We’re heading off on holiday again soon.
I say again, but we were last away in July and since then I’ve had another foot operation, so it seems like forever!
One of my favourite things is planning holidays.
Finding new routes to drives, new places to see and experiences to try.
My husband’s job is quite good from a holiday point of view.
He works nearly all the public holidays – but gets six weeks of paid annual leave each year.
Last year he was encouraged to ensure he took all of his holidays by the end of the financial year – and if he did, he’d get three bonus days!
Who knew?
Take your holidays and get rewarded with more!
Not a bad deal.
But it can be hard sometimes to take all your leave within a set time period.
Workloads build up.
Work needs completing.
I remember many years ago working in state government.
We were working ridiculous hours to meet the work load and demands from the minister’s office.
One day my boss called me in and told me I had to take leave, because I’d accrued too much.
I tried to argue against it because of the work piled up.
But they insisted.
Which was a good thing – because I needed it.
If you don’t take breaks, leave, holidays you burnout*.
It’s a no-brainer.
But of course, not everyone is so lucky.
Not all countries/workplaces adhere to this philosophy.
I’ve often wondered about how people in the United States cope.
Many employees only get two weeks annual leave – plus (I thought) public holidays.
But I came across this CNBC article that says the average American gets 10 paid vacation days per year (after one year of service), which are all public holidays such as Presidents’ Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The article was referring to an analysis of the laws covering annual statutory paid leave and paid public holidays across 197 countries.
It found that the United States is the country with the joint fewest days of paid leave (0) and the second lowest number of paid vacation days in the world (10).
It’s the only rich country with zero national laws that guarantee paid vacation time.
Ouch.
According to another CNBC article a majority – 65% – of U.S. employees admit to working while taking paid time off (PTO).
Even when the office was closed, roughly one-third of employees said they checked their work email every day, and a quarter sent work emails.
More than one in 10 admitted to joining and participating in work calls while on a holiday break.
Ouch again.
This article goes on to compare this with working conditions in Norway.
Employee Lene Vindenes is quoted as saying: “It really helps to have people and leaders around you to encourage you to take time off and remind you that your wellbeing is more important than work.”
Your wellbeing is more important than work.
It’s hard to remember that sometimes isn’t it?
But it’s so true.
Fortunately in Australia we have joined a small number of countries to now have ‘right to disconnect‘ laws.
This means employees have the right to refuse employer or third-party contact outside working hours in some circumstances.
But in case that still isn’t enough, there’s quiet vacationing…
This trend started gaining traction on social media last year and is when employees use the flexibility of working remotely… to work from somewhere other than home… in an effort to improve their work-life balance.
So you could be at the beach, but still working as far as the boss knows.
This involves an element of deception of course… but is it wrong if the job gets done?
The overriding point to me is, we all need breaks.
We need a holiday from work, and ideally paid…
We need breaks from the everyday.
A change of scene to refresh and revitalise us.
Now please forgive me while I start packing…
Ann 🙏
*Beyond Blue has some great tips on how to manage burnout and balance work and life.