting them in the long run.

Understand the Benefits
The amount of research supporting the importance of vacation is staggering. The famous Framingham Heart Study found that men had a 30 per cent greater chance of having a heart attack if they regularly skipped vacations compared to men who took at least a week off each year. The study concluded that an increased risk of heart disease is associated with skipping vacation for even just one year. In 2013, Psychology Today reported that having unused vacation days “can unfortunately decrease your overall productivity, increase stress and other health risks, and increase the likelihood you’ll burnout at work.”

And all of those consequences are bad news for business leaders. As a Forbes article pointed out, “Employers who discourage vacations end up with stressed, unhappy employees.” On the flip side, employers who encourage vacations can benefit from productive, happy, healthy employees, which are ultimately the key to a successful business.

Remove the Barriers
Although most people know that taking time off work is beneficial, many employees are not planning on taking a break this summer, even if their employers aren’t opposed to vacations. As Rusty Rueff, a career and workplace expert at employment site Glassdoor, told CBS, “Fear is still motivating people to not be away from the workplace. There’s a lot of motivation that says, ‘I’m afraid of being away for too long.’” If employers want their workers to take a vacation, and in turn be able to enjoy the benefits of rested, rejuvenated employees, leaders must be vocal about their support of vacations in order to overcome the fear that’s keeping people from taking time off.

Another reason that could be causing employees to reject summer vacations is the fact that, even when they’re on vacation they’re still finding themselves working. An article from CBS touted that “of the employees who take any of their vacation or paid time off, 61 per cent report doing some work while on vacation.” In a survey that asked employees why they work while on vacation, Glassdoor found that the top three answers were “no one else at my company can do the work,” “fear of getting behind” and “complete dedication to company.” The survey also found that almost a quarter of vacationing employees were contacted about work by co-workers, and one out of five was contacted by their boss. The good news is that this issue is all within the leaders’ control. All that’s required is some simple pre-planning to ensure tasks and responsibilities are adequately covered, team members are communicating before and after a vacation, and that everyone understands and respects the importance of taking a break from work.   

Lead By Example
As with many things, the best way to encourage employees to embrace the significance of taking a vacation is for leadership to set the example. And employers could be in for a pleasant surprise. According to an article from FastCompany, an Intuit study found that 82 per cent of small business owners who took a vacation experienced an increase in job performance upon their return to work. That renewed energy and positivity is contagious and can help the entire team be more productive.

John Roa, a Chicago-based serial entrepreneur and founder of AKTA, a digital engagement consultancy, echoed the same sentiment. “There’s a tremendous opportunity when traveling to allow yourself to think in ways that you normally don’t,” Roa said. “These fresh perspectives can inspire new ideas or cause solutions to issues you’ve been struggling with to appear almost out of nowhere.” This realization seems to be spreading because, according to Newsday, “a recent American Express OPEN survey found that 60 per cent of small-business owners are planning to take one full week of summer vacation this year, up from a record low last year of 49 per cent..”

One of the critical qualities of a great leader is the ability to see the big picture. It’s easy to label certain things like time off work and summer vacations as small and unimportant. But a successful leader understands how the small things fit into the big picture – how something as simple as a summer vacation can produce reenergized employees, who, in turn, can drive a successful business.

Samantha Clark, Franchisee

Express Employment Professionals

911 Main Street

Garland, TX  75040

 (972) 681-1609

Samantha.clark@expresspros.com