Afraid to Take a Vacation? Tip of the Week
Recent business reports indicate that employees are afraid to take a vacation this year. The most troubling reason for this point of view is that employees are afraid taking a vacation could result in the loss of a job.
If you’re an HR professional, one of your most important purposes today is alleviating, not creating, the fear that’s gripping every workplace. Employees are afraid of losing their jobs. They’ve seen the layoffs. They know there are more to come. They have more work to do because they’ve taken on jobs of laid off co-workers in addition to the jobs they already had.
Whether an employee actually leaves town on vacation is up to the employee. Because of today’s economy, it may be reasonable not to go to the beach this year. What’s not reasonable is for employees to keep their noses to the grindstone without taking any time off for fear their jobs will be gone when they return.
Stress in the workplace abounds these days. Human resources professionals feel it just like everyone else. But the HR pro must serve as a bridge between boss and employee to make the stress manageable. One way to do that is to make sure everyone knows it’s vital, especially now, to take time off — a vacation if you will. A workplace full of scared, tired, overworked employees doesn’t sound like a good place to work. More importantly, it doesn’t sound like a place that’s going to be productive enough to help turn our economy around.
Hard work is important, perhaps doubly so right now. It’s equally important, perhaps doubly so right now, to get away from work and rest. Employers who encourage their employees to do both are taking a long-term view of things, something else that’s doubly important right now.
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About Chris Parker
Chris Parker's practice focuses on the representation and counseling of companies in matters pertaining to the workplace and the protection of their intellectual property and trade secrets. In addition to serving as an advocate for clients, Mr. Parker is also trained as a mediator and frequently serves as a third-party neutral.
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About Jimmy Daniel
Jimmy Daniel provides counseling to businesses of all sizes related to the employment relationship. He assists in the drafting of employment agreements, policies, and handbooks, as well as provides guidance related to compliance with federal, state, and local legislation such as the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
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About Larry Bridgesmith
While serving in an Of Counsel relationship with the firm, Mr. Bridgesmith also serves as the Executive Director at the Institute for Conflict Resolution at Lipscomb University and as an officer and principal in Strategic Resolutions Group, LLC. In these roles, Mr. Bridgesmith brings over 30 years of legal experience in dispute resolution and innovative workplace strategies to clients, students and business entities alike.
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Outstanding post John. All I can say is ditto to that.
I’m acquainted with Physics professor, currently without tenure attempting to make it to retirement (in a State system)in the next 4-5 years.
His boss makes him work Saturdays, and recently denied him a week’s vacation request.
Obviously, he is a sadistic bastard to act this way and certainly an asshole to boot.
It’s people like this, and maybe company’s / organizations that allow them to still be there, that made me think that mandatory PAID vacation for all working Americans might not be such a bad idea.
It completely goes against my grain to say that but if we’re heading towards the European way of doing things anyway (please NO!) than lets include vacation time too!
Did you blog about Congress considering this?
Hoping you and yours are well John. E.