What, you’re thinking of skipping your vacation again?! Hard as it is to believe, every year Americans throw away an estimated 415 million vacation days by skipping their vacation.
Tanveer Naseer, a leadership coach, speaker, and writer, is the principal and founder of Tanveer Naseer Leadership, a leadership coaching firm that works with managers and executives to help them develop leadership and team-building competencies to guide organizational growth and development. If you are in a leadership role at your place of work, not taking time off from your job can prove to be more harmful than beneficial for you or your organization, he wrote in a recent blog. He also shared four reasons why you should spend part of your summer on vacation.
1. Revive your productivity—and with it, your teams
We all know that small breaks throughout the day help us over the short term, but it’s vital that we take longer breaks from work to sustain and even build our creativity and productivity, says Tanveer. “Being away from your work environment for a longer period of time will help you gain a fresh perspective about your work,” he writes, “as well as provide you with the opportunity to pursue your other interests.” By skipping your vacation, you can have a deleterious effect on the organization’s morale. It creates frustration and makes the rest of the team think that if the boss isn’t taking a vacation, maybe they better not take one, either.
2. Vacation time is part of your remuneration; it’s not a job perk
Remember when you applied for the job? Wasn’t how many vacation days you get part of the package? Tanveer says that vacation time is part of your remuneration for doing the job—it’s not a perk. For us, vacation time is a return on the investment of time and expertise in helping our organization reach their objectives. Would you not accept a bonus at the end of the year? Of course you would! That’s how we need to think of vacations.
3. Serve as a role model for others in your team
Whether you’re in a leadership role or an employee, you need to take a vacation! Employees will look to their leaders for guidance on what is allowed and what is frowned upon. What you model at work will determine what your employees do. Despite the workloads that may be building on your desks, it’s still very important to take time off work in order to maintain effectiveness in your role.
4. Whether you’re in Bora Bora or Hawaii, show your team they can manage without you
While we all like to think that we’re indispensable, the reality is we need to encourage the company’s growth and overall morale. Taking time off from work will encourage team members to develop strategies and abilities that will help them learn to effectively hold down the fort while you’re away. We need our leaders and employees to bring their best efforts in reaching the organization’s goals. The best way we can encourage this is to make sure everyone takes their vacations so they might bring a fresh perspective and new ideas on how to attain their shared goals.
While this article was written from a leadership role, it’s still clear that employees benefit as well about why skipping your next vacation is so not worth it!
About the Author: Annette Gaddis
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