A mandatory vacation policy allows employees to rest and relax and return to work feeling more energized, which can ultimately reduce the frequency of employee burnout within an organization. So what is the progressive approach? Are Adobe, Netflix or Twitter policies that say you take all the vacations you want, when you want? Unlimited and unlimited vacations sound great on paper, don't they? Very progressive, right? No, that approach is also broken. Employee time off is also good for business. Workers who take eleven or more vacation days a year are 30% more likely to receive a raise.
They also report greater job satisfaction. Organic office gardens aren't the only innovative new trend taking root in many corporate wellness programs. Many companies are embracing the idea of mandatory employee time off as an effective way to keep employees happy, healthy and continuously contribute to company results. Employees who participated in the study felt they were working too much.
In addition, a quarter of participants said they never used their allotted vacation time, 55 percent of whom reported feeling high levels of stress from working too much. Overworking can lead to multiple health problems, including high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes. Sick employees can negatively affect a company in many ways, such as increasing the cost of health insurance or generating additional expenses related to training new employees in their absence. For example, Motley Fool, a Virginia-based financial services company, enters its 250 employees in a monthly drawing in which the winner receives two weeks of mandatory employee time off.
However, not all mandatory time off policies for company employees must involve a two-week consecutive absence to be beneficial. Insisting that employees take a long weekend, work half a day on Fridays, or skip one Wednesday a month can also generate positive benefits, such as boosting company loyalty, strengthening morale, and improving employee quality of life. But, as the study by the Institute of Families and Work indicates, encouraging forced time off for employees in the workplace can be very beneficial. After all, what company wouldn't like to have healthier and more productive employees, and what employee wouldn't want to be forced to sunbathe on Cancun beach, rest at the finest Barbados villas or run along snow-covered slopes in Aspen?
Promote work-life balance throughout the year. A compulsory vacation policy is only a progressive benefit that is included in the work-life balance framework. As a leader in your company who is responsible for defining your culture, are you giving your employees the flexibility they need to meet their mission and their own priorities? As you consider the benefits of mandatory vacations, take the time to also review how work-from-home options and flexible schedules can positively impact productivity, retention, and company culture. The survey revealed that 34% of employees don't go on vacation because they fear that if they did, much of their work would go unfinished and would ultimately be replaced. FDIC guidance says mandatory vacation rules are very effective in preventing embezzlement, which generally requires the perpetrator's continued presence to manipulate records, respond to inquiries, and otherwise avoid detection.
The leader who sets the expectation that he will not communicate with the office is demonstrating that others should feel free to disconnect during their vacation. But organizations that allow staff to accumulate vacation months for many years will be affected when a worker leaves and is paid for the accumulated months. Employees are often unable to take their vacation or spend too much time during their vacation checking in at the office, only to return to work feeling completely exhausted. A whopping 92% of people report that they have canceled, postponed or haven't booked a vacation since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those kinds of expectations can help build an organization's culture that vacations aren't frowned upon and shouldn't be interrupted. In fact, we designed it so that if you contacted the office while you were on vacation, whether it's via email, WhatsApp, Slack, or anything else, you wouldn't get paid for that vacation week. Even companies that have implemented progressive policies for unlimited vacations realize that employees simply don't take time off, because there's too much social stigma and peer pressure to work harder. It seems silly not to take advantage of paid days to escape and relax, but employees have real concerns that prevent them from taking vacations.
If your employees aren't making the most of their paid vacation, consider implementing a mandatory vacation policy. It has become very clear that vacation policies, especially in the United States, are in breach. So, most people have to frantically squeeze in extra work in the week (s) before going on vacation to get out of the office. Some workers who don't take all of their allotted vacation time mention having too much work to do on their return as a reason not to take time off in the first place.
Part-week holidays became more common than full-week holidays in the mid-1990s, but now cases of both are declining. . .
