Vacations aren't Optional: 5 Reasons You Should Force Your Employees to Take Time Off.
Let's face it, its already August, vacation time is running out and you’ve still got someone who hasn’t taken a day off since Christmas. What ‘s wrong with that you ask? Let me tell you what happened to Susan. Susan went over a year taking only a Friday off here and there. The end result:
Her expectations of the people around her, the people that supported her, became unrealistically high. After all, if she was willing to forgo time off, why wasn’t everyone else?
Her expectations soon turned into demands and were often made in a loud voice. Essentially, she started screaming at people that weren’t doing what she needed, when she needed it.
She put on weight and became noticeably fatigued. Her health was clearly suffering.
She started to lose focus, which ultimately resulted in a failure to meet goals. This failure was blamed on the support team that fell short of her expectations.
Other employees started to complain about Susan and no one really wanted to work with her. Her attitude about work ethic started to infect the whole office.
As a manager, you have a responsibility to make sure your team takes time off. It’s not just a luxury, it’s a necessity. And you need to lead by example. If you never leave the office, your staff may not either.
I finally sat Susan down and made her schedule a week off every quarter right then and there.. She’s been sticking to it ever since. Restoring balance in your life is essential to maintaining harmony in the office and will result in better performance.
One last thing- make sure you leave the laptop at home!