Soar to Success January 2021

By Lisa Ryan D id you know that giving employees time off from their jobs leads to higher levels of engagement? It’s true. If you want the best performance from your employeeswhile theyareatwork, it’s important that yougive themtime to rest andrelaxoutside of the workplace. In the midst of COVID, lots of people are canceling or postponing their vacations. Unfortunately, this lack of time off is leading to fatigue and stress. Over time, your employees may experience negative effects, both mentally and physically. Youmayfind that evenwithagenerousvacation policy in place, you have employees that refuse to take their allotted time off. There are many reasons for this mentality. Perhaps they feel they will have too much work to catch up on when they get back. Maybe they know that a vacation is never really a vacation because of all of the phone calls, texts, and emails that they get from their managers and colleagues. Or, perhaps you have a company culture where The Role of Vacation on Retention time off is consciously or subconsciously frowned upon, and employees feel too guilty to leave. Whatever the reason for the lack of vacation time off, it’s important that you address the situation and make sure that time off happens. By limiting vacation accumulations and rollovers, your employees will see the “use it or lose it” policy as a reason to take their time off. Sometimes it’s just not possible to have employees take off a week or two at a time, especially during the busy season. In those circumstances, you may want to encourage mini-vacations. These mini-vacations may include half-days during the week or three- or four-day weekends throughout the year. The stress of knowing how much heavier an employee’s workload will be when they get back from vacation can also be a disincentive to go. By scheduling a better workflow leading up to a vacation, the employee who’s leaving will be able to focus on having fun instead of