How Successful Were Summer Vacations in Your Office?

Keeping your employees engaged can be a fine art. Every organization has its own dynamic team with differing wants, needs and goals. Above providing your team with engaging work that they feel good about doing, it is also important to give them time to check out and recharge their batteries.

Down time away from work isn’t just nice to have. It’s a must!

Did you encourage your team to take a summer holiday, an afternoon off to enjoy a patio or a few days to spend soaking up the good summer vibes? A little encouragement will go a long way. You’ll be rewarding them for the amazing contributions they make to your organization, and you’ll be rewarded with a more engaged, productive and happy team.

This R&R is important in preventing burnout and other mental and physical health issues. After 24 hours of sleep deprivation, there is an overall reduction of 6% in glucose reaching the brain. This translates to slower response times and more difficulty thinking critically. Those who skip vacations for 5 consecutive years were found to be 30% more likely to suffer heart attacks. Yikes!

When you take care of your team, they will take care of business.

The respite effect of a vacation has been shown to increase performance by a whopping 80%. Reaction times increased by 40% and productivity was boosted by 60%! The investment in paid time off is well worth the returns of having a better culture and high level of performance.

Now that you’ve been convinced to implement a leading-edge vacation policy, what’s next?

Making sure your employees are vacationing successfully...

It is common for employees to feel obligated to bring work along with them on vacation, but this doesn’t help anyone. Moreover, a recent Gallup survey of 1000 people found that 54% of vacationers return home feeling worn out.

We don’t want that! So here’s how to help your team avoid vacation stress:

• Planning ahead
• Teaching employees how to delegate
• Setting expectations
• Reviewing vacation policies
• Encouraging colleague etiquette

Try implementing a team calendar where employees can notify and be notified of upcoming vacations that will need coverage. Facilitate collaboration between team members to help each other share the extra workload when time off is taken.

Create a positive and vacation friendly culture with Kudos!

Employers and employees can use Kudos to enable a vacation-friendly environment that encourages everyone to work hard and play hard.

Employers, try sending Kudos thanking your team members for a job well done, and let them know how much they deserve an awesome, stress-free vacation. You could also incorporate vacation perks into your Custom Rewards catalogue by offering a ‘Vacation Survival Pack’ that could contain helpful items like sunscreen, reading materials, spending money or a gift card for coffee on the road.

Employees, don’t forget to thank all of your team members who covered for you and helped you reach true vacation nirvana. A little gratitude definitely goes a long way in making time off less stressful for everyone.

With autumn and winter just around the corner, it’s a good idea to start planning ahead for the holiday and vacation time that comes along with Turkey Day and Christmas. What are some of the ways you’ve helped make your team’s vacations successful?

‍