That's Not a Vacation

Lately, everyone seems to want to post on Linkedin some form of "take your vacation days!"

That's great. I agree. But let's dig into why people don't take them.

One of the main reasons people don't take time off is that it isn't really time off.

If managers don't create ways to cover the work while people are out, then they are simply saying people can take days off if they work extra to get the work done ahead of time or work extra when they get back to catch up.

That's called a flexible work schedule, folks!

I'll admit that when I've worked extra to get stuff done so that I could take a few days off, it was still helpful, but TRUE vacation, relaxation, and recharging can only happen when they can take time off knowing the work is covered.

One of the greatest things a leader can do for the team they lead is to build processes and redundancies to allow people to fully step away and recharge, knowing the work will get done.