How can HR directors help employees to take time off (and boost their productivity)?
There’s nothing like a well-earned break – or the idea of one at any rate. Every commuter will recognise the time-honoured trick that holiday operators like to play, placing alluring advertising on the inside of a packed train. When you’re jammed into a carriage at rush hour on a dreary evening, the prospect of wide-open skies and an endless azure ocean can be hard to beat. Surely it’ll have you clicking “book” before you decide what to have for dinner? Well, not always – it all depends on cultural differences, which can be quite stark depending on where you find yourself in the world.
According to figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Europe is the best place to be for holidays: the UK tops the charts with 28 statutory and nine public days off a year, and France, Germany, Italy and Spain are not far behind. Perhaps surprisingly for a developed nation, the very worst place to live if you value your free time is the US. Despite the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, there is no legal requirement to offer paid leave at all – though many employers tend to come to individual agreements with their employees, offering them between five and 15 days off a year on average.
Ironically, the concept of paid leave actually began in the US more than 100 years ago when President William Taft advocated for every American worker to receive two to three months of holiday. Unsurprisingly (and to the relief of employers countrywide), his proposals were blocked at every turn and never made it onto the statute books. Today, not only does the US offer workers the fewest days off in the developed world but many don’t even take what they’re owed – just 28% of Americans said they would take their full allotment in 2019. Some argue the “Protestant work ethic” that fuelled much of the country’s success has also bred a culture of fear, with many too frightened to take extended vacations that they believe might compromise their jobs.
Japan takes it to a whole new level. This is the country that coined the term Shūshin-Koyō – or “lifetime employment” – after all. Thought to be inspired by the feudal culture of the 19th century Meiji Restoration period, Shūshin-Koyō places a huge emphasis on company loyalty – with the result that employees tended to work very long hours indeed. At the same time, however, a generational shift in attitudes to the work/life balance has caused a global rethink in workplace culture that is rippling through companies big and small around the world.
One idea is to offer an unlimited leave policy, which works like this: as long as you get the job done, you can take as much time off as you like. Joshua Reeves, whose company ZenPayroll supports this idea, comments: “We want our employees to think like owners and consider what’s best for both themselves and the company. Letting them figure out their own vacation time shows that we trust and respect them, which in turn strengthens their commitment to the company.” If this sounds too good to be true, it must be stressed that there are often pitfalls attached to such an approach. Staff resentment is common, when one member feels another isn’t pulling their weight, and the end result is often that no one takes any holiday at all for fear of not being seen as a team player. Many companies that have experimented with an unlimited leave policy have reverted to a minimum leave policy – insisting their employees take a certain number of days off, in proper blocks of time of a week or more – to combat this.
Some companies may offer the opportunity to combine work and holidays – a great way to visit family back home if you work abroad, and a practice that many a self-employed entrepreneur will be familiar with. This can prove a good option provided boundaries are set and a strict pattern of behaviour is followed that means employees aren’t not responding to emails on the beach, cocktail in one hand and smartphone in the other. Renting flexible workspace is one way of doing this successfully, since it helps to put a physical barrier between downtime and work time – and it’s also a place that will be equipped (think desk space, printing facilities and super-fast Wi-Fi) to get things done with the minimum of fuss.
Whichever way you or your company chooses to organise annual leave, one thing that everyone can agree on these days is the importance of it – for mental wellbeing and overall productivity. According to health-insurance provider Australian Unity, the benefits extend beyond the workplace too: “In fact, research suggests that taking annual leave for holiday purposes can boost workplace productivity, improve your mental health and extend your life.” As the saying goes, a change is as good as a rest – and paid leave has the potential to offer both. That sense of rejuvenating freedom that comes with the luxury of disconnecting for a couple of days or more is something that, hopefully, we’ve all felt.
For the HR director, then, it makes sense to instil a work culture in which employees are encouraged to take time off – and actively supported in a way that helps make it happen. Organising and streamlining cover, removing any stigma around it, and even offering the option of flexspace at an employee’s location of choice are all methods that can help them to achieve this, and help the company remain at its most productive in the process.
